Friday, May 21, 2010

Budget Fun

Think you’ve got what it takes to cut the U.S. debt? Here’s your chance. It’s the Committee For A Responsible Federal Budget’s on-line simulator.

Not that bogus “you cut” exercise the House GOP is touting, either. That one is hilarious because the only things you’re allowed to cut is stuff the GOP thinks is useless anyway, like the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Emergency Contingency Fund. As ThinkProgress observed,
eliminating every single one of the proposed YouCut items would amount to cutting 0.017 percent of the federal budget.

This exercise wasn’t nearly as difficult as I expected. I got within 3% of the goal simply by reducing our troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan to 30,000. Personally, I’d like to reduce our troops levels to zero. I honestly have no clue why we are still in either theater, we aren’t accomplishing squat in my inexpert opinion.

Interestingly, repealing the healthcare reform legislation actually leads to a $160 billion budget increase, while enacting cap-and-trade legislation creates a $330 billion decrease.

Anyway, I reduced the debt to 54% of GDP in 2018, and I kept it at a sustainable level through 2030. Yay me.

It wasn’t all that painful, either. I did it while increasing funds for mass transit and expanding the college tax credit. I should be president, y’all.