{"id":14704,"date":"2015-09-20T08:15:07","date_gmt":"2015-09-20T15:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/ua-researchers-use-game-to-show-state-budget-woes\/"},"modified":"2015-09-20T08:15:07","modified_gmt":"2015-09-20T15:15:07","slug":"ua-researchers-use-game-to-show-state-budget-woes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/ua-researchers-use-game-to-show-state-budget-woes\/","title":{"rendered":"UA researchers use game to show state budget woes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>ANCHORAGE<\/strong> \u2014 Researchers at the University of Alaska Anchorage are using a game to demonstrate the state\u2019s growing financial issues.<\/p>\n<p>The Alaska Dispatch News reported that the game was unveiled Saturday during a forum about Alaska\u2019s budget and economic problems.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe face this paradox,\u201d said Gunnar Knapp, director of the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of Alaska Anchorage. \u201cWe face some really tough decisions as a state, but on the other hand, the topic is enough to put most people to sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Knapp designed the game so people can balance costs and revenue using a giant scale and wooden blocks that represent $100 million each. A roulette wheel keeps the game risky while showing Alaska\u2019s dependence on oil revenue.<\/p>\n<p>Participants have to make tough decisions like whether to remove blocks representing education and health care, or add weight by instituting taxes or tapping into the $51 billion Alaska Permanent Fund.<\/p>\n<p>At the event Saturday people were invited on stage to play the game and the audience was encouraged to boo or cheer for the solutions they liked best.<\/p>\n<p>The Alaska Legislature will face real questions just like that this spring, with an expected $7 billion in savings available to balance the budget deficit. That deficit is expected to increase, and some experts say the state\u2019s savings could be gone within three years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m calling out anyone who has ever said this is simple, or peanuts, or doesn\u2019t take any work,\u201d said Cliff Groh, chairman of Alaska Common Ground, one of the event organizers. \u201cThey need to come and try their hands at this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ANCHORAGE \u2014 Researchers at the University of Alaska Anchorage are using a game to demonstrate the state\u2019s growing financial issues. The Alaska Dispatch <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/\">News<\/a> reported that the game was unveiled Saturday during a forum about Alaska\u2019s budget and economic problems. \u201cWe face this paradox,\u201d said Gunnar Knapp, director of the Institute of Social and Economic [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[230],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-14704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-state-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14704\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14704"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=14704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}