Budget Hero - a game

Budget Hero

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

How many friends will this cost me?

You are elected President of the United States- and expected to make this work...but a good direction/idea at least...but you are now POTUS- you lose!!!!

I like how there's no way to actually "win"

I did just fine.

It never busted?

I did fine as well.

It just requires common sense.

I decided that everyone was going to have to pay something, but the long-term planning and benefits definitely pay off. It's amazing to see how fast medical and social security benefits take off past 2018, it really puts things into perspective. I managed to invest in the country's future whilst reducing spending yet at same time maintaining the solvency of Social Security (albeit at a cost for future generations and that would include myself by slowing the benefit payments, probably an extremely unpopular idea unless you're already old). Also, I didn't really go hog wild on taxing either (unless you're one the wealthiest persons in America). Sorry folks, but I think a tax increase on gas is essential to hammer home the importance of switching to fuel efficient vehicles and conserving energy (it wasn't an option in Budget Hero, but if I could, I'd offer tax credits for alternative/energy efficient vehicles to help drive the market in that direction, ultimately a win-win situation).

I agree, it would be nice to see how many total badges we could earn.

Damn RudieCantFail, great minds think alike (or at least very similar)!

Hehe. I also opted for the gas tax. As you said I think it's essential to hammering home a point on fuel-efficiency, as well as to create funding for alternatives like mass transit.

I'm going to revisit the Budget Game and try to play the same cards but with differently focused badges to see how they stack up. It's interesting because you can actually do quite a bit with the right taxing and and shaving of overgrown spending (defense is out of control!).

I did that. I got most of the badges with the same plans as the first time. I only got about 30% of National Security, though, because I cut out defense spending. But if you don't believe the hype, then it's really not something that's important.

What browser are you using?

Robin Hood had it right.

I think that analogy is, at best, a bit shallow. I'm certainly believe the Bush Tax Cuts should be repealed and I'm not trying to defend the greedy, but the wealthy are still a part of society.

It's just a bit divisive, s'all I'm sayin'.

how about we tax everybody equally on income? like, their whole income? yes/no/maybe?

One note about the game is it's based on the notion of 2-3 percent GDP growth every year. Of course, in reality, the taxes you levied and the programs you launched would surely have some effect on GDP. The last GDP growth figure was around .6 percent for the most recent quarter. Naturally, there's no way for the game to predict what the effects of various policies will be. To see how it would work, I tried a scenaro where I maximized taxes and cut everythiing possible. Although by the analysis of the game, I delayed the bust to past 2071, by 2028 the debt percentage indicator was at red alert. Yikes.

I would have liked to see some more radical options available, so we could compare. Like say, the US out of everywhere non-interventionist option, and see how much that would shrink defense.

Raising taxes and severely cutting defense spending? Good luck running on that (or getting it done) in real life.

I did about as fine as OhSoOrdinary. Then, just for fun, I played a round where I said to myself, "What would Ron Paul do?" So I cut as much spending and taxes as possible, and failed miserably.

Dallas Federal Reserve President ways in: http://www.dallasfed.org/news/speeches/fisher/2008/fs080528.cfm

He's talking about the impending budget crisis.

He starts getting to his point here.

LSlice. I give up on you. If you want you ideas to be better received, use the format that is generally accepted on the boards. Familiarize yourself with the insert scripts and use them properly. It's really not hard.

[/hands thrown up]