Nothing provokes groans and feelings of boredom more than talk of budgets. Mix in the snooze-inducing phrases like ‘deficits’, ‘marking up’, ‘structural imbalances’ and you deserve to receive a prize for just finishing this sentence. However, this topic matters greatly. The current global financial crisis makes one thing very clear: countries all over the world, and especially the US, relied too heavily on debt to create wealth. And countries can go broke just as families can. The US federal budget does not add up; when you spend more than you earn, you have to borrow to make ends meet. And if you keep borrowing too much, you’ll have to spend more and more on paying back what you owe. Eventually, you will not pay what you owe and then everything comes crashing down; confidence shatters, no one trusts anyone and money becomes worthless.

If this sounds like something worth understanding, check out I.O.U.S.A, a extremely well made documentary on the debt issue that has a free version on youtube. And on the lighter side, ‘Budget Hero‘ is a public interest online game putting you in the position of deciding where money should go, and then forecasting how the economy will look 20 to 50 years down the line. Budgets matter even if they’re no fun.

And that’s jus’ the tip.