How to Balance the Federal Budget

How to Balance the Federal Budget

It's not so tough to balance the Federal budget. We've been led to believe that Americans are the neediest people on earth, so that our lives are so destitute that we need to borrow like crazy just so that the suffering can be alleviated for a year or so.

Well, it doesn't have to be that way. We can in fact balance the budget. But I'm not going to tell you how to do it.  In fact, you're going to tell me how to do it with this interactive graphic from the New York Times, which allows you to (on paper at least) make the budget decisions that Congress is going to make to either raise taxes or cut spending.  It will quickly calculate the budget for next year and then in the year 2030.

 

I found it remarkably simple to balance the budget, without even having to resort to radical Village Elliot ideas like actually increasing economic growth. Some things I would like to call to your attention are items like malpractice reform, which would result in real health care savings, but would lose a lot of well-to-do supporters in the legal profession. Also the "use alternate measure for inflation" sounds wacky, but many people figure that we are over-correcting for inflation, and benefits are going up faster than the (real) inflation. So we may be overspending by billions without intending to. Anyway, without further ado, here's your chance to balance the budget:


http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/13/weekinreview/deficits-graphic.html

Budget Puzzle: You Fix the Budget

Today, you’re in charge of the nation’s finances. Some of your options have more short-term savings and some have more long-term savings. When you have closed the budget gaps for both 2015 and 2030, you are done. Make your own plan, then share it online.