Make the Budget Deficit Your Problem ('cause it kinda is...)

I'm addicted to good infographics. Love, love, love them. With the web, there's the added value of making them interactive - so you can get iterative feedback and learn a hell of a lot more.

One informative graphic + functionality = many, many informative graphics.

So here's the NYT's Budget graphic

and it's awesome. It presents you with the projected short term and long term budget shortfalls for the US budget - as well as a list of current proposals for reducing the deficit.

Here's the starting point:

A great illustration of the magnitude of the problem - and a wonderful tool for letting the air out of coffeehouse theories or tv talking points.

Let's cut foreign aid!

Okay, we'll slash them in half:

What now?

Uh...we'll eliminate earmarks, too!

Done.

What else?

Uh......

Sure, a lot of the proposals don't show what other consequences would occur (from, say raising the age for Medicare, or freezing Medicare payments) but I do wish they'd have this graphic at hand the next time some airhead like Mitch McConnell pitches an idea as if it is the silver bullet.