This week you will have an opportunity to experience first-hand the fiscal conflicts policy makers’ experience. You will have the task of balancing the federal budget by playing “Balancing Act”—an interactive online federal budget simulation that lets you decide where tax dollars should go and how taxes should be collected (http://abalancingact.com/).

First, click on “Get Your Taxpayer Receipt” and complete the simple form. What stood out to you? Are these the right priorities? Why or why not? Where do you think your taxes should go?

Second, click on “Try Our Federal Budget Simulation” and see if you can create a sustainable balanced budget based on your values. Write a brief summary of how you accomplished this task and some of the more difficult choices for you. In your response please identify three challenging choices and consider the following: What factors did you consider in making these choices? What did you base your selections on? How might you explain your choices in a public forum? How would having to defend your choices publicly change the way you allocated funding?

Please write a 3-4 page response using 12-point Times New Roman font, double-spaced to the prompts above. Your written response should demonstrate understanding of that week’s topic (Defining Macro Policy Advocacy/ Learning Macro Policy Advocacy Skills) by connecting the information presented on the website with the assigned chapters as well as your field placement (SCHOOL SOCIAL WORKER).