Monday, February 21, 2011

Budget Puzzle

I know some of you may have come across this before, but I think it is some snow day fun, great for mindful entertainment. What were your results? What do you think the real life implications are if these measures were to come to pass? Comments?
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/13/weekinreview/deficits-graphic.html
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8 comments:

  1. Laura KochFebruary 21, 2011 at 9:25 AM

    I cut spending 38% and increased taxes 62%, and I think i acted conservatively. I wanted to cut more defense spending.

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  2. Brooks T.February 21, 2011 at 2:21 PM

    I cut a lot of spending, upwards of 200 billion over the next 5 years to help combat the deficit. I am more fixed on the lowering of spending than raising taxes. Taxes are high enough, we are just spending too much. 34% from increase taxes and 66% from spending cuts. I am not sure how I fall with the rest of America.

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  3. DaveOFebruary 21, 2011 at 3:31 PM

    I cut a lot of defense spending. I think the puzzle thing was pretty cool. It really puts things in perspective. A lot of people don't realize what it would actually take to lower the deficit but this exercise shows how tough it would be to do so. Good find, Brooks.

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  4. DaveOFebruary 21, 2011 at 3:32 PM

    Oops. I didn't realize Brooks was done chief blogging for the week. Good find, Ashley. I hadn't seen that before.

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  5. JJFebruary 22, 2011 at 9:17 PM

    I cut spending 69% and raised taxes 31%. And I did cut defense spending a lot. Reducing navy stuff down from 280 something to 230 etc seems like a good deal to me!

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  6. RichardFebruary 23, 2011 at 7:03 AM

    42% tax increases, and 58% spending cuts. I increased the entitlement age to 68, hit defense spending hard, and restored the Clinton era estate, and investment taxes. I actually left the Bush tax cuts alone, and focused on waste such as earmarks, and loopholes.

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  7. AnonymousFebruary 24, 2011 at 5:10 PM

    I also focused on cutting a great deal of defense spending. This puzzle was really neat! I thought it was a great way to see the various budget cut options that the government is facing, and I like how they described each of the options.

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  8. MattFebruary 27, 2011 at 12:12 PM

    Really interesting puzzle. Some key areas that I focused a lot of my spending cuts on include: defense spending, restoring the Clinton era estate, and raising the social security age. 71% savings from spending cuts, and 29% from tax increases.

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