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Obama Administration Wants Microsoft to Make a Budget Balancing Game

by Terrence O'Brien on April 15, 2010 at 01:15 PM

People from a particular "party" (that might look something like this) are constantly making demands that the federal government cut taxes and reign in the deficit. Hell, most all of us can agree that we need to get our ballooning public debt under control before China turns us all into indentured servants. But nobody is willing to give up their precious government and social programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security or public education. That leaves politicians, particularly our president, in the rather tough position of trying to balance a budget while knowing that any meaningful steps towards doing so would anger large portions of the population.

The Obama administration has considered an interesting way to educate the public about just how big of a challenge it faces. Erskine Bowles, co-leader of a commission focused on balancing the budget, told USA Today he had been in contact with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer about creating a video game in which players must balance the federal budget and reduce the deficit.

Depending on just how accurately it recreates the intricacies of economic mediation, such a game could serve several purposes: to educate the public, to perhaps quell some anger and to bring otherwise unheard ideas to the attention of the administration.

Senator Bob Kerrey, who, in 1994, led a commission similar to the Bowles-Simpson one, told USA Today that he believed such a game would "go viral." We're really hoping Microsoft gets on this one soon; it sounds a whole lot more interesting than just another 'Halo' installment. [From: USA Today, via: Gizmodo]

Tags: BarackObama, budget, deficit, economy, ErskineBowles, government, microsoft, money, politics, SteveBallmer, top, videogames

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