Sunday, November 14

Armchair Budget Balancer - You Play Congress & the President

Something nifty courtesy of the NY Times. Here's the description of their new, interactive budget balancing tool:
"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."
Related article here.

Update: There has been some criticism of the lack of options provided in the NY Times' tool. For example, the option of switching from an income tax to a consumption tax (e.g., Fair Tax) was left out. According to the NY Times Economics blog this was done due to the fact that such a change is not politically feasible. I expressed my disappointment in the comments that an economics blog was concerning itself with political feasibility at the expense of promoting optimum economic policy:
"There are a lot of great ideas that don't garner much support in Congress. This may explain why Congress's approval rating is around 10%."

No comments:

Post a Comment