http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...oices=zzutn010
Surprisingly, not that hard. My hardest cut was 250,000 contract jobs. Taking that many contractors out of the economy is a tough decision during a recession, but there is sooooo much corruption in those government contracts.
The majority if my cuts were in military and medical spending and raising medicare and social security retirement ages (only makes sense with the increase in life expectancy), and my only tax increase was a simplification that actually lowers rates on everyone but eliminates many loopholes.
While a fun exercise, it suffers the same flaw that most models suffer from: The assumption that the current state of affairs will continue regardless of tax increases or spending decreases. It ignores the ever present law of unintended consequences. I could almost balance the budget by only increasing taxes, but makes no consideration for the effect that would have on the economy. The rate of return would plummet because while the % amount would increase, the total sum drawn from would drastically reduce because wealth would be removed from the economy and likely transferred overseas if loopholes are removed along with increases.