Deck 16: Social Policy

Question 1

Social Security was founded by the Republican Party to care for Civil War veterans.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

As of 2018, Social Security payroll taxes do not apply to income over $128,400.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Most spending on social welfare in the United States goes to such programs as TANF and other means-tested efforts to alleviate poverty.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Social Security payroll taxes are regressive.

Question 5

For more than half of all American workers, Social Security is their only pension plan.

Question 6

Because of the potential redistributive effect of social policies, it is extremely difficult to get them on the agenda of the president and Congress.

Question 7

A tiny increase in Social Security benefits for those with the lowest incomes can result in a quite significant transfer of income from the upper-income brackets to the lower.

Question 8

If there were no Social Security, half of all senior citizens would be living below the poverty line.

Question 9

During the Great Depression, Americans abandoned their traditional distinction between the deserving and undeserving poor.

Question 10

After a social policy is adopted, it tends to remain extremely vulnerable to being rescinded at any time.

Question 11

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families is only available to Americans over the age of 65.

Question 12

Americans have a relatively long history of taking public responsibility for inequalities of opportunity.

Question 13

Social policies are redistributive policies.

Question 14

To receive food stamps (or SNAP benefits), one must have low income and few financial assets.

Question 15

Over the last three decades the Social Security system has run with a surplus.

Question 16

A tiny increase in the tax liability of the top income earners can result in a quite significant transfer of income from the upper income brackets to the lower.

Question 17

Social Security is a contributory program.

Question 18

Federal support for public education did not begin until the twentieth century.

Question 19

The U.S. Treasury regularly borrows from the Social Security Trust Fund and leaves IOUs in their place.

Question 20

Overall, Social Security mildly redistributes wealth from higher-income to lower-income people.

Question 21

The GI Bill of Rights provided soldiers returning from World War II with access to college.

Question 22

Social Security is a pay-as-you-go system.

Question 23

The national government administers the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.

Question 24

Since 1996, TANF allotments to states have been indexed to increase with inflation.

Question 25

In most states, it is easier to qualify for TANF benefits than for the federal home mortgage interest deduction.

Question 26

Unlike Social Security, Medicare is a means-tested program.

Question 27

After the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act was enacted, the number of families receiving assistance dropped by over half nationwide.

Question 28

Supplemental Security Income is a means-tested program.

Question 29

The No Child Left Behind law required annual testing of students in the third through eighth grades.

Question 30

A major reform initiated under the TANF program has been the expansion of legal immigrants receiving benefits.

Question 31

The 2010 Affordable Care Act expanded Medicaid to cover more poor people without health care.

Question 32

Medicare is a means-tested program.

Question 33

As a presidential candidate, Bill Clinton vowed to "end welfare as we know it."

Question 34

The Social Security Trust Fund reserve is safeguarded from political manipulation by investing interest earned in private securities.

Question 35

The first priority of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act was to reduce poverty.

Question 36

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides food assistance to the needy, is administered by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Question 37

Every year, the federal government spends roughly the same amount on Social Security and TANF.

Question 38

Under the current Medicare system, the national government exercises very tight control over the quality of the services and the level of fees that health care providers charge.

Question 39

Unemployment insurance benefits cannot be extended past 26 weeks, even during a recession.

Question 40

The most generous TANF payments are sufficient to bring families well above the federal poverty line.

Question 41

As enacted in 1935, the Social Security Act applied to almost all workers in America.

Question 42

Efforts designed to alleviate poverty by distributing benefits based on demonstrated need are considered to be

A)regulatory.
B)contributory
C)means tested.
D)regressive.

Question 43

The traditional approach to social welfare policy-with its severe distinction between deserving and undeserving poor and its domination by the private sector-crumbled in response to the

A)Great Depression.
B)Korean War.
C)westward expansion.
D)Industrial Revolution.

Question 44

Historically, Americans would most likely have applied the concept of the "undeserving poor" to

A)widows.
B)orphans.
C)transients.
D)injured veterans.

Question 45

Social plans financed in whole or in part by taxation or other mandatory investments by their present or future recipients are described as

A)public trusts.
B)enterprise funds.
C)revenue sharing.
D)contributory programs.

Question 46

What is the first goal of social policies?

A)to protect the interests of the wealthy in society
B)to encourage people to form into cohesive social groups
C)to enforce conformance to generally accepted moral standards
D)to protect against risks that most people face over the course of their lives

Question 47

The federal tax code is only used to raise revenue, not to make social policy.

Question 48

Social Security is an example of a __________ program.

A)contributory
B)noncontributory
C)monetary
D)phasing

Question 49

Contributory programs are financed by taxation, which justifiably can be called

A)extortion.
B)blackmail.
C)forced savings.
D)taxation without representation.

Question 50

Which of the following explains why the United States was one of the last Western democracies to enter into a realm of social policy?

A)The United States had a weaker, less competent central government.
B)Poverty was seen as a temporary condition that could be alleviated by moving westward to open land.
C)America's religious diversity led to competition between denominations to be the most generous to the poor.
D)Americans believed that poverty and dependence were problems inherent in the economy.

Question 51

A universally shared American ideal that all persons have the freedom to use whatever talents and wealth they have to reach their fullest potential is known as

A)equal protection under laws.
B)equality of condition.
C)equality of results.
D)equality of opportunity.

Question 52

The Social Security payroll tax is best classified as a(n) __________tax.

A)flat
B)regressive
C)progressive
D)incremental

Question 53

Presidential initiative is most important when the policy at issue is

A)regulatory.
B)monetary.
C)promotional.
D)redistributive.

Question 54

What is the term for the $1 trillion in tax spending for miscellaneous tax credits and deductions?

A)invisible freedom
B)the hidden welfare state
C)supply-side welfare
D)Reagan's windfall

Question 55

Most spending on social welfare in the United States goes to such programs as

A)Social Security and medical insurance for the elderly.
B)Aid to Families with Dependent Children and food stamps.
C)Head Start and other educational opportunities for disadvantaged youth.
D)National Institutes of Health and other scientific research organizations.

Question 56

An example of a less controversial policy issue that protects against risks and insecurities that most people face is

A)food stamps.
B)Social Security.
C)Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC).
D)Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF).

Question 57

The Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act in 2017 followed a well-established pattern of politicians seeking political gain by making major changes in social welfare programs.

Question 58

The foundations of the current American welfare state were established by the

A)Great Society legislation of 1965.
B)Social Security Act of 1935.
C)National Labor Relations Act of 1935.
D)Landrum-Griffin Labor Management Act of 1959.

Question 59

The earned income tax credit provides supplemental income to all Americans over age 65.

Question 60

Cost-of-living adjustments for the Social Security system are based on changes in the

A)index of consumer prices.
B)gross national product.
C)gross domestic product.
D)quarterly national living standards survey.

Question 61

In 1996, Congress abolished the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program and replaced it with the

A)Job Training and Partnership Act (JTPA).
B)Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program.
C)Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program.
D)Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant.

Question 62

Proponents of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act argued that which of the following would occur if it was signed into law?

A)The law would lower health care costs by imposing greater efficiencies on providers and reducing fraud.
B)The law would represent a huge expansion of federal government power.
C)The law would expand the Democratic Party's base of support.
D)The law would be enormously expensive.

Question 63

The adjustment of Social Security benefits to account for changes in living costs is an example of the practice of

A)inflation.
B)benchmarking.
C)bracket creep.
D)indexing.

Question 64

The Supplemental Security Income program is an example of a

A)means-tested program that is contributory.
B)means-tested program that is noncontributory.
C)non-means-tested program that is contributory.
D)non-means-tested program that is noncontributory.

Question 65

The Medicare spending bill passed by President George W. Bush and a majority-Republican Congress in 2003

A)diminished the long-term cost of Medicare.
B)decreased the range of services offered under Medicare.
C)dramatically decreased the premiums for Medicare coverage.
D)increased government spending on Medicare.

Question 66

Congress and the Obama administration brought about a major expansion of federal health care policy when it passed this 2010 law

A)State Children's Health Insurance Program.
B)Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
C)prescription drug program known as Medicare Part D.
D)Medicaid program.

Question 67

If tax revenues become inadequate to fund Social Security, Congress can

A)cover any deficit by eliminating the foreign aid budget.
B)order the U.S. Mint to print more money to cover the deficit.
C)reduce cost-of-living adjustments.
D)force states to pay the benefits instead.

Question 68

Why does Medicare's structure contribute to its spiraling costs?

A)Medicare is a single-payer system, so the government both provides the health care and the payment.
B)Medicare operates as a third-party insurer, so it cannot prevent patients, doctors, or hospitals from incurring costs ahead of time.
C)Medicare provides a health care voucher to every beneficiary, and senior citizens lobby to increase the size of their vouchers.
D)Medicare receives a fixed amount of funds every year, so at the end of the year the program spends all of its remaining money rather than return it to the Treasury Department.

Question 69

Which of the following helps explain the escalating costs associated with Medicare?

A)The payment formula for Medicare benefits is rigged to increase faster than the rate of inflation.
B)The housing crash of 2007-2009 meant that more senior citizens qualified for Medicare because they lacked income or assets.
C)In 2007, Congress reduced the age of eligibility for Medicare, so the number of recipients increased.
D)In 2003, Congress added a prescription drug benefit to Medicare without any offsetting cost savings.

Question 70

A social welfare program that is only available to people who are below a specific level of income and savings is said to be subject to

A)gap analysis.
B)means testing.
C)dependency ratio.
D)vulnerability formula.

Question 71

The most generous Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits are approximately

A)three times the federal poverty line.
B)twice the federal poverty line.
C)equal to the federal poverty line.
D)below the federal poverty line but nonzero.

Question 72

Social Security revenues and expenditures can be reconciled in a number of ways. Which of the following is an example of a policy option supported by the Republican Party?

A)increase benefits for low-income earners
B)increase payroll taxes to include all compensation
C)use the Social Security surplus to offset the cost of income tax breaks
D)increase the full retirement age

Question 73

Until 1996, what was the most important noncontributory public assistance program?

A)the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA)
B)the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program
C)the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program
D)the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA)

Question 74

An example of a noncontributory program is

A)Social Security.
B)Medicare.
C)Medicaid.
D)unemployment compensation.

Question 75

Probably the greatest long-term threat to the viability of the Social Security system is the

A)pending retirement of baby boomers.
B)declining value of the Treasury bonds in which the Social Security trust fund is invested.
C)declining political clout of senior citizens.
D)number of current workers choosing not to participate.

Question 76

Which of the following is an example of a means-tested program?

A)Medicaid
B)Medicare
C)farm subsidies
D)Social Security

Question 77

The largest single expansion in contributory programs after 1935 was the establishment in 1965 of

A)Medicare.
B)Medicaid.
C)food stamps.
D)the School Lunch program.

Question 78

A program financed from general revenues that provide uniform minimum monthly income to people who demonstrate financial need and are age 65 or older, blind, or disabled is

A)Medicaid.
B)Medicare.
C)Social Security.
D)Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

Question 79

The process of periodically adjusting social benefits or wages to account for increases in the cost of living is called

A)inflation.
B)benchmarking.
C)bracket creep.
D)indexing.

Question 80

Since the late 1980s, the Social Security system has collected more payroll taxes than it paid out in benefits. The excess funds have been

A)invested overseas so that when the investment is cashed out it drains the economy of a foreign country.
B)used to buy gold bullion, which is stored in Fort Knox.
C)loaned to the federal government to pay for general spending.
D)invested in stocks and bonds by future recipients of the money.