Balance the Budget Yourself!

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Ever wanted to know what it would be like to craft fiscal policy, allocate billions in tax revenue, or balance your very own federal budget?

On Wednesday, American Public Media’s Public Insight Network (PIN) launched a newly updated version of their “Budget Hero” game, which allows participants to envision their ideal federal budget. The game, based on data from the Congressional Budget Office, begins “10 years from now to show what would happen if current [economic] policy were to continue on, unchanged.”

Players start by selecting “badges” most compatible with their political views, ranging from “Tea Party” to “Energy Independence.”

Click on the icon below to launch the widget in a pop-up window:

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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