Hey seniors,
As you may already know...or will in the very near future, our nation is in debt. The people of America are calling on you, YES YOU, to solve this problem. Go to the Budget Hero link and try and solve the budget crisis. We spend too much, we don't collect enough revenue, or some of both. You can be a budget hero. When you are done with the activity, you need to post your comments on your successes, your failures, your achievements, your goals. This task is worth 15 points and your comments are due by midnight on Sunday, April 27th.
Enjoy and good luck balancing the US Budget. If you are successful, a government job could be waiting for you in the near future.
Mr. Thompson
Hello, Weylin here. Creating an efficient government is hard, but that was my goal in this activity. And I did, it was not easy though. Many cuts were the result, especially to Health Care and Military, as well as a bit of editing to how Social Security works. I did achieve the Efficient Government badge, and the reward for that was postponing the budget bust till 2036, and cutting the debt from 17 trillion to 10 trillion by 2022.
ReplyDeleteWhat did I learn from this? Don't leave me in charge of the countries money!
-Again, Weylin C.
Mr. Ladsten speaking, just played Budget Hero and i have to say it was pretty neat. Being able to control our countries budget gave me a little perspective into how much money goes into certain issues. After playing, i reduced the debt from 70.3% GDP to 44%. I've achieved the Efficient Government badge. My biggest card was Revamping Medicaid, turning Medicaid into a "series of block grants to the states", which allowed for states to fund their own program. Another big card i played was rapidly cutting military spending, instead of having 195,000 troops deployed to "war-related" sites, it would be reduced to 45,000 by the year 2015. All in all this was a great learing experience and im glad i had the chance to play with a little power.
ReplyDelete-Max Ladsten, hour 5
My goal was to create an efficient government and I did. I made cuts to all of the areas and raised alot of taxes. I delayed the budget bust till 2039. Reduced the debt from 70.3% to 32.8%. Shank size of government from 22.7% to 18.1%. I learned about the government from this game
ReplyDelete-Amber Arnold
My goal was national security. I choose almost every thing in defense & diplomacy. I reduced the debt from 70.3% of GDP in 2013 ($17.2 trillion) to 69.4% of GDP in 2022($17.0 trillion). 2031 remains as the year when the budget fails. My biggest cards are rapidly cut war-related spending, cut foreign aid, cancel stealth fighters, end missile defense, reverse sequesters defense cut. And I learned it does not affect more how much money I spend.
ReplyDelete-boyeon park
Balancing the United States budget was very complex and harder than what I believed. I picked the Republican badge at the start of Budget Hero. I tried keeping in my mind the goals of Republicans while playing the game. At the end of it all, debt was no match for me. I reduced the debt from 70.3% of GDP in 2013( 17.2 trillion) to 53.2% of GDP in 2022( 13.0 trillion). I delayed the budget bust from 2031 to 2034. I'm a downsizer according to the results. I shrank the size of government from 22.7% of GDP in 2013 (5.5 trillion) to 20.0% of GDP in 2022 (4.9 trillion). The first biggest card I played was Defense and Diplomacy- rapidly cut war related spending( -582 billion). The reason I cut this was because I believe war spending is unnecessary and the US should just worry about it's own country especially since we are so in debt. We need to worry about only our problems especially in this debt crisis!! It is only getting worse every minute, even seconds. The second biggest card I played was Health Care- revamp Medicaid( 1,403 billion). The reason I cut this was because in a time of debt, we can't afford to keep helping the poor. It's harsh, but I believe the poor people of the United States need to try to fix their lives themselves. The US doesn't have enough money to help the poor population out. The third biggest card I played was Health Care- replace Medicare( 664 billion). The reason I cut this was because the government needs to figure out a more efficient way to help out the elderly. I don't believe taking Medicare out completely is smart, but I believe there is a smarter approach to help with the debt. Raising the age would help and not offering as much to the elderly. In summary from this activity, I believe the government needs to worry about its own problems in this debt crisis. The government needs to take smarter approaches to things. This might mean major changes but we need to get out of this debt.. Someway, somehow maybe it will be fixed.
ReplyDeleteShane Guidinger, Hour 5
I play the budget Hero today, and the badge I pick was Democratic, Health Wellness, and Safety Net. My goal was to achieve all of my badges, and when I got to my result I only complete the Safety Net. I was very close of completing the Democratic, and for the Health Wellness, I was only half way there. So for my other result, it say that I reduced the debt to 70.3% to 43.1%. It also tell me that, I delay the budget bust, and shrank the size of the government from 22.7% to 19.0%. I think Budget Hero was a great experience to learn how to control the Budget.
ReplyDeleteWell... while playing budget hero, I learned two things: Its a lot of work getting rid of the government's debt and also I am not too good at it. My main focus was to attain an efficient government and to stick to my democratic values. It was difficult to do both: trying to make efficient cuts and also having to be mindful of the rights of the middle class. While it was very hard, I reduced the debt from 70.3% ($17.2 trillion) in 2013 to 49.9% ($12.2 trillion) in the year 2022. I delayed the budget bust from 2031 to 2035. I also downsized the GDP from $5.5 trillion in 2013 to $4.7 trillion. Even though I didn't fully acquire the Efficient Government and Democrat Badges, I did make some beneficial gains.
ReplyDelete>>Rikira Petersen hour 7(:
I cut spending in a lot of places like Medicade, Infrastructure, and other assortments of places while mainly raising the taxes on a lot of things. In the end I did not earn my no waste badge, but I did cut the debt by by about 22% over the course of 10 years, which is a lot for that time period. I also downsized the government a bit in the process. In the end I did really well, and all I think that matters is the fact that I did better than Congress.
ReplyDelete-Chris Vierkant hour 7
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletewhen i played budget hero my 3 badges i played were, democrat, energy independence and safety net. now i only earned one badge and that was energy independent, but i reduced the debt from $17.2 trillion to $13.2 trilllion or 70.3% to 53.9%, the card that i played that had the most effect was rapidly cut war-related spending, that cut $582 billion, seeing how bad are economy is we need to focus on rebuilding our people not focus on fighting someone else war, i am not for war, i see war as injuring other nations physically and economically hurting ours year by year, were not the only super power out there, i know its nice to be apart of every conflict but sometimes we just have to sit one out and trust in other nations, nations should only fight if a conflict is world wide threatening and may have great affects if not stopped. Another main card i played was overhaul immigration policy, as people may feel threaten by letting in more i see it as bringing in more workers, more workers more tax payers, also i mad college more affordable for immigrants to be able to get a good education and move on to greater jobs, this trying to build a safety net for new u.s citizens. i realized i really cant lower debt because i get stuck in wanting to cut several things that arnt needed like military but also wanting to spend on helping the lower class economy and helping the people witch can really bring in more debt at the time but hoping it will benefit the future, but i was able to delay the budget burst to 2035, after several trys thats about as good as i can get it
ReplyDelete-Jon Lloyd 4th hour
Balancing the budget had a lot of options. A few things I did was become a Democrat and cut National Security and became Green. I cut Social Security by -$184 B by raising the age of members. I revamped Medicaid
ReplyDelete-$1,403 B and -$664 B in replacing Medicare. It would kick in for people turning 65. In Misc. a discretionary spending by 10 percent was cut -$637 B was cut. Taxes were phased out by +990 B which phased out mortgage interest deduction. There was tax breaks to reform and simplify the tax code. I reduced the debt from 70.3% in 2013 to 46.6% in 2022. I shrank the size of government from 22.7% in 2013 to 20.6% in 2022.
-Alex Steffl 7th hour . GO Raiders :)
I played the Balancing Budget hero game and I reduced the debt by 70.3 % of GDP in 2013 from 17.2 trillion to 2022 ($13.4 Trillion). I pushed the government from busting from 2031 to 2035.I one badge and my goal was to keep the government very earth friendly and green,i rewamped the Medicaid,rapidy cut down war expenses as well as cut discretionary spending by 10%.I cut downsized the government size by 22.7% which helped the governments GDP as well as the expenses that were spent on the government .I achieved about 50% of my green badge which isn't bad but is not the best either. This game has taught me that balancing a government is not easy and kudos to whoever can achieve pushing the government from going down further and further.
ReplyDelete- Admira Sinanovic
hour.5
my goal was to make the budget last all the way to 2035 I cut spending on home land security and I cut spending on education both by 40% by doing this I reduced the debt to 15.5 trillion one of my goals was to keep our military strong by spending more money on the military and spend more money on keeping the world more green my government size was 55% sadly to say I did it a bust at the end of the game and this game showed me that if I was to balance the government I would not be very good at it -Elvir Pedic
ReplyDeleteThe game budget hero was much harder than I anticipated and I will definitely not be looking for a govt. job in the future! I did not do as well as I had hoped! But I did accomplish to cut the government GDP from 22.7% down to 20%, by cutting war-related spending, and eliminating most discretionary spending. I did not achieve any of my badges but I delayed the budget bust to 2034. In the end I did not achieve much but I learned how hard it is going to be for our govt. to reduce our debt! I chose the green, republican, and national security badges. I found myself cutting certain things that a republican would not want cut just to try to achieve my goal of reducing the debt such as war related spending! And so I can see how it relates a lot in real life; our govt. is going to have to cut many things that not everyone is going to agree with, for example education, military cuts, health care. Either way democrats and republicans are going to have to make large sacrifices in order to decrease our debt, and I don't see that happening any time soon..
ReplyDelete-Alisa Schrimpf
hr4
My 3 badges were : Democrat , Green and energy independence. I achieved all ,reducing the debt from 70.3 % of GDP in 2013 to 58.3 % in 2022. I delayed the budged bust from 2031 to 2034 cutting most of military's expenses and taxing wealthy citizen.I increased the budget for researches and new energy and I simplified the Tax system . From this game I learned how hard it is for the government to balance the budget costs and how many important decision people have to take to save the nation from bankrupt .
ReplyDeleteGiorgio Trisciani
Hr.4
That was difficult. My badges were Democrat, Energy Independence and Heath + Wellness. I didn't achieve any of my badges which wasn't really a surprise to me at the end because it requires a lot of work to achieve just one. I was on a good path to achieving the Energy independence badge when I played the Science and Nature care to increase the funding for research on clean energy (which was my biggest card played) but alas, I didn't get far. In the end I only brought down the debt by about 1% an learned that I'm a decent downsizer since I cut the government just a little bit. I'll let the big guys in congress handle the situation.
ReplyDelete-Elvira Pedic
I chose the badges Democrat, green, and energy independence however failed achieve any of them. I was only able to reduce the debt from 70.3% of GDP to 69.6% and delayed the bust from 2022 to 2031. I taxed as much as possible, using up all the tax cards and cut military spending and downsized the government. I learned that it is a futile effort to fix the debt problem and regardless of the effort, it will eventually bust, much like a ticking bomb.
ReplyDelete-Uyen Nguyen
Going into playing budget hero, I thought that it wasn't going to be as hard as it was! My badges were health and wellness, national security and democrat, and not surprisingly, I didn't achieve any of them. I thought that by only cutting and not funding anything else, it would help some, but it didn't... at all. I found out that I downsized the government by 1% and reduced the debt from 70.3% to 60.7%. The positive part of this was the kids said thank you! I stopped the government bust for a whole 2 years! After playing budget hero, it's a for sure thing that a spot in congress is not being saved for me!
ReplyDelete-Rachel Suffrins, hour 5
Budget Hero was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. This game made me realize that I never want a government job because it was very stressful dealing with the budget and debt. My three badges were: Republican, National Security and the green badge. It took me awhile, but I did achieve two out of the three badges. I decreased debt from 70.3% of GDP in 2013, which was 17.2 trillion dollars, to 53.3% of GDP in 2022, which was 13.1 trillion dollars. I think I did very well decreasing the debt of the US! I decreased most of Obama's plans and that helped with the budget and debt. I did have a big government, but I did manage to decrease it some. It was 22.7% of GDP (5.5 trillion dollars) to 20.6% (5 trillion dollars) and my goal was to have a smaller government so that was hard to try to do. Overall I managed to delay the budget bust, pushing it from 2031 to 2035.
ReplyDelete-Megan Busciglio
I have realized that I do not want a job in the government. Playing Budget Hero was difficult and challenging. I choose the badges of Republican and Health & Wellness. At the end of it all, I was partially there with the Republican badge, and had not achieved the Health & Wellness badge. I reduced the debt from 70.3% (70.2 trillion) of GDP to 63% of GDP in 2022 (15.4 trillion). The plus side was that my kids called to say thank you because I delayed the budget bust from 2031 to 2032.. (one year, yay!) The negative side was that it said I am a down sizer because I shrank the size of government from 22.7% of GDP in 2013 (5.5 trillion) to 21.5% of GDP in 2022 (5.2 trillion). My biggest cards that I played were to rapidly cut war-related spending, raising the social security age, cut discretionary spending by 10 percent, cutting foreign aid, and raising medicare eligibility to 67. I tried to not cut any Healthcare related costs, because I was trying to attain my Health badge, but that did not work. Overall, I have decided that choosing our budget is not the job for me!
ReplyDelete-Maggie Olstad Hour 7
I had a very difficult time trying to balance the budget. My badges were democrat and green, but i was unable to fully achieve either of the badges. I only got about half way on both of them and did this by eliminating the AMT tax saving the government 951 billion. I also eliminated war related spending, increased the drug cost for wealthier seniors and cut discretionary spending by 10%. This saved around 1,500 billion for the government. From 2013 to 2022 i shrank the government only .3 trillion. So basically I'm not a very well prepared candidate to help the US Government balance the budget.
ReplyDelete~Aaron Zigan
Being a budget hero is the most difficult thing I've ever done. No doubts our government's been having hard time dealing with federal budget. Anyway, on the game, I reduced the debt from 70.3% in 2013 ($17.2 trillion) to 53.3% in 2022 ($13.1 trillion). I delayed the budget bust from 2031 to 2035. I also shrank the size of government from 22.7% in 2013 ($5.5 trillion) to 20.7% in 2022 ($5.0 trillion), which is why I failed to achieve my "Efficient Government" badge. Afterall, I achieved 0 of 2 badges I chose which are Efficient Government and Green. I cut most of military spending, adjusted some health care and social security expenses, and raise some taxes. I think if what I did in the game really happens, the United States will turn upside down. It's very complicated and stressful. Fortunately, it's just a game, so any wrong decision I make won't turn out to be public crisis.
ReplyDeletePutheawin Samphea
After finishing my time in office as the budget supervisor I realize that our government is doomed. We have drifted far too into debt, I began by chipping away at any sort of spending I could--without touching the army as you can expect-- and brought healthcare to its knees. I only delayed the budget bust 1 year however if I had been given the opportunity to work on the budget about 10 years ago we would be in great shape. That is not to belittle the work President Obama has done in office, however I am not a bleeding heart liberal so I hate everything he has done. ;) this game was fun but also educational by showing players what they can do to help fix the budget and then in turn showing them that their efforts are futile and the interest will consume us eventually I just hope I'm dead first because the day that we are spending all the money we are able to create in the country on health care will be the day I move out of the United States.
ReplyDelete-Riley Regimbal
I got my republican badge!
DeleteAfter finishing this activity it become clear to me how difficult it truly is to balance the national budget while also trying to look at things from different perspectives. I was able to reduce the debt from 70.3% of GDP in 2013 to 59.4% GDP in 2022. I delayed the budget bust back from 2031 to 2033, although that isn't much time it's better than nothing! According to the results I am a down-sizer and reduced the size of govt from 22.7% to 21.1%. Again, not a huge difference, but when it's trillions of dollars it has a pretty big impact. The badges I selected in the beginning were republican, efficient govt, and competitive advantage. I wasn't able to earn any of these badges sadly. I reduced heath care and national defense greatly, which didn't really help. Turns out I would be a terrible president. This gave me a new outlook on all that goes into the national budget.
ReplyDeleteMcKenna Schuster-- Hour 5
That was a tough game. My three badges were Democrat, Green, and National Security. My goal was to make the budget last all the way to 2030 so I cut spending on defense and health care by 36% and I cut 16% on education to accomplish my goal. After cutting all those spending’s I’ve delayed the budget bust, pushing from 2031 to 2034 and I’ve reduced the debt from 70.3% of GDP in 2013 ($17.2Trillion) to 53.2% of GDP in 2022( $13.0 Trillion). However I shrank the size of the government from 22.7% of GDP in 2013 (5.5 Trillion) to 20.1% of GDP in 2020 ($4.9 Trillion) and I did achieved zero out of the three badges.
ReplyDeleteMohamedkadar Idle H4
Going into this game I definitely thought that it would be hard, and indeed it was. Trying to reduce the government's debt while keeping my conservative values was difficult. My main spending cuts were on Healthcare, Education, and Social Security while keeping the Military as strong but efficient as possible. I managed to push the budget back from 2031 to 2034. Which I know isn't that great, but I also dropped the debt from 70.2% to 52.6% in 2022. My government size didn't really change. Overall after playing this game, I really don't want to be put in office.
ReplyDelete-Cody Faber
Hour 4
If there's one thing I've learned from this game, it's that the process of solving our nation's debt consists of a frequent clash between easy steps towards lower percentage of debt and morality. For instance, knowing it would have a huge impact, I replaced Medicare; which brought the debt down over $900 billion, but that's a huge kick in the teeth to elderly people. On the other hand, I expanded the states' Medicaid coverage, earning the health and wellness badge; which only required a small $952 billion... This increased the debt by 4%. In the end, I pushed the budget bust only 4 years further. This simulation makes it evident to me that diminishing our debt even a small amount takes a large amount of consequences. And unless you have an ingenious plan for lowering the debt, taking on this predicament is a weight one simply cannot carry.
ReplyDelete-Collin Olevson
Balancing the Budget was WAYYYY harder than I imagined. I knew it would be tough but not this tough. I tried to take into consideration my more democratic views however I didn’t succeed. I chose two badges Health and Wellness and the Democrat badge. I played a handful of cards in hopes they would help me solve our nation’s debt crisis, I taxed sugary drinks at 1 cent per ounce to increase the health in our society and cut down on the nations obesity. I also reformed and simplified the tax code, cut war spending, reversed sequesters defense cuts, revamped Medicaid, added ‘public plan’ to Obama health reform, increased social security taxes and reduced benefits for wealthy seniors. By playing these cards I was unable to achieve either of my badges…): Even though I didn’t succeed with the badges I was able to reduce the debt from 70.3% of GDP in 2013 to 57.8% of GDP in 2022. I delayed the budget bust from 2031 to 2035. Clearly no government jobs are in my future but it was fun to try and solve the budget crisis.
ReplyDelete-Jill Modjeski
When playing this game my two badges were Democrat and Efficient Gov't. I managed to achieve the Democrat one but it wasn't easy. I had to cut mainly the spending on Military and Social Security. Also, replacing medicare was one of my biggest playing cards. I reduced the debt from 70.3% in 2013 to 49.8% in 2022, which I thought was pretty good! I still wouldn't enjoy the job of budget spending.
ReplyDelete-Megan Underdahl
Balancing the United States budget is very difficult. off the start I chose the Republican and National security badge, and I acomplished neither of them. I reduced the debt from 70.3% of the GDP to 48.2% in 2022. I saved trillions of dollars by revamping medicaid and replacing medicare. I also made huge cuts to the military which went against my national security badge. another way I saved a lot of money was raising the social security age to 70. I also made small cuts to education and the sciences. I took almost every opportunity I had to raise taxes so I could bring in more revenue. I was able to delay the budget bust from 2031 to 2036.
ReplyDelete-Jacob Holt
When I went onto the budget hero game i wanted to cut all of the biggest expenses in each category. It might be evil to raise the age for social security, get rid of the united states military almost entirely, revamp medicaid, and institute new taxes. But i wanted to lower the debt that our country had no matter what it took. I was able to lower the debt from 17.2 trillion to 9.1 trillion, thats almost half of our debt gone. And delayed the budget bust till 2038. I did not get the one badge i wanted, efficient government, but i think i did a pretty good job regardless.
ReplyDelete-Emin Budimlic
When picking badges on this game, I thought the badges would help me keep on task of bettering the U.S. government. This wasn't the case. I picked Efficient Government, National Security, and Health and Wellness as my badges, although it became clear from the beginning that I wouldn't win any awards in the health department with all the cuts I was making to Medicaid and Medicare. Having the pop-up boxes give the pros and cons helped me learn a little more about the two sides of the arguments made as to why the cut was a good/bad idea. It soon became clear that the best choices were the unpopular ones. I eventually decided to rapidly cut war-related spending (-$582 B), even though I didn't agree with the idea. I figured that if the government is in debt so badly, America needs to come together and regroup before over-extending when helping other countries. A lot of the programs that I cut (revamping Medicaid, replacing Medicare, cutting discretionary spending by 10%) are good projects and support to have in America. The problem is that America can't do everything. It isn't the end-all-be-all, protector of everyone. Not that it shouldn't be, but no country can actually spread itself that thin. I think what I've learned from this activity is that America wants to help others, whether it's capitalists who dream of forging their own path and creating a hard-working business or dreamers and scientists who want to find a way to understand the world more. But money is limited, and the government can't support the people as well as it used to anymore. I think we can get out of this debt, but it's going to take unpopular cuts, and sacrifices from everybody (Congress and citizens alike) to see long-term results. In the end, I managed to reduce the debt from 70.3% of GDP to 54.6% and delayed the budget bust from 2031 to 2034 (although 3 years isn't that long). I also shrank the government from 22.7% of GDP to 20.3%, so I guess my decisions were more for the people than the government. In conclusion, I think America wants to be as big and important as some of the European countries (like the UK) but has to realize that those countries have a very present government that collects more money from their people to fund their programs. I don't think I could make a very large difference in the government based on my decisions in this game, but it was interesting to learn a little more about this problem we face.
ReplyDelete~Emily Mattson~
Wow, that was long. Oops! ~Emily M.~
DeleteI was hoping that the badges i pick would be easy by just cutting the large expenses but seem a little harder than what i expected. I select 3 badges which was health+wellness, efficient government, and democrat. I manage to reach 2 out of 3 of my goals but was very effective which was efficient government and democrat. I don't know why, but it was really hard to reach my health+wellness goal. But overall I reduce the debt from 17.2 Trillion to 13.4 Trillion. Than i delayed the budget burst by pushing it from 2031 to 2034, i wanted to expand the years even farther but that was hard too. I learn that trying to reducing the debt of the nation is a pain that could have repercussion over the citizen, which is a position i don't want to be on, I probably be too tired to think straight.
ReplyDeleteTobi Oloyede 5hr
This was a pretty fun game to play and see how our budget could be spent. My two badges were Democrat and Fiscal Cliff. I did not achieve either one, but it was hard to choose what to cut and what to add to achieve those. Anyway I decreased the debt from 70.3% of GDP in 2013 (17.2 trillion) to 42.3% of GDP (10.3 trillion). I have delayed the budget bust to 2037 from the original 2031. I am a downsizer I reduced the size of government from 22.7% of GDP (5.5 trillion) in 2013 to only 19.6% of GDP (4.8 trillion) in 2022. Some of my biggest cards were Revamp Medicaid, Replace Medicare, and Reform and simplify the tax code. I picked Revamp Medicaid because it would bring Medicaid spending under control and get rid of one-size-fits-all federal mandates (as the card states), so it seems like a good thing because everyone is different in needs of Medicaid. The reason I picked Replace Medicare because it would cost less in our budget, even though it may end up raising prices for health care costs. For Reform and simplify the tax code, I picked this one because it would start generating more money for the government to use paying down the debt, and it would reduce tax rates on individual income. So in all I think I did pretty good, and it was fun, I just think I better let other people make all the hard decisions that would cut peoples programs and raise taxes, that would be very hard to do in real life.
ReplyDelete-Alyssa Johnsrud
4th hour
Rhianna here.
ReplyDeleteThis game was really fun actually, although i wish there was more flexibility, and options for personalization. I reduced the debt from 70.3% of the GDP in 2013 to 38.4% in 2022. I delayed the budget bust from 2031 to 2038. I shrank the government from 22.7% to 18.9%. I achieved the Competitive Advantage, Efficient Government, and Green badges. Some of my biggest cards were the Revamp Medicaid and Cutting Discretionary Spending. I learned that cuts need to be made in every area, especially Social Security, Health Care, and Defense and Diplomacy. I also learned that it is possible to decrease the debt substantially while still increasing our spending on staying green, education, and the sciences. I think the main reason that our government has made no real progress yet is that the democrats and republicans disagree so radically on pretty much everything, that they all have to cater to the voters, who generally have a bunch of misconceptions, and that they're all too scared to do anything drastic, since if it goes wrong their careers go down the drain.
-Rhianna Baines
4 hour
So debt is no match for me. I reduced the debt from 70.03% of GDP in 2013 to 65.5% of GDP in 2022 so 1.2 trillion dollars less. Has for a budget in 2031 my budget plan will fail. I know how to downsize. I shrank the size of the government from 22.7% of GDP in 2013 to 21.9% of GDP in 2022. I gained no badges. That's all right though because i don't think ill be entering politics anytime soon.
ReplyDelete-Kadi Sheriff
Debt is a very difficult challenge I have no idea how to deal with it?? or even how the president does? How they will find someone to save MERICA scares me..
DeleteMariah Southwick Hour 7
After playing the budges games several times I understand more clearly how the government has a hard time deciding which areas of our spending needs to be cut and which parts need to be added. My three badges were as fallowed:
ReplyDeleteEnergy Independence
National Security
Green
The demotic incline of many of the building surprised me. For example, for social security I raised the minimum wage, along with increasing the social security taxes for the wealthy. “Oh my” did that building sky rocket! I also rapidly cut war related spending and cut foreign aid for the defense & diplomacy category. That had little to no impact on the results. And lastly I increase NASA spending by 50% to ensure in the Science & Nature category, which caused a slight increase in the building height.
All in all, I succeeded in lowering the debt, decreasing the size of the government, but I increased the “budget bust” (by pushing it from 2031 to 2032). This game has definitely persuaded my opinion on our budget crisis. I hope that in the future we not only keep our programs (and there funding’s) but decrease debt as a whole.
-Sammy Hanson
fixing the budget crisis was a lot harder than I thought it would be. the badges that I picked were competitive advantage and national security. the main cards that I picked to play hard to do mostly with defense and national security. I cut was related spending, cut foreign aid and cut DARPA funding. even though these cards reduced the debt from 70.3% of GDP to 64.6% of GDP, I only delayed the budget bust form 2031 to 2032. I am a downsizer though, considering the fact I shrank the size of government from 22.7% of GDP to 21.7%. even thought I managed to delay the budget bust, I could not find a way to stop it. I have concluded that a government job will never be for me.
ReplyDelete- Kyle Gossman
This game was actually interesting to play, even though i don't feel like i made a huge difference in reducing our debt. My three main badges were Health, Democrat, and National security, when in the end i only truly fulfilled the health badge fill up thingie. Um, from the looks of it i was able to to reduce the debt from 70.3% to 68.0% in the year 2022 which you can see how that wasn't a dramatic or effective change! I was able to downsize the government GDP by $5.4 trillion dollars but yet again that didn't do much to eliminate our debt. I felt as if playing this game, it would've been easier to eliminate debt, and pick and choose here and there and wallah magic but it was the complete opposite, which truly showed me how hard it must be in real life to try and bring down the debt crisis. In the end , my biggest cards were cutting discrenity spending as well as school and kids by making school more affordable, which also helped me see that though you could make a decision to help eliminate debt, and whether that decision truly helps or not, there's always going to be a pro and con for that decision which i was wasn't true and that there were only pros but that's life! - Sara Lado Hour.4
ReplyDeleteMy three badges were democrat, national security and health insurance. Me not really knowing or understanding 100% going into even such a little game like this didn't matter. this game has made me understand how un flexible things really are we're either cutting back on spending, costs or what we perches or we are spending all the money and going deeper and deeper into dept. The thing is no matter what we choose to do we are always going to be greatly in dept. now that we are so deep i feel like there is an ungrateful chance of us ever being truly dept free. i was able to educe the dept from 70.3% down to 67.2% like i said we wont ever be dept free. this has showed me how hard it must be to try and deal with the dept crisis. When i was cutting my spending's and cost we were cutting back on all the huge purposes like education and schooling and it was making it more affordable. this shows me that there is an up and down to everything we are trying to do and that was one of them.
ReplyDeletehour 4
austin bishop
I had a lot of fun doing this assignment (even if I did do it late). My main goals were to try and cut what I would cut if I was actually in control of the budget. My three badges were Democrat, Health and Wellness, and Safety net. Unfortunately, I only earned the Safety Net badge, but the Democrat and Health and Wellness were about half full by the end of the game.
ReplyDeleteI cut all of the military and social security spending, and most of the healthcare spending. I also cut spending from some smaller things like Immigration and housing. I raised taxes as much as I could, which I know in real life would be a big risk if I was trying to get re-elected. I also raised spending on education, which didn't help the debt, but is probably a good thing in the long-run. I think I did a pretty good job--I delayed the budget bust to 2038 and reduced the debt to 42.3% GDP.
-Emma Sharp hour 4
Being in charge of the US budget was no small task. It took time and hard decisions to whip the budget into some sort of shape that would extend the budget bust at least a few years into the future. My goals when I took the office were to have an efficient government, be energy independent, be green, and make the governments monies last longer by taxing and cutting. To achieve these goals, I hacked and sawed at the military, health care, housing, social security, miscellaneous spending, and taxed as much as possible. By cutting out unneeded spending in multiple areas and by streamlining the government, i was able to honorably earn the efficient government badge. I also achieved the energy independence and green badges by aiding in EPA and other monies for wildlife and by investing in renewable energies like wind and drilling for oil. Besides the success i had with the badges, i was able to reduce the GDP from 70.3% in 2013 ($17.2 trillion) to 37.7% in 2022 ($9.2 trillion), delay the budged bust 7 years (until 2038), and downsize the government substantially from $5.5 trillion in 2013 to $4.6 trillion in 2022. All the numbers really mean is that under my plan, the government was smaller, spent less and would bust later than it would without my plan.
ReplyDeleteI learned in this game that the budget bust is gonna catch up no matter how much we cut and tax, we can only prolong it for so long. Also, the cuts to medicare and housing would be terribly detrimental to the poor and elderly who depend on many of the governments programs and the increased tax rates will nearly force companies to move overseas. So much for the land of the free.
-Jason Rieke Hour 4
This budget hero game was intense for me. It took me a while to understand the game, but I think I did okay. I cut National security with becoming the color green. (Democrat). By raising age of members I cut the social security -148$ Which was odd idk why. Also, I reduced the debt to 80.3% to 53.2%. As a result I delay the budget bust, and shrank the size of the government from 22.7% to 19.0%. This is about how good I can get to balance budget. I think we shouldn't always blame gov't for making tough decisions that involves sacrifices. I understand that to become stable, you should make sacrificing decisions. As what our gov't does. Even though they may go for wrong ideas, at least they're trying to fix the impossible.
ReplyDelete-Mohamed Mohamed Hr.4
the first thing that I though when I played this game was to just cut all spending and everything thin would be better well I was pretty wrong. so instead I deiced to work on efficient government, energy independence, and a more green country. so I cut war related spending put money into education, sciences funds for natural energy and oil research. along with that I also cut revamp Medicaid made old people pay more for drug costs, replaced medicare, and cut social programs. and with all that cutting i only reduced the debt from 70% GDP in 2013 ($17.2 tril) to 53% of GDP in 2022 (13.0 tril) and pushed the budget burst from 2031 to 2034. iam a downsizer and was able to shrink the size or the government from 22.7% GDP in 2013 (5.5 tril) to 20.0% GDP in 2022 (4.9 tril). i achieved very little of the efficient government. about 75% of the energy independence, and 25% of the greener country. so overall i feel that our budget is not fixable unless some sort of miracle happens like 18 trillion dollars falls from the sky, besides that i think were screwed.
ReplyDelete-Haris Kaltak Hr. 4
i was able to postpone the budget until 2039 and everything was still in the green, the government was small, and the debt was gone
ReplyDelete~taylor jech
my goal for budget hero was to increase the taxes but not to much to make everyone angry, I cut spending in multiple areas like, food stamps, benefits for wealthier seniors, and financial aid for schooling. its not a happy choice for many but if we want to fix the debt we cant sit around and wait for other people to take actions. A couple of my biggest played cards were replace Medicare, reform and simplify the tax code, and phase out mortgage interest deductions. the budget bust was pushed from 2031 to 2039.
ReplyDeleteSpencer Stock (Drive fast take chances)
This project tought me that it isnt as easy as we think. I was unsuccessful in achieving any of my badges and found it more challanging than I would have ever expected. I would say that as I looked through for things to cut I found my self empty handed and when I did find somthing I could cut, it didnt make that big of a difference. Efficient government and National security were very inmortant to me but also needed large funding. The competative advantage badge was also a very difficult struggle. Education is important so I found it to be an area that I would not cut budget , simply for the responsibility of our future. All in all this was a pretty fun project and I learned that everything is not as it seems and reducing the deficit is a difficullt job.
ReplyDeletechance swanberg hour 7
this budget hero game was very difficult and I do not want a job in the government. my three badges were democrat, national security and health insurance.My goals when I took the office were to have an efficient government, be green, and make the governments monies last longer by taxing.The thing is no matter what we choose to do we are always going to be greatly in dept. now that we are so deep, I feel like there is an ungrateful chance of us ever being truly dept free. I was able to reduce the dept from 70.7% down to 68.2%. this has showed me how hard it must be to try and deal with the dept crisis. When i was cutting my spending's and cost we were cutting back on all the huge purposes like education. this shows me that the government issue is very tough and difficult and that we may never pay off our debt.
ReplyDelete-Abdi Omar Hour 4
My first thought as I began to play this game of Budget Hero, was to cut all welfare and Social Security that were programs created to help us get out of debt but have now created a lazy society. For my first to key choices I decide to first go Democratic and then go green, this is to help me make my choices according to those values. One of the hardest played cards for me was that of revamping Medicaid, that helped boost the economy now. The three biggest of my term were Revamping Medicaid, forming a more reformed Social Security, and creating a smaller military. The hardest challenge was deciding were to have a cut occur because no matter were the budget cut occurs it still effects someone. When I finished I had made the government last from 2013 till 2034, I had reduced the debt from 70.3% to 56.1% in 2022, but I also shrank the size of the government from 22.7% to 20.5%. So yes I did make it last but at this point my only question is there anyone out there that can save MERICA???
ReplyDelete~Mariah Southwick Hour 7
When I started budget hero I really didn’t know how to make it better but I cut spending in the military a lot, raised the age of social security a little and cut spending on Medicaid. My biggest thing was to cut the national debt and I did that at any cost. I lowered to national debt by about 7.3 trillion. I really didn’t worry about getting the badges I really just want to cut the national debt pretty much in half. I wanted to get the efficient government badge but I was not that important. I also delayed the budget bust until 2037. I think I did pretty good in the game since I wanted to lower the national debt!
ReplyDeleteIan Hackman hour 5
Mr.Parker speaking after just finishing Budget Hero on the website.which was interesting how spending an cutting things out can play a huge role in the goverment.Earning 3 out of 3 of my badges in democrat,national security and energy independence.I delayed the dept from 2031 to 2037 by shrinking the goverment by 22.1of gdp to 20.1 .Also reduced dept from 17.2 to 12.2. what i learned the it is harder to balance the budget and thankfully it is not my job.
ReplyDeleteConrad parker hour 4
my 3 badges were efficient government, republican, and national security. I was able to reduce the debt from 70.3% of GDP in 2013 to 44.8% of GDP in 2022. what I found out form playing this game is that if we cut a lot of foreign aid our deficient was cut down a lot and it. I delayed the debt from 2031 to 2037. the card I played the had the biggest impact was the revamp Medicaid card. balancing the budget is not easy at all, and it helps me understand why are nation is so far in debt now
ReplyDelete-Carter Kitzman hr4
The three badges I chose were Republican, Energy Independence, National Security. I only delayed the budget burst a year but my kids called me to tell me thanks!!! :) I reduced the debt from 70.3% of GDP in 2013 to 58.8% of GDP in 2022. One of the cards I played was to eliminate the AMT. This card means that i picked to get rid of the alternative minimum tax for individuals. This federal income tax requires some individuals in higher tax brackets to do their taxes two different ways, calculate both their regular and alternative tax liability and pay the larger tax. My card i played that had the most impact was to Revamp Medicaid. This is a fun and creative way to try and fix our budget. I found that its not easy to fix our debt and frankly i think its nearly impossible to fully get ride of it completely as deep as we are now a days!!!
ReplyDelete-Cody Johnson hour 4
The three badges I chose were Republican, National Security, and Efficient Government. I delayed the budget bust till the year 2038 and reduced the debt from 70.3% of GDP in 2013 to 56.4% in 2038. What I learned from this game is that its hard to balance the budget to what badges you chose. Another thing that I learned that it is completely impossible to get rid of or enormous amount of debt.
ReplyDelete- Quentin Rench Hour 4