(Federal Budget Deficits)Try your hand at balancing the federal budget by trying the National Budget Simulation at UC Berkeley's Center for Community Economic Research at http://www.budgetsim.org/nbs/.

a. Develop a budget and see what happens. Were you successful in balancing the budget? If not, how much of a deficit or surplus did you end up with? What does this exercise tell you about the process of creating a balanced budget?

b. Reexamine the budget cuts or increases you made. What problems would such changes pose for a politician facing reelection?

c. This budget simulator allows you only to change spending and tax expenditures over a one-year period. What problems does this pose to finding a realistic economic solution for balancing the budget?