Deck 11: Reversing the Race to the Bottom: Poverty and Policy

Question 1

Since the 1990s, large numbers of people who had received welfare assistance such as AFDC have moved into the workforce

Answer 1

True

Question 2

The poor in the United States are increasingly likely to be:

A) Asian immigrants
B) on welfare
C) children
D) elderly

Answer 2

C

Question 3

A recent study found that half of all Americans had at one time

A) been on AFDC or TANF
B) been homeless
C) used food stamps
D) collected disability insurance

Answer 3

C

Question 4

A key element in homelessness since the 1970s has been

A) a growing lack of affordable housing
B) a surge in the number of poor refugees
C) rising rates of mental illness
D) continued economic recession

Question 5

An important recent shift in the homeless population is that more of the homeless are now

A) alcoholic
B) women with children
C) single men
D) living in flophouses

Question 6

A major component of the 1996 Welfare Reform act was to encourage

A) welfare-to-work rules
B) full-employment policies
C) universal health coverage
D) higher minimum wage guidelines

Question 7

One of the creations of the Roosevelt New Deal of the 1930s was Social Security

Question 8

Poverty in the U.S. decreased the most dramatically during

A) the 1930s
B) the 1960s
C) the 1970s
D) the 1980s

Question 9

David Ellwood and others have argued that working poor families should be supported by universal health care and expanded

A) enterprise zones
B) school-to-work policies
C) earned income tax credits
D) restrictive covenants

Question 10

Since the 1970s, the real dollar value of the minimum wage has

A) increased
B) declined
C) been determined by the states themselves
D) remained constant

Question 11

Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) was replaced in 1996 by a new program called

A) Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF)
B) the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
C) the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
D) the Works Progress Administration (WPA)

Question 12

The highest poverty rates in the U.S. are experienced by

A) Hispanics
B) Native Americans
C) Whites
D) Asian Americans

Question 13

Robert Kennedy read Galbraith's The Affluent Society and decided that there was no longer a poverty problem in the United States

Question 14

Lyndon Johnson responded to disturbing studies of poverty, such as Michael Harrington's The Other America, with a call

A) to end welfare as we know it
B) to institute social security
C) to defend freedom in Vietnam
D) for a war on poverty

Question 15

Once someone gets a job, they rarely remain below or near the poverty level

Question 16

Compared to other nations, the United States

A) has the longest life expectancy
B) has the lowest infant mortality rate
C) has the healthiest population
D) spends the most on healthcare

Question 17

As part of the New Deal programs, the Roosevelt administration initiated

A) school-to-work programs
B) public work projects such as the WPA and CCC
C) a national network of enterprise zones
D) the new international division of labor

Question 18

European welfare states believe that

A) a major priority should be to move people from welfare to work
B) capitalism should be abandoned as an economic system
C) the national government is responsible for the welfare of all its citizens
D) the main goal of an effective national government is to lower taxes

Question 19

The highest child poverty rates in the advanced industrial world, after all government help has been received, are in

A) Germany
B) France
C) Great Britain
D) the United States

Question 20

President Lyndon Johnson declared a War on Poverty

Question 21

What has been attempted in the United States to reduce the effects and extent of poverty? What has proven successful and what has not? Why are effective measures difficult to implement?

Question 22

What were the key provisions of the Affordable Care Act?

Question 23

What were major initiatives of Johnson's Great Society?

Question 24

White families are now more at risk of being in poverty than Black or Latino families

Question 25

Why has increasing attention been given to the plight of the working poor? Why are there so many working poor at a time of low unemployment? What is needed in wages and benefits for a family to be self-sufficient?

Question 26

In the 1990s, President Bill Clinton signed into law a sweeping welfare reform act

Question 27

What were the major concerns, debates, and proposals surrounding healthcare reform in the United States?

Question 28

Despite government programs, poverty rates soared in the 1960s

Question 29

Part of President Johnson's Great Society Program was a plan to eliminate welfare programs

Question 30

What are the major causes and effects of poverty around the world? What are the elements in webs of social exclusion for the world's poor? What has been proposed to help alleviate the worst conditions of poverty around the world?

Question 31

List the five key points in David Ellwood's proposal for welfare reform.

Question 32

What were the key provisions of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act (PRWORA)?

Question 33

What were major initiatives of Roosevelt's New Deal?

Question 34

A major concern for the Affordable Care Act was the large numbers of Americans who had no health insurance