This is a great piece of work. Together with deliberative polling, they represent a much more rational way to engage citizens. We just need to find a way to make these sorts of efforts drive the entire political conversation forward...
-- Ernie P. Begin forwarded message: > From: Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget <[email protected]> > Subject: Americans Tackle the Debt > Date: April 26, 2012 7:49:22 AM PDT > To: [email protected] > Reply-To: [email protected] > > > CHAIRMEN > Bill Frenzel > Jim Nussle > Tim Penny > Charlie Stenholm > > PRESIDENT > Maya MacGuineas > > COMMISSIONERS > Barry Anderson > Erskine Bowles > Charles Bowsher > Steve Coll > Dan Crippen > Vic Fazio > Willis Gradison > William Gray, III > William Hoagland > Jim Jones > Lou Kerr > Jim Kolbe > James McIntyre, Jr. > David Minge > June O'Neill > Paul O'Neill > Marne Obernauer, Jr. > Rudolph Penner > Peter Peterson > Robert Reischauer > Alice Rivlin > Chuck Robb > Martin Sabo > Alan Simpson > John Spratt > Gene Steuerle > David Stockman > John Tanner > Laura Tyson > George Voinovich > Paul Volcker > Carol Cox Wait > David M. Walker > Joseph Wright, Jr. > > SENIOR ADVISOR > Robert Strauss > > Americans Tackle the Debt > Assessing the Results of CRFB's Budget Simulator > > April 25, 2012 > > While lawmakers' efforts to reach an agreement on the "super committee" and > the so-called "grand bargain" have so far been unsuccessful, Americans have > quietly been showing the way to getting the national debt under control. > > In 2010, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) launched the > online "Stabilize the Debt" budget simulator, empowering the public to learn > more about the changes necessary to control the nation's rising debt and > providing a platform from which to make their choices heard. Today, CRFB is > launching a new and improved version of the simulator, with additional > options reflecting the current debate. As always, the simulator can be > accessed and used at http://crfb.org/stabilizethedebt. > > Since the initial release in May 2010, over a quarter of a million people > have used the simulator. The sheer number of participants who have engaged > with CRFB's online simulator illustrates the depth of public interest in > deficit reduction and the seriousness of Americans when it comes to > understanding the need to make hard fiscal choices. > > Policymakers in Washington could learn a great deal from their constituents > when it comes to tackling the national debt. Among our findings were the > following:1 > About 4 percent of users relied exclusively on spending cuts, 2 percent > relied exclusively on revenue increases, and the remaining 94 percent reduced > the deficit through some combination of spending and revenue changes. > Partisan support for various options did not necessarily reflect what is > reported in the media. For example, 71 percent of Democrats supported raising > the retirement age, and 82 percent of Republicans supported letting at least > some of the 2001/2003/2010 tax cuts expire. > About 80 percent of the sample successfully stabilized the debt at 60 percent > of GDP by the end of the decade. > Unlike public opinion polls that measure the preferences of respondents in a > vacuum, with little context regarding the effect those choices will have on > the fiscal outlook, the CRFB simulator underscores the fact that politically > easy options do little to reduce the national debt. For example, while the > elimination of outdated programs (88 percent in favor) and earmarks (82 > percent) were the most popular choices of our users, they combine to generate > merely $120 billion in savings through 2018. Seeing how little those choices > moved the debt needle, users were forced to make tougher choices in order to > achieve a stable budget. > > We hope that policymakers can learn from the results of the budget simulator > and work across party lines to enact a comprehensive debt reduction plan this > year. > > Budget Simulator Results > > As CRFB launches the latest version of the simulator, it is revealing to > review the deficit-reducing and deficit-increasing choices that users have > selected. The data, voluntarily submitted by more than 8,000 participants > from October 2010 through January 2012, offers some intriguing insight into > which deficit reduction measures Americans might be willing to accept when > they understand the gravity of the situation and how much it will take to put > the country on sound fiscal footing. > > > > Also of interest are which measures had bipartisan consensus and which were > more partisan in nature. While it is no surprise that Democrats and > Republicans have different views on a number of deficit reduction policies, > there were also many policies about which users from both parties expressed > similar views. > > > > Nearly all simulator users supported eliminating or reducing various outdated > programs contained in the President's proposed terminations and reductions, > regardless of political party. There tended to be little disagreement between > Democrats and Republicans on reducing farm subsidies, including all new state > and local government workers in Social Security, increasing user fees across > the board, and using a more accurate measure of inflation for indexing > elements of the tax code. Using a more accurate measure for other > inflation-indexed programs, such as for Social Security benefits, also scored > highly. > > Still, our results show distinct intraparty preferences among Democrats, > Republicans and Independents in terms of the types of fiscal levers each > group was most likely to rely on to control rising debt. > Democrats favored options that raised revenues and reduced the number or > value of various tax expenditures to reduce the debt. Democrats did not > select very many savings options from the domestic and economic spending > category, but still had significant savings from spending cuts. > Republicans, on the other hand, relied on much more savings from spending > programs, especially in federal health care programs, Social Security, and > domestic spending programs. However, increased revenues and reduced tax > expenditures also contributed significantly to Republican users' overall > savings. > Independents generally showed an even greater mixture of savings stemming > from spending cuts and revenue increases than either Republicans or > Democrats. In the areas of defense, Independents opted for a greater amount > of savings than either Democrats or Republicans. > * * * * * > The simulator illustrates that when presented with a true picture of the > budget situation, Americans respond by making difficult choices. Unlike their > representatives in Washington, a majority of Americans are able to find > savings across all areas of the budget and reduce the debt substantially. > > CRFB will continue to share the results to inform the fiscal policy debate, > and encourages you to give the updated "Stabilize the Debt" budget simulator > a try and to share it with your friends and colleagues. > > [1] While these results are highly informative for policymakers, they do not > represent a scientific poll. > > * * * * * > > Click here to read the online version of this release. > > For press inquiries, please contact Trina Williams at [email protected] > > > > > > > > Forward email > > This email was sent to [email protected] by > [email protected] | > Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | > Privacy Policy. > Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget | 1899 L Street, Suite 400 | > Washington | DC | 20036 > -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
