Jason shared a link to Budget Hero and I had to go take a look. If the game is to be believed, all is not yet lost in the quest to get a balanced budget without abandoning all vestiges of the social safety net that we have been spinning for the last 80 years.
I managed – with a little effort – to balance the budget, increase security, achieve energy independence, and eliminate government waste at the same time so that the budget bust date was pushed back from 2033 to sometime after 2070. I don’t know how accurate the game’s assumptions are, but it really gets you thinking.
Go see if you can achieve your goals (you get to pick your own goals) as a budget hero.