U.S. Government Inquiries About Debt-Reducing Game

April 14, 2010 - Gamers may soon be able to help reduce the United States' massive budget deficit. In an effort to reduce the USA's $12.8 trillion federal budget deficit, President Barack Obama's fiscal commission co-chairman Erskine Bowles has asked Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer about creating a debt-reducing videogame, USA Today reports.

According to the report, the game would "enable anyone with a computer to take a stab at balancing the budget." Democratic Senator Bob Kerrey said the game could even "go viral."

"What you could get is support among the populace for the exceptionally unpopular things you need to do to solve this problem," added Kerry, who help release his own budget-reducing game called Budget Shadows for PC in 1994 as chairman of the Bipartisan Commission on Entitlement and Tax Reform.

pc.ign.com...

I think this is a great idea. Everyone is worried about our debt...so let people individually get the chance at tackling a simulation of the problem. This may also open up people to solutions they may not have been open to before.

The only difficult part would be trying to make this fun and not a chore as paying bills isn't fun for anyone.

Network capability required to play, I'm sure. That way if you do win the game, your methods are transferred back to DC where people there who have no real clue on reducing the debt will gleefully steal ideas.

Could this BE ANY MORE TRANSPARENT of a request? Why not just address the American people in a public address saying "We don't know how to fix this, so we would like your ideas."

reply to post by sos37

Network capability required to play, I'm sure. That way if you do win the game, your methods are transferred back to DC where people there who have no real clue on reducing the debt will gleefully steal ideas. Could this BE ANY MORE TRANSPARENT of a request? Why not just address the American people in a public address saying "We don't know how to fix this, so we would like your ideas."

Well it depends how you look at things. Since most people don't care about details and just want things fixed...this will open their eyes to many problems we face. I don't really think this is a bad thing.

If people want tax cuts, cuts in spending, tax increases, etc....this is a wonderful way for people in general to find common ground...and therefore help get some good legislation through.

I don't care if ideas are stolen if they work for the greater good of all of us. We could use all the help we can at this point. This is a good opportunity for the little guy to take a stab at a major issue we are facing.

Of course, it would all depend on how the idea is implemented...and it would also have to enjoyable experience...I don't see how it could hurt anyone though.

The government has been funding a game called "America's Army" for years which was free...showing the basics of basic training and combat.



[edit on 15-4-2010 by David9176]

So do you win after you have printed more money than everyone else or...

reply to post by GreenBicMan

So do you win after you have printed more money than everyone else or...

Yes...we will all become certified Federal Reserve Chairman material!

Seriously though, does anyone think this idea could be useful? I think it could be if done right.

I think this could be useful depending on how it's implemented and how flexible it is.

I know I would love to take a crack at gutting the Federal Government's agencies and budgets. I would eliminate the DEA, legalize drugs, cut the defense budget in half at least, eliminate the Dept of Education, etc.

I am fairly certain I could fix the deficit problems.

That said, I doubt any politician would implement my solutions if they actually worked since they are all being bribed by megacorporations to keep all the pork, tax breaks, subsidies, grants, etc in the budgets.

reply to post by David9176


Yes, if you had EVERYTHING simulated perfectly..

I don't know if that is possible because how could you implement real time stats and all this?

Would be interesting anyway

Wouldn't that be a presumption that Ballmer and his intrepid crew of programmers are themselves economic geniuses?

Would the government be 'monitoring' the game? Makes the idea of 'going viral' a bit creepy, if you ask me.

I fail to see how any such simulation can make any difference to those in control of global monetary policy (the transnational banking cartel - of which "the Fed" is just a major branch office).

Or do you think they will 'invest' in the game? I wonder whose "servers" the gamers will be playing on?

Just thinking about this.... It would be almost impossible to play this because of all the necessary statistics I would need to accurately "win". Sure we can "guess" at this but to truly tackle the issue, I would need "real statistics".

Example - . What is the real cost of "drug enforcement"? How much does it cost to police, process, prosecute, imprison, etc.

Example #2 - Real projections of National Sales tax vs Income Tax. Need truthful stats to really prove or disprove many methods.

Example #3 - How much overhead is spent at the department of education.... how much money "really" gets to the school vs. Administrators, Bureaucrats, Bureaucrats offices & expenses, etc. (how much can we save if we cut out the middlemen?

Example #4 - Government Pensions are unsustainable - what is the real projected costs, how to tie it to private sector equivalents, etc.

Example #5 - How much would it cost to construct my "National Algae Farms" in the New Mexico Desert and then how much can I expect to sell and export after our Domestic needs are met?

I would need some hard facts to effectively explain and sell my plans to an audience.

Now statistics like this is what I would need to logically know how to make better use of our wasted tax money. Otherwise, I just have a very limited avenue of "research" on the internet which is less than reliable.


I have a number of plans that make significant impacts both economically, energy independence and even exporting again, jump-starting the economy through a combination of replacing income tax with sales tax, Fair trade tariffs, business incentives to employ Americans, Lowering Heathcare costs and creating true competition, and halving each homeowners payment through my 0.5% mortgage plan which used in combination with the above will put the U.S. economy back on track.

[edit on 15-4-2010 by infolurker]

reply to post by GreenBicMan

Yes, if you had EVERYTHING simulated perfectly..

Well as long as it had the option to increase tariffs...it would be a hell of a lot closer to perfection than what our trade policies are now!

Don't think it could ever be perfect however.

reply to post by Bobbox1980


I would love to take a crack at it as well. We all claim to know what we should do...so give people a chance to do it. As I stated, maybe this could bring people together on some issues.

It couldn't hurt to try anyway.

[edit on 15-4-2010 by David9176]

[edit on 15-4-2010 by David9176]

reply to post by infolurker

Just thinking about this.... It would be almost impossible to play this because of all the necessary statistics I would need to accurately "win". Sure we can "guess" at this but to truly tackle the issue, I would need "real statistics".

Accuracy would be a problem...but game programmers are geniuses. They know what they are doing. Look at what can be done today with games and computers in general. I think it's possible to have a legitimate simulation on doing it. It would be impossible for it to be perfect...but nothing is perfect.

It would be also helpful if it could be open source...as to where it can be modded by users to help make it even more accurate.

Like i stated before...this gives people a crack at problems and a look at the numbers...which could constantly be updated.

I like this idea...I'm not going to shoot it down.

Wow this is the most crazy suggestion I've ever heard has Obama finally lost his mind?

This is the last gasp of any concept of a free market economy. It's all virtual anyway why not turn into a video game.

Totally rigged market.

How about in the process of doing such, that the public comes up with real time solutions to the problems that the federal government is not paying attention to.
I know that if I was asked to put some thought into the budget and I had all of the information at hand, I think I could come up with a solution that would not only balance the budget, but also end up reducing the deficit and giving the country an actual surplus to the economy to fund the lill extras that the government may want to.
If I had a say, the first thing to stop would be the payments to all of the countries that hate us. No more money for foreign countries at this time the bank of the USA would end, the wallet closed. That would probably bring in several billions. No more assisting or promising money to other countries, as we just can't afford it. I would make cuts to stream line alot of the pork out of the budget. Need money from the federal goverment for a special project, the note would be, go back to your state and ask them to pay more taxes to fund such. In short the federal governemtn would be mandated to make money and pay off the bills within its budget.
I would probably also cut the pay of all federal employees, congress included to match their counterparts from their own states, no more 170K a year jobs any more. That would be a good start.
The drug war, well it would no longer be capture and imprison, it would be find, and cure, then put back into society.

reply to post by belial259

Wow this is the most crazy suggestion I've ever heard has Obama finally lost his mind?
This is the last gasp of any concept of a free market economy. It's all virtual anyway why not turn into a video game. Totally rigged market.

Yeah, actually giving all the sit at home politicians a crack at fixing our floundering economy is a bad thing?

If anything, this will could open up people to cutting spending on things they haven't before. Since the whole country is supposedly "conservative" leaning...wouldn't the solutions favor small government and balanced budgets?

Talk about being over dramatic....

reply to post by David9176


They better have a "PPT" option built in.

It would be nice to control the market for a change.

EDIT: But generally this is a good idea IMO

[edit on 15-4-2010 by GreenBicMan]

Originally posted by David9176
Talk about being over dramatic....

How am I being over dramatic? It's a totally rigged market economy and now they're turning it into a video game. It's fake it's based on nothing. Totally virtual.

It's like letting Chinese gold farmers control the World of Warcraft economy except in real life.

The exchange is already mostly bots (back box) anyway so why not just take that last extra step and reveal the markets for the fraud they are.

A video game hahahaha

reply to post by GreenBicMan

They better have a "PPT" option built in. It would be nice to control the market for a change.

It may give you some new stock strategies GBM. hehe.

Maybe I shouldn't have shared this article on ATS however. People find it more interesting in finding more info on the world coming to an end than finding plausible solutions.

After all, Obama's administration came up with the idea...so it must be part of his plan to destroy the economy.

I'd actually like to see this idea implemented and ideas/results shared here on ATS....unfortunately people would probably be showing how they could destroy the economy the fastest.

reply to post by David9176


Well you had to assume that.

Someone usually tells me once per thread that I feast on the blood of middle class americans

I like the idea though, just hard for me to fathom that they could really make this "real time". You would also have to have real time news feeds like update it because what happens if this country nukes that etc.

[edit on 15-4-2010 by GreenBicMan]

Illinois actually did something along these lines. Not a video game, but a call out to the people that, in essence, said "Well guys, here's your chance. You tell us what you would suggest to fix our state budget. You have better ideas? Send them to us." So, my brother-in-law and I sent this to every friend and relative in Illinois that we could. We also sent in our ideas.

Illinois Budget site to send ideas and read the comments.

At least they pretended that they were interested in what we had to say about our financial crisis and ideas for fixing it.

At this point, maybe Obama should take ideas and suggestions from the citizens. The government hasn't been doing such a great job of fixing this on their own, and for years hasn't seemed much interested in fixing it. If creating this game and getting viable ideas can help, it sounds, based on the facts available, like it certainly couldn't hurt.

Take care,
Cindi

Yo D

cool idea... I am happy that some FEDs don't seem to believe they are gods gift-

Like I said once, I am always thinking up crap... I actually came up with a similar concept a while back, well more precisely, create a government, citizens, business, basic laws and currency ( all virtual/conceptual ), a given number of players to see what ACTUALLY works in the modern world, while being entertaining and competitive. In fact I was thinking about making a thread as a great experiment, using America as the model, given number of members as a game of sorts to test out "LEFT/RIGHT" ideas in general.

I have failed to
come up with simple enough rules and laws for the game, but I am still thinking about it, maybe when the sun freezes???...

thanks for the scoop