Budget Hero
You think "How hard can it be to balance the budget?" "I am a smart kid in APL/G". Then YOU fix the US budget. Play the game, balance the budget and then forward it on to your Congressman or better yet YOU run for Congress. Your assignment is try your hand at Budget Hero, post your comments, I will give you credit for your efforts. Must have assignment completed before you get your Test 1 essays back.
DT
posted by erdecker @ 12:59 PM
60 comments
60 Comments:
I reduced the debt from 75.5% to 52.5% in 2021, downsized he government a bit, and delayed the budget bust to 2035. Piece of cake. Just adjusted and increased spending a little in order to increase job growth, cut discretionary spending, defense and social security benefits.
I'm clearly not cut out for this kind of thing.
I reduced the debt from 75.5% to 69.7% in 2021. I shrank the size of the government from 25.9% of GDP to 25.7% of GDP and delayed the budget bust from 2031 to 2034.
-Laura H
I reduced the debt from 75.5% to 44.7%, delayed the budget bust until 2040, and downsized the government to 21.8%! Also, I gave America more of an advantage in sciences, technology, and education, cut CO2 emissions, and increased mass transit.
- Vishvesh D
I reduced the debt from 75.5% of GDP in 2012 to 63.4% of GDP in 2021. I also delayed the budget bust from 2031 to 2034. I shrank the Government from 25.9% of GDP in 2012 to 24.6% GDP in 2021. My biggest cards were cutting troop numbers in Iraq and Afghanistan, reform and simplify the tax code,end spending on missile defense, ground the space program, and eliminate the gas tax.
-Leyla B.
I went from the original debt of 75.5% to 39.5%, but in doing so i raised unwanted taxes, but the spending I lowered seemed somewhat necessary. I went from 25.9% to 20.7% of the GDP. The budget bust has now been delayed 10 whole years, to 2041. My aim was to keep our government efficient, and green. I did so through many cuts in military, Social Security, Healthcare, and in military. I also added a tax for CO2 emissions.
--Marissa Angus
This comment has been removed by the author.
On my first attempt I decreased the debt from 75.5% to 45.0%. I couldn't bring myself to privatize school systems or decrease spending on the sciences, but I did cut military spending, simplified the tax code, and cut medicare waste and payments. Also I started drilling in Alaska because Drill Baby Drill! :D I wish there were more social security choices. I used all the available options and yet it still spiraled out of control
I reduced the debt from 75.5% to 31.9%!
I delayed the budget bust all the way to 2043!
I reduced the size of the government from 25.9% of our GDP to 19.7% GDP because I'm a downsizer!
I also got the Badge for efficient government because I think the states need to take a bigger stake in managing programs.
My biggest cuts came in rapidly reducing troop numbers in Iraq and Afghanistan because it is a money pit and Iraq and Afghanistan need to stop using the U.S. as a crutch, Overhauling Medicare and Medicaid because I can take care of myself, reducing discretionary spending by 10% because obviously the government is not good at managing money, and I reformed and simplified the tax code because nobody really knows what it all entails anyway. Also, I cut all federal support for education because I'll be out of school!!!. Just kidding, the states need to have a bigger stake in their kids success.
This is how I would deal with our federal budget fiasco.
Spencer
I reduced the debt to 52.9%, delayed the budget burst until 2036, and shrank the size of the government to 21.7% of GDP. I froze military spending, rapidly cut troop members from Iraq and Afghanistan, cut discretionary spending by 10%, overhauled medicare, and funded research on clean energy.
--Shannon B.
I reduced the debt from 75.5% of GDP in 2012 to 59.0% GDP in 2021. I delayed the budget bust to 2035, and downsized the government from 25.9% to 22.7% of the GDP. The cards that I used to achieve this outcome were raising the Social Security age, cutting discretionary spending by 10 percent, overhauling Medicare/health care, cutting military spending by 10 percent, and cutting Medicare waste and payments.
- Ashley Sadauskis
I reduced the debt from 75.5% of GDP in 2011 to 58.1% of GDP in 2021, delayed the budget bust from 2031 to 2035, and shrank the size of government from 25.9% to 23.5% of GDP. I cut military spending, troop numbers, medicare waste/payments, and capped and cut discretionary spending. I also added 25 cents to the gas tax.
~Miriam Hanson
I reduced the debt from 75.5% to 40.9%. I delayed the budget debt to the year 2038 and decreased the size of the government to 20.4%. My biggest moves were in the social security, defense & diplomacy, and the health care towers. Every move I made was to decrease the interest on the debt which I got down to $483 billion.
Okay i'm more of a budge villain but here goes:
I reduced the debt from 75.5 % in 2011 to 64.1 % in 2021.
I delayed the budget bust! For 2 years. I pushed it back from 2031 to 2033.
I shrank the size of the government from 25. 9 % in 2011 to 24.2 % in 2021. My biggest cards were rapidly cutting troop numbers, ending spending on nuclear missiles, and cutting military spending. Who needs defense right?
I reduced the debt from 75.5% of GDP in 2012 to 37.6% of GDP in 2021. I delayed the budget bust to 2042. I downsized the government from 25.9% of GDP in 2012 to 20.5% of GDP in 2021. The “biggest cards” that I used were cutting the troop numbers in Iraq and Afghanistan, reforming and simplifying the tax code, cutting discretionary spending by 10%, freezing military spending and revamping Medicare and Medicaid. I also earned the Competitive Advantage and Efficient Government badges.
~Trisha DeWeerdt
I reduced the budget by 75.5% of GDP in 2012(16.5 Trillion)to 43.6% in GDP in 2021(9.5 Trillion). I did this mainly by cutting the troops in Iraq, reforming and simplifying the tax code, freezing all military spending, overhaul medicare and healthcare, and cutting medicare waste and payments.
Katie Krull Hour 3
I reduced the debt from 75.5% to 50.0%, delayed the budget bust from 2031 to 2036, and shrank the size of the government from 25.9% to 21.8%. My main cuts were in defense, but I also made some big cuts in other areas. At one point the game stopped letting me look at the options for Social Security, which was really annoying. Apart from that glitch in the game, I realized how frustrating it was to not be able to fund things I wanted to increase funding for because the government really doesn't have any money to spare.
I reduced the debt from 75.5% to 69.1% by raising the Social Security age, eliminating the federal aid for housing development, and revamping medicare and medicaid. I postponed the budget bust to 2034. I also downsized the government from 25.9% of GDPto 24.4% of GDP .
Katie Tetzloff
In 2021 i had a debt percent of 50.5%, but in 2031 i had a debt percent of 40.8%. I managed to postpone my budget bust to 2038. How i did this was for every "liberal action" that cut the deficit took i had to take "conservative action" that would match it financially, but not undo the previous action. So in defense i capped government spending but raised aid for foreign, and domestic spending. I also increased my spending in areas where I thought growth was needed such as infrastructure, and science. I did not make any cuts in these categories. My goal was to make all the buildings of equal height. finallyi reached a point where i could not feasible take any action without extorting either end of the wealth spectrum so i stopped.
I reduced the debt from 75.5% to 53.9% in 2021. This delayed the bust until 2035. I shrank the size of government from 25.9% to 22.3% in GDP. I did this by rapidly cutting troops from Iraq, slowing social security benefits, requiring wealthier individuals to pay more for health care, and freezing military spending.
I reduced the debt from 75.5% to 24.3%, reduced the size of the government to 18.5% of GDP and delayed the bust to 2046... by cutting everything. I went after every big ticket item available to cut and cut it, I gutted our spending. While gutting spending I raised taxes by a lot. By doing these I managed to delay the inevitable bust, but this is counter to how the economy works and would stagnate economic growth worsening the situation.
A normal stimulus pack would entail a great deal of spending and theoretically would cause economic growth and we would eventually outgrow our debt. A normal stimulus is like a shot of espresso, what we need is an injection of adrenaline along with a defibrillator. But then the stimulus would cause us to default quickly... so either way we're screwed. Yay America!
-Evan C
I tryied to reduce everything as much as possible and this is the lowest I got it. I reduced the debt from 75.5% to 36.8%, delayed the budget bust until 2041 and reduced the size of the government to 20.5%. To do this I cut everything that wasn't neccesary and raised taxes.
- Kelsey Hansen
I reduced the debt from 75.5% to 41.5%, my government size was 21.1%, I had a surplus of $705 B though, and the budget bust was extended to 2041. I added quite a few taxes, amplified the Science and Nature spending, made college more affordable, reduced Social Security spending and spending in Defense, and did a lot of revamp and reform to Health Care. I tried to go for an efficient government, economic stimulus, and compromise.
--Sophia Goodner hour 7/8
I reduced the debt from 75.5% in 2012 to 41.8% in 2021. I delayed the budget bust from 2031 to 2040. I also shrank the size of the government from 25.9% to 21.2% by 2021. I also achieved the Efficient Government badge. Overall it was very hard to bring the budget down and I don't blame the government for having a hard time with it.
I reduced the debt from 75.5% to 51.0% by downsizing the government and cutting a few of the security expenses. I also increased some taxes that would not have too large of an effect on the people paying them. I did decrease spending on Social Security by making the access to benefits at a later age. By doing this, I made researching for a greener planet more possible, I increased spending on education, and I delayed the budget bust to 2037.
This was difficult, but I managed to decrease the debt from 75.5% to 60.8%, by doing a lot of cutting money from programs. I delayed the bust to 2034 and even then I as though I was cutting to much money.
-Nicole Kraushaar
I reduced the debt from 75.5% to 56.6% of 2021 GDP. I delayed the bust til 2035 and earned the Green badge because I am a tree-hugger. I downsized the government from 25.9% to 23%. I froze military spending, cut 10% of discretionary spending, required wealthier senior citizens to pay more of their own healthcare bills, included a 25 cent gas tax, and capped/cut discretionary spending some more.
This was a lot more challenging than I expected it to be..
I reduced the debt to 27.3% of GDP in 2021 and delayed the budget bust to 2044. I shrank the size of the government from 25.9% to 18.8% of GDP. I froze military spending, cut troop numbers, reduced medicare and social security aid, and cut federal education funding. Also, I increased taxes, a lot. More responsibilities are given to the states; hopefully, they won't go in debt. Drastic times call for drastic measures, but this is kind of sad.
I reduced the debt from 75.5% to 34.8% of GDP in 2021 and was able to delay the budget bust until 2043. I cut as much spending as possible including cutting most military spending and increasing science & nature budgets. I also increased taxes dramatically and reduced healthcare and social security as much as possible.
I reduced the debt from 75.5% to 48.8% in 2021, shrank the government from 25.9% of GDP to 20.4% of GDP, and delayed the budget bust to 2038. I reduced the size of the military and Medicare/Medicaid and increased taxes.
I reduced the debt from 75.5% to 42.1% in 2021,extended the budget bust all the way to 2041!, reduced the size of the federal government from 25% to 21.3% and created a surplus of $653 B by rapidly reducing the amount of defense and diplomacy: reducing troops in foreign countries, cutting military spending by 10%, and who needs stealth fighters? :; I downsized the space agency for now, stopped drilling for oil in the arctic as we are already dependent on foreign oil from Saudi, Canada, and Russia; I added taxes: gas tax (for now), reforming tax code,and taxed industries, etc;cut down most of the unnecessary discretionary spending (since for a time we can use what we have), revamped the medicare and medicaid reduced the debt and also increasing the age to receive medicare and the social security as they can be direct with each other. As people are starting to live longer, they can work longer, and they can receive social security and medicare benefits later when they most need it.
I reduced the debt down to 45.4% and the budget bust won't be coming till 2040. Taking troops from the Middle East and cutting military spending naturally went together and really helped (~$2,000 B total). Simplifying our tax code and giving Medicare/health care another reform took it down quite a bit too. I have to agree with Eddie- Social Security is out of control; wish we could find a better way.
Bryan Kotschevar, Hr. 3 11/01/11
I reduced the debt from 75.5% to 44.5% in 2021. I downsized the government from 25.9% to 21.8% and effectively delayed the budget bust to 2038. Some of my cuts were from a decrease in military spending, energy, and social security.
I reduced the debt from 75.5% to 52.9% in 2021, shrank the government from 25.9% to 22.4%, and delayed the budget burst from 2031 to 2038. I made reductions in the military and increased spending in education, sciences, and technology. Also a couple of my biggest cards were to reform and simplify the tax code, link AMT to inflation, and cut discretionary spending by 10 percent.
Alyssa Alward HR 3/4
I reduced the budget from 75.5% to 61.2% in 2021. Delayed the budget bust to 2034. I downsized the government from 29.5% of GDP to 23.5%. Not very good at this, but I could keep trying.
-Jonah M
I reduced the debt from 75.5% of GDP in 2012 to 59.0% of GDP in 2021. I delay the budget bust, pushing it from 2031 to 2033. I shrank the size of the government from 25.3% of GDP in 2012 to 23.1% of GDP in 2021. I did this my cutting the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. I cut discretionary spending and military spending by 10%. I also elimated the AMT.
-Kyle Andrews
I reduced the debt from 75.5% in 2012 to 54.9 in 2021. I delayed the budget bust, pushing it it from 2031 to 2033. Shrank the gov. from 25.9% to 20.6%.
I reduced the debt from 75.5% to 48.6% in 2021 and delayed the budget bust to 238. I cut money by taking the troops out of Iraq and other countries, increasing the social security age, taking more money from the wealthy, and cutting discretionary spending. I also increased taxes by taxing toxic industries and adding 25 cents to gas taxes. I gave education more money. I decreased the size of the government to 22.5%.
This was much more difficult than I expected.
I reduced the debt from 75.5% to 64.6% in 2021. I shrank the size of the government from 25.9% to 24.3% and delayed the budget bust from 2031 to 2033. I rapidly cut troop numbers in Iraq and Afghanistan, Raised the social security age, and cut military spending by 10%.
Katie Johnson
I reduced the debt from 75.5% to 68.4% in 2021. I shrank the size of the government from 25.9% of GDP to 25.6% of GDP. I delayed the budget bust to 2034. Some of the cards I played were adding a 25 cent gas tax and taxing carbon dioxide emissions.
- Noelle Bellows
The entire process was quite overwhelming. I think the hardest part of it is that there is no right answer. With every single choice, there is both a negative and positive outcome which makes it hard to make decisions. You want the ability to spend money on everything without having to tax, as the saying goes, have your cake and eat it too. I was able to delay the budget bust until 2037, but even that isn't that far away, which is the scary part! If all goes well I will still be around for that! It is evident that it is a problem that needs to be addressed, but how is beyond me. We have been digging a hole for so long that it is going to take some serious deliberation to determine a budget that will work.
I reduced the debt from 75.5% of GDP in 2012 to 59.5% in 2021. I delayed the budget bust to 2035. I down sized the government from 25.9% to 22.6%. I cut back a lot of government spending: defense, nature and science, housing and increase taxes. I also decreased interest rates.
This was very challenging.
Alvin
I reduced the debt from 75.5% to 54.2% in 2021. I also shrank the size of the government 25.9% of GDP to 22.5% in 2021. I delayed the budget burst to 2034. One of my bigeest cards was rapidly cutting troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. I feel like it is their own problem in their own country, not ours. I also cut discretionary spending by 10%, required wealthier seniors to pay more for perscriptions, cut military spending by 10%, and cap and cut discretionary spending.
Jayden Schuster
I reduced the debt from 75.5% to 43.3%, reduced the government involvement from 25.9% to 21.8%, and ended up delaying the budget bust to 2040. I changed up the tax code and I chopped military spending. I did slightly increase spending on research for an alternative energy source though and cut subsidy payments for ethanol.
I reduced the debt from 75.5% to 54.8% and delayed the budget bust until 2035 by drastically cutting military spending and instead, raising the benefits of healthcare. I shrank the government size by a mere 2%
-Amy Chhunn
I reduced thedebt from 75.5% of GDP in 2012 to 48.5 in 2021. I delayed the budget bust to 2038 and shrank the government from 25.9% of GDP to 22.5%. I did this by cutting back on troops, cutting back on military spending by 10%, simplifying the tax code, and revamping medicare and medicaid :) Not a long lasting solution but I did put serious thought into what I was taking out. The target was to reduce military spending; I think the government spend way too much into it than it truly needs to.
This was painful.
Playing in the year 2021, I fought the debt down to 33.0% of the budget, slashed the government to 20% of the GDP, and threw the budget bust to 2042.
In the end it was only a Pyrrhic victory.
My fight against the debt may as well have been a fight against the American people. Infrastructure was devastated by my cuts. I stopped funding clean water.
CLEAN WATER.
But that was only the tip of whatever metaphor you find most unpleasant.
I knew I would never, ever be re-elected, but I hoped that future leaders could use the profits I made with my savage cuts to rebuild America.
- Eli Newberg
I redued the debt from 75.5% to 55.4%. I shrank size of the government from 25.9% 22.7% and delayed budget bust from 2031 to 2034.
I reducted the debt from 75.5% to 47.3% of the GDP in 2021.
I delayed the budget burst from 2031 to 2038.
I shrank the government from 25.9% to 21.9% of GDP.
My top cards were cutting troops, reforming the tax code, cutting discretionary spending, cutting military spending, and revamping Medicare and Medicaid.
-Hannah Church
I reduced the debt from 75.5% to 55.5 in 2021, and delayed the budget bust to 2036. I cut down health care and military spending.
Logan Adair that last one is mine.
I managed to delay the budget bust to 2036, reduced the debt to 54.1% of USD and came away with 95 billion in budget surplus. All while increasing funding for social programs, science and education. I decreased funding for the US military, raised taxes, and increased the minimum age for social security and medicare.
My conviction to never become a politician has been affirmed. This game kicked my butt. I reduced the debt from 75.5% of the GDP in 2012 to 57.1% in 2021. I managed to delay the bust...by 6 years , instead of 2031 we get to wait until 2037 before we're bankrupt. yay. Apparently I'm a down-sizer (who'd a thunk); I shrank the size of the government from 25.9% of the GDP in 2012 to 22% in 2021. I achieved all of these epic accomplishments through basically freezing military spending and revamping health care. I also made an attempt at funding research on independent energy/clean energy research. All of that basically = FAIL. Politics suck.
I reduced 2021 debt to 30.7% from 75.5% in 2021 and delayed the budget bust to 2044! As Zach said earlier, desperate times call for desperate measures.I shrank my government to a mere 19.4% of GDP. Federal budget? Military research? Space exploaration? Buh-bye. I didn't have the heart to cut education spending though - We need a very smart generation to take over in 2044 and rebuild our gargantuan government. I did not cut clean water or the energy department - I figure we'll be needing those should we want to survive. Oh yeah, and taxes - let's raise the roof. And sorry to all the old folk out there - your medicare and social security has been delayed.
I reduced our debt from 75.5% to 38.4% by cutting a lot out of our military, raising the age of social security, medicare and increased taxes a bit. My plan will be good until 2042.
-Tram Nguyen
I reduced the debt from 75.5% to 68.6% in 2021. I delayed the budget blast from 2031 to 2032. I shrank the government from 25.9% of GDP in 2012 to 24.8% of GDP in 2021.
-Kristi T
I reduced the debt from 75.5% of GDP in 2012 to 50.0% GDP in 2021. I delayed the budget bust to 2035, and downsized the government from 25.9% to 22.0% of the GDP. To achieve this outcome, I cut troops from Iraq, slowing social security benefits, requiring wealthier individuals to pay more for health care, and freezing military spending.
-Brianna Axtell
I reduced the debt from 75.5% of GDP in 2012 (16.5 trillion) to 50.7 % of GDP in 2021 (11.0 trillion)
I delayed the budget to 2036 and shrank the size of government from 5.6 trillion to 4.8 trillion by cutting alot from the defense department, cutting discretionary spending and military spending and adding tax and also cutting some taxes. I achieved the great compromise badge.
-Rebecca Rose
My first budget hero didn't go through so here is my 2nd one!
I reduced the debt from 75.5% to 59.2% in 2021. I shrank the gov't from 25.9% to 23.1%. I delayed the budget bust from 2021 to 2035. I slowly increased the Social Security benefits, as well as raised the age. I also increased the drug costs for seniors and froze military spending.
Matt Broman
i tried to reduce the budget but it just would reduce it stayed at 75.5% and it would change. it says i didnt make any impact on the dept
I reduced the debt from 75.5% to 32.1%.
I delayed the budget bust until 2041.
I cut the size of the government from 25.9% to 18.7%.
Caitlin O'Connor
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