National Budget Simulation 'game' online

[Union Thug]

If you haven't seen this, check it out. You can reallocate funds, eliminate expenditures, and basically take control of federal spending!

http://www.budgetsim.org/nbs/

[sweetheart]

1. How infuriating

I can't stop the drugs war in that simulation. Its like the simulation is designed to get people to give up
trying to control the ugly beast. I was eliminating all the federal prisons, the nuclear terrorism and all
the aggressive war crimes in the budget and i managed to cut the deficit.

It would be simpler to simply close down that government and form a new one from scratch. A new government
could achieve all the same functions with 1/10th the cost. The monopoly of the security apparattus is squeezing
on all sides to destabilize the public weal, and maybe it can only be put down by firing the lot of them and
seeing if they're willing to return to public service at minimum wage.

[VTMechEngr]

2. Firing who? The civil service?

[sweetheart]

11. Firing the entire federal government

Its monopoly is grossly inefficient and the taxpayer simply should not be forced
to support this awesome waste for corporate imperium.

[Selatius]

3. Too bad there is no option to outlaw fractional-reserve banking and the Federal Reserve

If I could outlaw those two and replace the system with full-reserve banking, I could pay off the national debt in one year by printing money while progressively raising the reserve ratio for banks up to 100 percent. If I didn't raise the reserve ratio while printing money, we'd have hyperinflation like post-WWI Germany because those banks would loan out that money invoking the money multiplier effect.

[Target_For_Exterm]

4. OK, I can balance the budget by cutting 20% from defense,

rolling back the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, and cutting business tax credit and personal investment tax credits (like capital gains) by 20%, and 10% off foreign aid (including foreign military aid). It gives me a budget surplus of 3.82 billion. That's after adding 10% to veterans pensions and health care. And I didn't touch appropriations for the Iraq or Afghanistan wars.

[Selatius]

5. Damn Bush makes it nearly impossible to eliminate the deficit in 1 year.

I slashed the yearly deficit by half, but that still leaves me borrowing roughly 200 billion each year from foreign governments, banks, and individuals.

[MercutioATC]

6. Deductions from charitable contributions cost us $37.88B a year???

A good percentage of that goes to secular charities. Fuck that. Eliminate that deduction.

It's like magic...almost 38 BILLION dollars saved!

[leftofthedial]

7. oops!

Your New Budget


Budget Totals

Old budget was $3747.36 billion
($2672.527 billion in spending, $1074.833 billion in tax expenditures and cuts).
New budget is $3171.47 billion
($2512.3 billion in spending, $659.17 billion in tax expenditures and cuts).


You have cut the deficit by $575.89 billion.

Your new deficit is $-174.88 billion.

Oops!

You've cut so much that the federal budget now contains a substantial surplus. Many economists warn that this budget may help induce or prolong a recession, and ordinary citizens demand a refund. You might want to cut taxes or raise spending.

[johnaries]

8. We must think a lot alike....

Budget Totals
Old budget was $3747.36 billion
($2672.527 billion in spending, $1074.833 billion in tax expenditures and cuts).
New budget is $3210.24 billion
($2462.82 billion in spending, $747.42 billion in tax expenditures and cuts).

You have cut the deficit by $537.12 billion.
Your new deficit is $-136.11 billion.

Oops!
You've cut so much that the federal budget now contains a substantial surplus. Many economists warn that this budget may help induce or prolong a recession, and ordinary citizens demand a refund. You might want to cut taxes or raise spending.

Edit to add: Here's what happens if you keep everything else at "hold even" and eliminate the 2001 and 2003 Tax Cuts:

You have cut the deficit by $294.58 billion.
Your new deficit is $106.42 billion.

[TheWraith]

10. Try the "long" version, it's much harder.

It itemizes things like military spending on personell rather than procurement, who gets what tax breaks, etcetera.

[TheWraith]

9. I ended up with a $50 billion dollar deficit initially, but after painful cuts, balanced it.

In military spending, cut 50% from procurement, 20% from operations and maintainence, 30% from R&D, 50% from "defense related activities," and 50% from atomic energy.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, cut military ops by 50%, reconstruction aid by the same. Cut international military aid by 70%.

Eliminated the tax cuts for the richest 20%. Doubled the tax cuts for the bottom 80% (anyone under $77k per year).

Eliminated all corporate tax breaks. Elimintated the capital gains exemption. Doubled housing bond/low income housing investment tax credits. Doubled soldiers and veterans tax benefits. Doubled the Earned Income Tax Credit.

That leaves me about $50 billion in the hole. I'm afraid I'd have to cut the number of military personell, however even a 20% decrease leaves me in the red by $30 billion. I don't want to touch the tax credit for employer paid health insurance, or pensions. I might be able to scrape $5 billion out of administrative cutbacks, particularly the IRS. Hard pressed, I shall take $5 billion more away from highway transportation and safety spending, though I'm not keen on that.

If I were really making a budget, I would be willing to eat the remaining $20 billion, figuring that it will eventually come out of the remaining Iraq/Afghanistan ops in the coming years. If pressed to balance the budget immediately, though, I would cut 7 billion from air transportation, and take the other $13 billion out of DoD ops and maintainence, for a total 40% cut. That would get us just barely into the black, by about 3 billion dollars.

[alittlelark]

12. I cut the budget by 138.8 billion while providing assistance

to those in need and providing the troops w/ support at home and abroad.... cutting the tax breaks and taxing capital gains did it on the 1st try.





Your New Budget

Budget Totals
Old budget was $3748.1268 billion
($2673 billion in spending, $1075.1268 billion in tax expenditures and cuts).

New budget is $3609.28 billion
($2783.69 billion in spending, $825.59 billion in tax expenditures and cuts).
You have cut the deficit by $138.85 billion.
Your new deficit is $262.15 billion.