Let The Games Begin
by digby
As you all know, one of the purposes of the fiscal scold program is to break the generational compact on social security — basically to foment generational warfare. I had heard last week that as part of that plan, the Peterson Foundation had launched a promotional campaign with MTV to convince young people that the elderly were stealing them blind with social security. Evidently, they have devised a bunch of adorable games and clever PSAs designed to make young people in this tough, competitive environment angry at old people for bankrupting the country with their “entitlements.”
Here’s the latest in that effort, designed to get the young DC players involved:
Administration and Congressional Players “Get Fiscal” in
Budgetball Tournament on the National Mall on Sunday, June 14
Tournament Headlines Peterson Foundation First-Anniversary Activities
WASHINGTON, DC (June 8, 2009) – Fiscal policymakers representing the Treasury Department, other federal agencies, think tanks and Congress will face off against college students in the Budgetball Tournament on the National Mall this Sunday from 11:00am to 2:00pm ET. Budgetball is a team sport similar to Ultimate Frisbee and designed to build awareness, especially young people, about the nation’s growing financial challenges and the trade-offs involved in solving them. The tournament is being hosted by the National Academy of Public Administration, which helped design the game, and by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, which supported the game’s development. National Journal Group is the media co-sponsor of the event.
“Budgetball is an innovative way to get Americans thinking strategically about the serious problem of our growing deficit and debt levels and how they can impact each and every one of us,” said Peterson Foundation President and CEO Dave Walker. “Participants come to understand how the decisions we make every day can help or hinder efforts to put our financial house in order.”
Eight teams will compete on the grounds of the Washington Monument this Sunday. Teams will represent the Legislative Branch, the Executive Branch, and other VIPs in Washington. Among those who are expected to play: Treasury Department staff and budget experts including Urban Institute President Robert Reischauer and congressional budget committee staff. The winning teams from tournaments at Philander Smith College in Little Rock and the University of Miami also will compete for the championship. For more information on the tournament and participating teams, please visit:http://www.budgetball.org/washington/.
“Budgetball strips away the complicated jargon and confusing details of the federal budget by turning ‘fiscal’ into “physical,” said Jennifer Dorn, President and CEO of the National Academy of Public Administration. “It is a catalyst for conversations about fiscal responsibility—both personal and national.”
Budgetball is a non-contact sport of quick passes, tough defense, and bold comebacks designed to increase awareness about the national debt and encourage discussion about America’s fiscal future. The game is punctuated by strategy sessions during which players can take immediate playing advantages that can be paid for by taking sacrifices later in the game, or they may take sacrifices early in order to pay for advantages in later play. The game was developed by the National Academy in collaboration with PETLAB at Parsons The New School for Design and professional game developer Area Code.
The Budgetball Tournament headlines a series of activities marking the Peterson Foundation’s first anniversary. Additional events include today’s publication of Foundation Chairman Pete Peterson memoir, “The Education of an American Dreamer,” by Hachette’s Twelve.
Since its July 2008 launch, the Foundation has continued to use creative means to focus attention on the nation’s growing fiscal challenges. Budgetball is one of two new games it has supported: “Debt Ski,” a viral video game developed in conjunction with MTV’s campus network mtvU, has been played nearly 350,000 times since its launch in late April. Other efforts have included the acquisition and promotion of “I.O.U.S.A.,” a nonpartisan documentary about America’s perilous fiscal status; online outreach that has engaged 160,000 supporters through e-mail; and a popular Twitter feed that tracks the national debt.
The only correct response to this nonsense is for AARP to launch a “We’re Moving In With You” campaign, designed to show young people what will happen if the Peterson Foundation succeeds in mucking around with social security.
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