Dems on president Obama’s deficit panel want a new video game to reduce the deficit. From USA Today:
[Erskine] Bowles has been in touch with Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer about creating a deficit-reduction video game that would enable anyone with a computer to take a stab at balancing the budget, much like the 1994 commission did.
Updated for 2010, [Former U.S. Sen. Bob] Kerrey says, such a game could ‘go viral.’
Wait — there already was a video game about reducing the deficit?
Yes. The National Chamber Foundation, the research and education section of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce developed ‘Hard Choices’ in 1989. According to a Nation’s Business article, the game let the user, “try to eliminate the deficit by 1994 solely by restraining spending.” In other words, no tax hikes.
The game is only available in 3 1/2 inch and 5 1/4 inch floppy diskette for IBM PCs, however, so please check your computer’s compatibility before ordering the $20, 21 year-old game.
In 1989, the year the game launched, the deficit that year was $220 billion in 2005 dollars. In 2009, it’s closer to $1.3 trillion. Clearly a sequel to ‘Hard Choices’ would be a much harder game to play.
Will Bowles, a member of Obama’s commission, recommend a no-tax-hike rule for this new video game? If so, that is a game that I sincerely doubt President Obama would want to play.
