Assignment: Federal budget paper
We will see if we can do better than Congress when it comes to reducing the overall federal debt. We will use the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget "Debt Fixer."
1. You will use the simulator to try out various ideas for reducing the federal debt.
2. You will write a 3-5 page typed paper reporting on your experiences.
Using the simulator. The simulator allows you to cut or add spending and revenue in 7 categories:
1. Defense, 2. Investments, 3. Social Security, 4. Health Care, 5. Domestic programs, 6. Income Tax and 7. Other Taxes. Each category contains several items to be cut or expanded. All amounts are the cost or savings over 10 years. There is a little icon next to each item explaining what each item is about. Click on the icon to learn more about the item. Think about your values and what cutting or adding to an item will mean to the groups affected. But you need to balance your preferences against the need to reduce the federal debt. On the other hand, don't just cut everything to reach the goal. It may be that CRFB's goal should not be reached if it means cutting too much.
Select the items in each category you want to cut or expand. As you do so, the graphic on the right will show you whether you are adding to the federal debt or lowering it. As you move from category to category, this graphic will keep track of overall spending and debts. At the end it will give you the results of your spending and revenue decisions.
If you don't like the results, you can do it over.
The goal of the simulator is to reduce the short-term federal debt to 70% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2028 and reduce long-term federal debt to 40% of GDP by 2050. Today, GDP is about $20 trillion and the federal debt is about $14 trillion (or about 75% of GDP).
The paper. Write a 3-5 page typed paper to hand in about your experiences and choices working on the simulator. The paper should answer the following questions:
1. What values did you favor before you tried using the simulator? Were you thinking of cutting spending or raising taxes? For which categories? Were you hoping to increase spending or tax cuts for some favored programs? Which ones?
2. Explain which programs you cut or increased and why.(Be specific; do not just say you cut a bunch of things, write about each one.) What did you discover when you used the simulator? Is cutting the federal debt more difficult than you thought? Why or why not? Did you have to cut any favored programs? Which ones?
3. What result did you arrive at? Did you rely more on spending cuts or on tax increases? Which ones? Were you satisfied with your choices or were these the only way you could meet the goals of the simulator?
4. Do you believe your solution could get through the political process? Which groups and interest groups would be affected by your choices? Do you believe they would be able to defeat your budget? Why or why not?
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
1. The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.