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Do you have ideas to chart the financial future of the country? Play Budget Hero.
March 6, 2009
(St. Paul, Minn.) March 5, 2009—President Obama wants to spend $3.6 trillion next year to reform health care, boost energy efficiency and improve education. He also vows to slash the federal budget deficit by raising taxes on the wealthy and withdrawing troops from Iraq. How much would you spend to revive the economy? How would you pay for it? Find out by playing Budget Hero™ at www.mpr.org in the Shortcuts menu.
Budget Hero, produced by St. Paul-based American Public Media,™ is a highly popular online game that allows ordinary citizens to see how their priorities and values would cost or save the country. American Public Media recently updated Budget Hero to reflect the true cost of federal bailouts and the $787 billion stimulus bill signed into law by President Obama on February 17. With the federal budget, the deficit and debate on how to fix the economy without bankrupting the country as the top news stories in Washington right now, Budget Hero is continually being updated to give Americans a true cost of the stimulus package and bailouts so they may try their hand at balancing the budget.
American Public Media created Budget Hero in consultation with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Public Agenda and The Concord Coalition. Budget Hero relies primarily on the budget model and forecasts provided the Congressional Budget Office, as well as numbers from independent think tanks such as the Tax Policy Center.
Budget Hero players work to achieve a variety of financial and policy goals in the game. Financial goals might include balancing the federal budget by a certain year, eliminating the national debt or limiting the size of government by keeping it at a certain percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (or GDP, which measures the size of the economy). Policy goals might include providing universal health coverage, fully funding No Child Left Behind, or raising or lowering income taxes.
Since its launch in May 2008, more than 290,000 games have been played. Many have said Budget Hero has changed their thinking about the federal budget.
To learn about how to embed the Budget Hero widget to a Web site, visit http://americanpublicmedia.publicradio.org/engage08/budgethero/widget/.
Additional support for Budget Hero has been provided by The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Richard Lounsbery Foundation.
About Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (www.wilsoncenter.org) is the living, national memorial to President Wilson established by Congress in 1968 and headquartered in Washington, D.C. The Center establishes and maintains a neutral forum for free, open, and informed dialogue. It is a nonpartisan institution, supported by public and private funds and engaged in the study of national and international affairs.
Press Contacts:
Brad Robideau
Minnesota Public Radio
651-290-1113
brobideau@americanpublicmedia.org
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