President Obama is facing a huge budget deficit, and while he has mostly himself to blame, he's looking for ways to tell us how difficult a job he has. And their brainstorming produced this interesting concept -- a Deficit Reduction computer game. According to USA Today (by way of Techdirt):
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.
Now that sounds like great fun. But here's the rub. As the old saying goes, the winner gets to write history. And the incumbent gets to write the game code. So the player wins only if he/she plays the game as the administration wants it played. Trim Obamacare? No, no way. Cut some Congressman's earmarks? Nah, might need that guy's vote down the line. Trim missile defense? You're headed for the winners circle. Smear Tea Parties? Score!
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