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Let's Play Budget Hero!

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Servant Corps:


Budget Hero! is a game that allows you to set the national budget over a ten-year period. Your goal is twofolds:
1) Promote your political ideology!
2) Make sure the national budget does not go 'bust' in the process.

Easy, right? Yeah right.

This game is also somewhat biased, but, hey, political games are a rare breed, I don't look gift horses in the mouth. My goal is to simulate different political ideologies, and see how they will manage to change society.


I'm going to start by simulating a L+ Presidency (possibly a follower of Green Ideology). You can suggest other political ideologies to simulate, like Ron Paul's Libertarianism (if only I can understand what they support though). I'll try to throw it into the ringer, but will need some approval to, ahem, twist the ideologies in order to make sure they'll win.



This is how we start off. The US government, slated to declare bankrupcy in 2032. We can't let that happen.



First off, let end the War on Iraq, Afghanistan, and Terror. We'll likely going to need to cut back on our military by 10% (saving $541 billion dollars), cut back on foreign aid ($218 billion), and hire LCS mercenaries to do the US' dirty work replace some military officers with civilian officers (saving $9 billion dollars). Not really that big of a deal.

All those cuts means the US now gets to declare bankrupcy in 2034! We're moving up!

Speaking of cuts, why not we cut Bush tax cuts in the process?



Soaking the rich would also help reduce income inequality as well.



2051, huh? Some more "tax cut" cuts should be able to push us to sustain the budget indefinetly, but let us focus on what really matters at the moment.

Each of the three bdages represent a political agenda, if I fufil that agenda, that badge fills up. You don't have to pass all cards that fill that agenda, only a couple of programs.

First off: Making the US Green. I did the 'cap-and-trade' scheme, netting 1.9 billion dollars, added 50 cents to the gas tax (701 billion), and taxed toxic industries (20 billion). That mean the government can now wait until 2070 to file bankrupcy.

Then, I fund research on clean coal (mostly how to abolish coal entirely), while increasing funds for saving endangered species, researching weather science, and making the EPA more effienct in cracking down on polluters. I only had to have done one of these projects though.



Second off: Health and Wellness.

I placed this program in, as well as funded SCHIP and mandated that everyone must carry health insurance. To encourage people to not smoke, I also taxed tobacco so as to fund these programs. Health and Wellness complete.

To establish a Safety Net, I rose beniefts for widows, widowers, and low-income workers. The universal health care mandate also helped out in providing a safety net.

The end result?



Now, the government will declare bankrupcy by 2058. We have to do something to ensure the government will not declare bankrupcy by that time. But what?

How about we reduce income inequality?

---End Breaks on Big Oil (14 Billion)
---Tax Private Equity, Hedge Fund Managers (26 Billion)
---No Breaks on Extractive Industries (26 Billion)
---Raise Taxes on Multinationals (40 Billion)
---Raise SS Taxes on the Rich (563 Billion)
---Tax Corporations (28 Billion)

...The result is that now the US gets to declare bankrupcy in 2063. :(

It looks like I have no choice, it looks like I may have to result to a dangerous matter...



...I'm so sorry I have to do this America, but it's the only way to prevent you from declaring bankrupcy.

Passing this allows for the US to declare bankrupcy in 2069.



Passing this allows for the US to declare bankrupcy in 2070. (Since the image's broken, what it shows is that I limited tax breaks for giving to charity, saving 255 Billion Dollars)

Lastly, I cut the mortage interest deduction, saving the government 90 billion dollars. The US will no longer be able to declare bankrupcy in the foreseeable future!

Now, I could continue to fund more government programs to further promote Wellness, Greenness, and Safety Netness, but that would just mean raising more taxes in order to accomplish it. Not by a lot, mind you, but still. And, of course, I could also just decide to end NASA and earmarks as well, and recover some more money. Overall, what it would accomplish is more screenshots.

Sadly, Budget Hero just froze on me, so I can't get you a picture of my end result. Needless to say though, I have won.

zchris13:
You just won the budget.  Pretty sure that is impossible.  The taxpayers would revolt at such a respectable use of their money.

AussieGuy:
You can't win the budget. YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE BUDGET!

Zako:
Because the budget ****ing handles you. And not in a nice you-will-thank-us-later way, but a mentally scaring, haunt-you-forever way.

YES I FEEL THAT THE GOVERNMENT CAN DO NOTHING GOOD AT TIMES! RAGE!!

mainiac:
This is based on CBO estimates.  IIRC, CBO estimates are 3 months out of date, which make them considerably more rosy then the latest estimates.

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