Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 2, 1994 TAG: 9412020067
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: COX NEWS SERVICE|
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
A computer game released Thursday by the federal government lets you try to prevent the collapse of the entire federal budget between the years 2020 and 2030.
The game, Budget Shadows, was designed by the staff of the Bipartisan Commission on Entitlement and Tax Reform, which has until Dec. 15 to report on how to keep entitlements and tax loopholes from gobbling up all revenues by 2030.
Players can score by closing loopholes, such as tax-free pension benefits, or by cutting entitlements such as Social Security, Medicare, veterans' benefits and farm price supports.
``If you get a score of 100, you have kept the potential deficit in the year 2030 at 2.5 percent of gross domestic product - which is where it is today. If you believe in balanced budgets, your winning score is 115,'' said Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb. ``I've gotten to 100 several different ways - liberal, moderate and conservative paths.''
But as reporters rushed to the computers, Sen. John Danforth, R-Mo., warned that the game ``does not factor in the effect this has on real people, and it does not factor in the political difficulties [for decision-makers] from pressure groups, with all the phones ringing and the postcards coming in.''
You can play the game on IBM-compatible personal computers with Microsoft Windows version 3.1 or later and Lotus 1-2-3 for Windows version 4.0 or later. The game can be downloaded from the Internet's World Wide Web (go to http://- www.charm.net/dcarolco/) or by anonymous FTP at ftp.sen- ate.gov.
by CNB