This is a fun game. Thank you for linking it. I just did one run-through to see what it’s like but now that I know what some of the later choices are I might adjust some of my earlier answers.
I fixed the budget by saving $13,350B dollars relative to current law. Debt would be down to 84% of GDP by 2034 and 35% in 2050.
Honestly, this game didn't let me make as deep of cuts to social security and medicare as I would have liked. The reason this game has you make difficult choices in other areas is because you can't do things like "raise retirement age for unconditional benefits to 80" or "means-test all retirement benefits." The class of people that is drawing money out of social security and Medicare (old Americans) is the richest group of people ever in history. I have no interest in continuing to funnel money from the poor to the rich.
It seems to be limited to actual proposals made under the last two Presidential administrations. Even under that criteria I couldn’t tell you if it grabbed everything, but I feel you. There’s no granularity like privatizing Social Security, eliminating tax incentives for employer-based health plans, reclassifying specific pharmaceuticals so you don’t need to go through a doctor who sends you through a behind-the-counter pharmacy, etc.
It has a scope, but I think within that scope it offers enough granularity with just actual proposals and laws that were proposed or passed under the last two administrations to give you some clue into what’s possible; which is why I like it because even with that, it is possible to achieve the goal.
I fixed the budget by saving $13,350B dollars relative to current law. Debt would be down to 84% of GDP by 2034 and 35% in 2050.