Hannah Levintova

In recent months, several media outlets and nonprofits have launched online budgeting tools that put us lay folk up to the task of balancing the government's checkbook.

In November, the New York Times introduced its "You Fix the Budget" tool, a simulator that lets online readers tackle the federal budget. MinnPost, the Los Angeles Times, and Cleveland's Plain Dealer have launched similar initiatives for state budgeting, sending users a-hacking at expenditures and upping taxes via checkboxes and sliding cursors. (If only making fiscal policy was actually this straightforward.)

Yesterday, Next10—a California nonprofit—unveiled the revised version of its own budget simulator. While the organization has hosted the online tool for the past seven years, revising it annually to reflect the state's current legislature proposals, this year's scorched-earth budget battle makes it especially timely. With K-12 and higher education, health care, and a wide range of social programs on the line, concerned voters can pick and choose through a variety of options toward a balanced budget. Check it out. Nifty, no?

[Read more in the MoJo blog]

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