Everyone agrees that the U.S. debt has risen to scary heights. What not everyone agrees on is what needs to be done to keep the debt from going past the point of no return. Now comes a new interactive tool that lets you try your hand at deciding what sacrifices we all need to make.

Put together by the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, the simulator first asks you to review several big-picture (and big-money) policy issues like whether to renew tax cuts, freeze the sustainable growth rate, or reduce/maintain troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan.

You are then presented with options in the Defense, Domestic, Social Security, Healthcare, Revenue and Tax Expenditure categories, all with the goal of getting the debt to equal 60% of GDP by 2021.

Explains the CRFB:

We need to establish an ambitious yet attainable fiscal goal and commit as a nation to achieving it. Public debt at 60% of GDP is an internationally recognized standard that represents a sound target for stabilizing the debt in the medium term. We should also look to reduce the debt further in the long term, towards the historical level of around 40% of GDP.

Give it a shot at crfb.org/stabilizethedebt/ (NOTE: We had some trouble getting it to work in the latest version of Firefox but Chrome worked just fine).

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Think You Can Cure The Nation’s Budget Woes?

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