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The New York Times has created a “Budget Puzzle.” You are given a set of policy options and you must select enough options that the USA budget will become balanced in 2015 and 2030.
Frankly some of the options present false choices, such as the decision to cut foreign aide by half or not. Why can’t I just cut all of it?
Still, this could (theoretically) reflect natural limitations on policy such as institutional inertia or what is politically possible. So even with that limitation I found it an interesting exercise and a good way to make people aware of how much needs to be done to balance the USA federal budget.
You can take a look at the methodology behind the numbers here.
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2 comments:
This is not a challenge which would balance the budget, it's a challenge which would bring the budget into "primary balance" - that is to say, a deficit of 3% of GDP(which should, in principle, keep the debt:GDP ratio fixed over time). That's why it's so easy. If you want to bring the budget into actual balance, your target numbers are $925 billion in 2015 savings and $2135 billion in 2030 savings.
Just to point something out: if you choose to only cut spending, you will balance the budget by 2015. Imagine how much sooner it would be if you could choose to pull not only all troops out of Iraqistan, but around the world, too.
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