Federal Budget Simulator

[showcase]

www.budgetsim.org/nbs/

We all like to talk about what the guy in the White House is doing right or wrong, so let's see who can do any better.

I tried a 'quick' budget that, while cutting the deficit by $270B, still left $87B of the deficit untouched. The cuts were in:

military spending (20%) (I'd detail it to procurement in a more detailed budget, esp. missile defense),
international affairs (20%),
non-def energy (10%),
social welfare (10%),
commerce promotion (40%),

10% hikes in everything else

Gone were the 2001 & 2003 tax cuts, 30% corp. tax benefits, 10% personal business & 'other' (20%). Increased were tax expenditures for retirement & health-ins @10% each.

Give it a go; it provides a nice dose of fiscal reality.

[thebin]

This looks fun. I'm going to give it a whirl when I am not at work. I'll let you know the results of my fiscal savvy or lack thereof.

PS...where are all my conservative/libertarian peeps? Am I the only one that made the leap? Its getting lonely in here!

[TrueHoyaBlue]

I was wondering the same thing... maybe DFW and WilsonBlvdHoya are emulating history departments nationwide and aspiring to a 12:1 liberal to conservatie ratio in here.

(J.K.)

Actually, I think a number of new folks have recently started posting on this board because the index page makes it easier to switch between the different boards. I know I've posted more on this one than I did on the old B&G board.

Not sure what happened to winston, dallas, and the rest, though...

[showcase]

Ah, 'Chester was a lightweight, or was recently. Dallas comes and goes, but only seems to weigh in when something stokes his ire. Heck, even I invoked the name of DallasHoya last night on the off chance that he might be paying attention, but to no avail.

Nevertheless, the board's only now in its second week. The B&G membership have had longer breaks between posts.

[jerseyhoya34]

I tinkered in the long version of the simulator, which was quite interesting. There are more items in there than one could ever imagine.

Anyway, I basically rolled back the tax cuts on the wealthy and redirected the funds to veterans interests, education, and healthcare, while increasing Pentagon expenditures in most fields and cutting spending on nuclear endeavors by 50%. All told, I cut the deficit by $80 billion.

I thought that I would run even more of a deficit considering how I upped spending in many fields, so I was pleasantly surprised by the result. It makes me appreciate what could have been accomplished if the President limited his tax cuts and elected to spend on other priorities.

[thebin]

We spend more money per pupil than almost any other nation in the world. And yet, our schools are among the very worst in the industrialized world. Tossing more money at that problem is like throwing gas on a fire. American schooling needs massive radical restructuring- which will necesitate a huge climb down by the teacher's unions. The place for this is certainly at the state and local level IMO. This shouldn't be a federal issue.

I'm interested to know what kind of nuclear spending you cut? (Have not taken the test/game yet.) I am all for nuclear power, which is clean and lessens our need for forign imports, but want safety checks as high as can be. So federal spending on nuclear power strikes me as a very good investment and approptiate at the federal level. If this is a Nuke weapons issue- i don't think we need more of them but I want as much money as is needed going to their maintence and eventual replacement if need be in smaller quantities as the older ones get junked, and particularly our assistance maintaining the security and safety with the Russians on their aresenal should be seen as a TOP priority I think. Since I have not taken the test yer- what does nuclear endevours include?

[jerseyhoya34]

My fault... On the nuclear question, it was a subfield under military expenditures, so I took it to be nuclear weapons, yellow cake, and the like. That is what I intended to cut, not research into alternative energies and nuclear energy, which I support wholeheartedly, for reasons that you state.

On education funding, you may be correct. What I do disagree with, however, is No Child Left Behind. Bush put through a good faith effort to improve education and has proceeded to cut funding and underfund, which I disagree with.

[showcase]

We spend more money per pupil than almost any other nation in the world. And yet, our schools are among the very worst in the industrialized world. Tossing more money at that problem is like throwing gas on a fire.

I agree that simply tossing more money at schools won't solve the problem. Cutting funding alone won't either. And effectively making the rich richer and the poor poorer a la No Child Left Behind? An affront to common sense.

[TrueHoyaBlue]

The problem with NCLB (or at least, one of a number of problems) is that it sets a number of benchmarks, but no standards... leaving states with the option of having high standards but not meeting NCLB levels, or having low standards, allowing the benchmark numbers of students to achieve "satisfactory" test scores, but being no more prepared for life/further education than they would have been without the tests.

[thebin]

NCLB is not THE problem with the substantial education mess in this country. It is not even A problem. It is just another failed attempt in a long line to fix the problem- usually in trying to cover a hemmorage with a small bandaid. The problem begins with the thinking that federal money/programs is the solution. It is not. The culture of education in the last several decades is the problem; a collapse of discipline and its replacement with an ethos that education exists in large part to boost self-esteem and the junk theory that all things- even truth- are relative. Americans, I am convinced, get far too much self-esteem and far too little knowledge in most of our public schools.