Federal Budget

You will view “I.O.U.S.A.,” a documentary by the Concord Coalition, a nationally-recognized think tank that specializes in federal budget issues. This film is available on You Tube. To access it, go to http://www.youtube.com, enter I.O.U.S.A. in the search box at the top of the screen, and then click on IOUSA (first entry).

2. You are required to write a ten-page paper, typed, double-spaced, that does the following:

a. (four pages) I.O.U.S.A. analysis: Discuss two major ideas regarding each of the four “deficits” described in the film.

b. (two pages) Political ideology: Take the 20-question quiz found at http://www.idealog.org/en/quiz.. Based on this quiz, describe your political ideology and the reasons for that ideology. Be sure to answer these questions:
i. What do you think is the role of government?
ii. Where do you think the government should be involved in society?
iii. Where do you think the government should be restricted in its involvement?

c. (four pages) Federal budget decisions: Go to www.federalbudgetchallenge.org/pages/overview and take the federal budget challenge located at this website. Based on your chosen political ideology, try to reduce the annual projected budget deficits for the next ten years. After you have completed the exercise, print the summary of your spending and revenue choices that appears as the last page, and attach it to your paper. Use your chosen ideology to give reasons for your choices regarding the categories under the Spending options and the categories under the Revenue options. In other words, you must apply your ideological beliefs about the role of government to the specific budget decisions that you have made. There MAY be discrepancies between your beliefs and your decisions—explore and explain those discrepancies.

No title page needed, no reference page needed.