Uncle Sam’s Budget Balancer


Image by Gil Eisner

Uncle Sam’s Budget Balancer for DOS or Windows computers empowers you to balance the FY 1995 federal budget using actual numbers provided by the Congressional Budget Office.

I first created Uncle Sam’s Budget Balancer as a public service during the 1992 presidential campaign. At the time I was president of Banner Blue Software, a company I founded and have since sold to Broderbund Software. The program has been updated with new budget information several times. When I left my company I retained the rights to the program, available as freeware. My objectives today remain the same as they were in 1992:

First, I want to demonstrate the advantages of using a computer to educate citizens about dollars and cents public policy issues like the federal deficit. Full, accurate, undistilled information can be provided in a form that is much more approachable than the hundreds of pages of text from which it is condensed. And, as a “working model” of the budget, citizens can quickly test the validity of their ideas and preconceptions.

Second, I want to empower citizens to evaluate the performance of their representatives and the accuracy of the media by giving them a powerful analytical tool. Quite literally, citizens can see whether what they are told “adds up.”

Third, I want to show that the budget can be balanced and what it takes to do so.

To me, balancing government spending transcends politics and economic theory–it’s a simple matter of discipline. I hope you agree.

If there is sufficient interest, I will convert the program to run on the Web itself.

–Kenneth L. Hess

Downloads

  • Download Uncle Sam’s Budget Balancer
    Uncle Sam’s Budget Balancer for DOS or Windows computers empowers you to balance the FY 1995 federal budget using actual numbers provided by the Congressional Budget Office. This is a self-extracting, compressed file.
  • The latest CBO budget options
    Read the latest options for balancing the budget prepared by the Congressional Budget Office.
  • Download Eureka!
    Eureka! California’s Budget Balancer for DOS or Windows computers let’s you try to balance California’s state budget. This is a self-extracting, compressed file.