Name: ______Date: ______Period______
National Budget Simulation
Assignment:
Your task is to try and balance our national budget. Please the following web sites to use a budget simulator to balance our national budget.
1. Econ Ed Link: http://www.econedlink.org/national-budget-simulator.php
(http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.php?lid=306&type=student )
Section 1:
1. After completing the National Budget Simulation, print results and attach. Do not close simulator results; you will need the information to fill out the answer for number 2.
2. Fill out the National Budget Simulation worksheet (back side) based on the information from your completed simulation.
Section 2:
1. Write a 1 page (3 paragraphs minimum) paper which includes: an explanation of the decisions that you made and the justifications for those decisions and what you learned from doing the simulation.
2. Requirements
□ Cover Page, Typed and in sentence form and free of grammar and spelling errors (5)
□ Section 1 – completed National Budget Simulation worksheet and attached copy of results from simulation (5)
□ Section 2–one page summary with all requirement met (minimum of 3 paragraphs) (10)
Date Assigned: 3/6/15
Due Date: 3/6/15 (End OF CLASS)
Days in Computer Lab: 1 (3/6/15)
Point Value: 20
National Budget Simulation Worksheet
Directions:
· When you have reached your target, print out your results of the "Your New Budget" page.
· Now on the same "Your New Budget" page scroll to the bottom and consider your "Spending Changes" and which programs you have cut.
· This will help you answer the questions below.
1. How will the program cuts that you made affect specific groups (the elderly, students, environmentalists, savers, the poor, foreign aid recipients, producers, etc.)?
2. What programs did you choose to cut?
3. Why did you choose those programs over others?
4. Would other cuts have had less impact on people’s lives?
5. Which budget cuts had the largest impact on reducing the deficit?
6. Which decisions might be perceived as politically motivated?
7. What are the tradeoffs of preserving some programs while protecting others?
8. How do your decisions result in the marginal benefit to society outweighing the marginal cost to society?
9. If you had the opportunity to raise taxes rather than cut programs, which policy would you choose?
National Budget Simulation Worksheet