Short Quiz

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johnkarls
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Joined: Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:43 pm

Short Quiz

Post by johnkarls »

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SHORT QUIZ – HOW INVISIBLE GOVERNMENT POLICIES UNDERMINE AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

1. What is the background of our author?

2. In her 2008 poll of 1,400 Americans, what percentage said they had NEVER “used a government social program”?

3. When the same 1,400 Americans were asked later in the poll whether they had ever used 19 specific governmental social programs, what percentage had used at least one? How many had the average respondent used?

4. Is part of the explanation of this discrepancy illustrated by the comment of a voter at a 2009 town hall meeting who told his Congressman, “Keep your government hands off my Medicare”?

5. Looking at the 19 specific programs (please see the list in the short 2/11/2011 Washington Post article posted in the next section of this bulletin board entitled "reference materials"), how many of them are so-called “tax expenditures”?

6. What is the conservative view of “tax expenditures”? What is the liberal view of “tax expenditures” and is that view justified?

7. From an environmental viewpoint, what are the two most-egregious “tax expenditures” even though neither made Prof. Mettler’s list and even though one of them dwarfs in size virtually every other program that made her list?

8. If Prof. Mettler wants to include “tax expenditures” on her list of governmental programs, why doesn’t she include the cost of governmental “mandates” since the total cost to the economy of governmental “mandates,” though difficult to estimate, probably exceeds the total of governmental appropriations and governmental “tax expenditures” combined?

9. What proportion of total federal spending comprises social programs? What are the other major components?

10. What proportion of America’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) comprises federal spending, both recently and historically? Federal revenues?

11. Now that the American government’s outstanding debt of $15.7 TRillion exceeds 100% of GDP (and its annual deficit is exceeding $1 TRillion for the fourth year in a row), are we now in the same league as Greece, Spain, and Portugal?

12. If the American government’s debt achieves “junk bond” status and begins to incur an interest cost in the 20% range, will there be any revenue left for anything else in the budget (e.g., social programs, defense, etc.)?

13. Accordingly, is Prof. Mettler’s view of the problem an elegant plea to “keep your government hands off my social programs” and either raid the defense budget and/or raise taxes instead?

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