No, not some new incredible fact about either candidate. This is a game, but a neat one (and no, not PalinAsPresident either).
This game is called Budget Hero, and I’d run across it before, but forgot to post the link. From the site’s FAQ, I learned that:
Budget Hero seeks to provide a values- and fiscal-based lens for citizens to examine policy debates during this election year. Partisan messages tend to cloud the real issues at play during campaigns, and most candidates are loath to attach detailed financial impacts to solutions which make up their platform. Budget Hero provides an interactive experience involving policy options that have been extensively researched and vetted with non-partisan government and think tank experts to enable players to objectively evaluate candidates.
What exactly prompted Marketplace (you might recognize the radio program’s name from NPR/American Public Media newscasts) to feel a need to create this little game as a vehicle for information? Hopefully we’re not so simple nowadays that a game is the only way we’ll understand it all! As someone who has used and seen such devices being used in the classroom, I can tell you that playing around with Budget Hero is well worth the time for students and the rest of us adults. I learned that I am a fiscal conservative–tell that to my checking account–but still, I learned something! As a plus, it outlines the rules and gives information for any choices you might make on spending and taxing fairly well.
Excellent game!!
Play it here.
2 comments
Comments feed for this article
October 31, 2008 at 9:15 am
Enough Said
By Tim Reid, The Times of London
Barack Obama’s senior advisers have drawn up plans to lower expectations for his presidency if he wins next week’s election, amid concerns that many of his euphoric supporters are harboring unrealistic hopes of what he can achieve.
October 31, 2008 at 9:59 am
sigmapromise
although it has nothing to do with Budget Hero (and I believe you spammed me), I’ll concede that 4 years is not much time…but we have to start somewhere. Obama has even hinted to a lengthier time for many programs that him being elected to two terms would not even reach.
I believe with all my heart that Obama will put things in motion, so that we will be on the right track. I believe with all my heart that he WANTS to do this for America.
I don’t feel that this is unrealistic.