Deck 31: Twenty-First Century Dangers and Promises

Question 1

Which of the following was not a technology company caught up in stock price manipulations and excessive compensation packages for CEOS?

A)Freddy Mac
B)Enron
C)Qwest Communications
D)WorldCom

Answer 1

A

Question 2

What did President George W. Bush propose to change about American foreign policy in 2000?

A)He declared that the United States had to engage militarily with the Taliban.
B)He declared that the U.S. should pay a more "humble" role in world affairs."
C)Bush wanted to end the long-lasting alliance with Israel in favor of stronger ties to Iraq.
D)Bush wanted to stress good relationships with its Latin American neighbors above all else.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

How did President George W. Bush respond to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington DC on September 11, 2001?

A)His reactions remained confused for several months.
B)He responded with what he called a "humble foreign policy."
C)He called on Congress to push for multilateral antiterrorism efforts.
D)He declared a full-scale war on terror, an open-ended global battle.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

In the wake of the US invasion of Afghanistan, when did the Taliban government melt away?

A)December 2001
B)March 2003
C)October 2006
D)November 2008

Question 5

Which of the following best explains why the Bush administration lost its focus in Afghanistan?

A)It was too concerned with the implementation of privatized Social Security in the United States.
B)It was too focused on enacting healthcare reform and socializing medicine.
C)It turned its attention to Iraq almost immediately after the terrorist attacks.
D)George W. Bush was a pacifist at heart and liked to avoid strategy discussions

Question 6

Why did Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz predict that the war in Iraq would be cheap?

A)He expected financial support from the World Bank.
B)He hoped that the European allies would contribute funding.
C)He thought that the invasion of Iraq could be conducted on a shoestring budget.
D)He expected Iraqi oil revenues to compensate the US for the full cost of the invasion.

Question 7

Why could the United States not reduce troop levels in Iraq in 2006, as expected?

A)Releasing hundreds of thousands of soldiers into the U.S. labor market at the time would have increased the already high unemployment rate.
B)The Iraqi insurgency escalated, raising the question whether the U.S. had actually accomplished its mission in Iraq.
C)The U.S. had signed long-term contracts with its forces and was contractually obligated to keep them in the service.
D)Iranian troops had begun small border attacks, making Iraq susceptible to an invasion from the Persian neighbor.

Question 8

How much did the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan cost over the course of ten years between 2001 and 2014?

A)$120 million
B)$1.2 billion
C)$12 billion
D)$2 trillion

Question 9

How did many Americans on the Right feel about President Barack Obama?

A)They found him too stiff and intellectual.
B)They did not trust his conservative credentials.
C)They never accepted him as a legitimate president.
D)They were more likely to embrace him than moderate Republicans.

Question 10

What did the United States Supreme Court rule in the case of Lawrence v. Texas in 2003?

A)State anti-sodomy laws that criminalized homosexual behavior were unconstitutional.
B)The prohibition of interracial marriage in the Deep South was unconstitutional.
C)The prohibition of gay marriage by states and counties was unconstitutional.
D)U.S. citizens enjoyed a constitutional right to "no-fault" divorce laws.

Question 11

What turned the case of Terri Schiavo in 2005 into a national obsession?

A)the dramatic accident on an airliner that put her in a coma
B)the fact that she was a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars
C)the fact that Jeb Bush and a conservative theologian got involved
D)The fact that her husband was facing charges for attempted murder

Question 12

Who did John Roberts replace on the United States Supreme Court in 2005?

A)Samuel Alito
B)Sandra Day O'Connor
C)William Rehnquist
D)Antonin Scalia

Question 13

What was the problem with Medicare at the turn of the 21st century?

A)It did not cover hospital expenses.
B)It only covered seniors with a certain minimum income.
C)The majority of doctors refused Medicare patients.
D)It failed to cover prescription drug costs.

Question 14

Who was responsible for coordinating the emergency relief efforts during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in August 2005?

A)the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
B)the U.S. Army
C)the Department of Homeland Security
D)the Red Cross

Question 15

Which of the following emerged as a new "wedge" issue between 2000 and 2010?

A)flagburning
B)illegal immigration
C)abortion
D)school prayer

Question 16

Why did Democrats gain 31 seats in the House of Representatives and five Senate seats in the midterm election of 2006?

A)They had convinced the American public of their approach to foreign policy.
B)The had repeatedly offered sound economic recovery programs to President Bush.
C)Bush had squandered the public's good will with his foreign and fiscal policies.
D)The various sex scandals that implicated the president disgusted voters.

Question 17

Which of the following statements best assesses the transformation of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union after the fall of communism?

A)While market reforms varied in their success, democracy succeeded throughout.
B)Eastern European countries became models of free-market capitalism.
C)Although communist parties imploded, the communist economy remained the same.
D)Eastern European nations had mixed success with free market reforms.

Question 18

What did the national Defense of Marrriage Act passed in 1996 by Congressional Republicans stipulate?

A)Marriage was a unassailable institution, even if between two men or two women.
B)The law banned all gay and lesbian civil unions.
C)The law made civil unions mandatory for gays and lesbians to receive recognition in society.
D)The law stated that the federa; government would not recognize marriage among gays and that states had no obligation to honor such marriages performed in other states.

Question 19

What was the advantage of subprime mortgages?

A)They were offered at low interest rates, but had to be paid down in 15 years.
B)Their rates were higher, but they were spread out over 30 years.
C)They offered small down payments and low rates that would increase later.
D)They had no down payment, but the interest rate would fluctuate monthly.

Question 20

Which of the following investment banks went bankrupt in September 2008?

A)Bear Stearns
B)Lehman Brothers
C)AIG
D)Bank of America

Question 21

By the end of 2009, the national unemployment rate had passed

A)6 percent.
B)8 percent.
C)10 percent.
D)15 percent.

Question 22

Why did Barack Obama defeat Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries in 2008?

A)He avoided the unpopular position of opposing the war.
B)He had more solid foreign policy experience.
C)He had a stronger appeal to women voters.
D)He ran a more focused campaign.

Question 23

The $787 billion economic stimulus law of February 2009

A)only further deepen the recession.
B)failed to have an impact on the economy.
C)stopped the slide into another depression.
D)began to produce job growth in the summer of 2009.

Question 24

How long did Congress debate the major overhaul of the nation's healthcare system that the Obama administration proposed?

A)a week
B)a month
C)three months
D)nearly a year

Question 25

Why did President Barack Obama's approval ratings decline between 2008 and 2010?

A)People started paying for costly healthcare reform.
B)Americans suffered the consequences of the end to "don't ask don't tell."
C)Obama had freed the terror suspects held indefinitely at Guantánamo Bay.
D)Independents complained that the bitterness of politics had not changed.

Question 26

Why did Republicans in the summer of 2011 demand deep cuts in social spending in return for their consent to raise the government's debt ceiling?

A)The debt ceiling had not been raised for nearly 60 years.
B)Tea party activists in the Republican Party wanted to force a showdown with the president.
C)Republicans were extremely uncomfortable with growing the national debt.
D)Taxes have increased dramatically over the last 20 years, making revenue improvements impossible.

Question 27

The political and cultural conflict between liberals and conservatives since the 1990s most resembles the debates of the

A)Progressive Era.
B)roaring twenties.
C)war years.
D)turbulent sixties.

Question 28

As of 2010, an estimated _____________ undocumented migrants lived in the United States.

A)1.2 million
B)4 million
C)12 million
D)21 million

Question 29

What did Ben Bernanke do with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in the summer of 2008?

A)He took them off the stock market.
B)He took them to court.
C)He nationalized them.
D)He sold them off to private investors.

Question 30

Which new culture-war policy did the Bush administration implement?

A)It sought ways to introduce prayer in schools.
B)It banned the use of federal funds for most stem-cell research.
C)It overturned Bill Clinton's "don't ask don't tell" policy.
D)It legalized gay marriage in the District of Columbia.

Question 31

How did Chief Justice Roberts surprise observers in 2012?

A)He declared openly that he was gay.
B)He openly admitted to political partisanship.
C)He voted to affirm the constitutionality of the Affordable Car Act.
D)He publicly chastised Clarence Thomas for failing to engage in the court's business.

Question 32

What was the title of the report by the Central Intelligence Agency, delivered to the White House on August 6, 2001?

A)"Bin Laden determined to strike U.S."
B)"No Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq"
C)"Iran's Nuclear Program - the End of Israel"
D)"Cold War Redux: Al Qaeda in Decline"

Question 33

What specific message did President George W. Bush send to the Muslim world in his speech of September 20^th, 2001, in which he declared war on terror?

A)"We will hunt you down."
B)"We respect your faith."
C)"Mission accomplished."
D)"Bring'em on."

Question 34

What did Iraq's dictator Saddam Hussein think of religious fundamentalists?

A)He considered them a threat to his rule.
B)He shared their world view and ambitions.
C)He considered them harmless, if foolish.
D)He hoped to use them against the United States.

Question 35

Why did Secretary of State Colin Powell appear before the United Nation's Security Council in February 2003?

A)to present evidence that Saddam Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction
B)to protest China's and Russia's support of Saddam Hussein
C)to request that the world community order investigators into Iraq
D)to convince the world's powers that they ought to provide troops for the war in Afghanistan

Question 36

How long did it take U.S. forces to reach Baghdad in their invasion of Iraq in spring 2003?

A)two days
B)a little over three weeks
C)two months
D)half a year

Question 37

Why did the administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority disband the Iraqi army of 500,000 in 2003?

A)He feared they might reorganize for a counteroffensive.
B)He needed young men for a series of public works programs.
C)He was eager to eliminate all support for Hussein's Ba'ath Party.
D)He worried that Islamist fundamentalists might recruit within the Iraqi army.

Question 38

Why did a plurality of Americans in 2006 believe that U.S. forces should leave Iraq?

A)The job was finished.
B)The casualties were too high.
C)The U.S. already got Iraq's oil.
D)European allies were ready to step in.

Question 39

Apart from the "surge" in troop deployments to Iraq in 2007, how did the U.S. manage to contain sectarian violence?

A)with educational campaigns
B)with the help of missionary activists
C)by paying tribal leaders to stop fighting
D)by obtaining U.N. resolutions

Question 40

What did the Obama Campaign promise in its slogan in 2008?

A)Hope and Change
B)Pride and Joy
C)Faith and Family
D)Diversity and Tolerance

Question 41

In 2004, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court explicitly ruled that gay men and women

A)had the right to marry in the state.
B)had no right to marry in the state.
C)had no right to abortion.
D)had no right to contraception.

Question 42

What was the problem with Social Security at the end of the twentieth century?

A)A majority of Americans no longer needed it since prosperity levels had increased so much since the New Deal.
B)A majority of Americans opted out of it since they could obtain better retirement funds in the stock market.
C)The "baby boom" generation and longer life expectancy were drawing down reserves.
D)Identity fraud had made the entire social security databank corrupt and unreliable.

Question 43

Which of the following statements about Supreme Court Justice John Roberts is accurate?

A)He considered himself a disciple of William Rehnquist.
B)He first served in Bill Clinton's Department of Justice.
C)He struck most observers as affable and well-informed.
D)He had worked in private practice before Bush appointed him to an appeals court.

Question 44

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was based on educational reform in which state?

A)Massachusetts
B)Texas
C)California
D)Minnesota

Question 45

Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 had which of the following consequences?

A)Americans lost faith in the media and its objectivity towards politics.
B)Americans' contributions to charity declined precipitously.
C)The storm triggered a long-term migratory trend north.
D)The storm added to disillusionment with compassionate conservatism.

Question 46

Which of the following is accurate about immigrants in the early 21st century?

A)Immigrants make up 40 percent of PhD's in America.
B)Immigrants are older than the average American.
C)Immigrants are less likely to be married.
D)Immigrants are more likely to be male than female.

Question 47

Who proposed a broad compromise on immigration reform in the U.S. Senate?

A)Democrats Russ Feingold and Barbara Boxer
B)Republicans Trent Lott and Sam Brownback
C)Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa and Republican Marco Rubio
D)Republican John McCain and Democrat Edward Kennedy

Question 48

Which of the following economic measures grew the fastest in the 1990s and 2000s?

A)wages
B)interest
C)household debt
D)savings

Question 49

What Republican challenged President Barack Obama in the 2012 election?

A)John McCain
B)Rand Paul
C)Mitt Romney
D)Rudolph Giuliani

Question 50

How did the federal government contribute to the speculation of the 2000s?

A)Clinton told the Federal Reserve to invest in hedge funds.
B)The U.S. Treasury became an investor in the stock market.
C)The Treasury invited speculation on the dollar against the euro.
D)Congress broke down the wall between investment and commercial banking.

Question 51

Who proposed the $700 billion bailout of toxic mortgage securities in 2008?

A)Presidential candidate Barack Obama
B)Liberal activists across the country
C)Democrats in Congress
D)Bush's Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson

Question 52

Why did the Great Recession endanger the retirement of many Americans?

A)Most Americans had invested deeply in mortgage securities.
B)Retired Americans made up the lion share of traders at wall street.
C)A growing number of private pensions were pegged to the stock market.
D)Most banks were invested in the stock market, and their failure meant the lose

Question 53

In March 2009 the Dow Jones was trading at 50 percent lower than it had been in October of 2007, reaching a twelve-year low of

A)less than 2,000.
B)just above 5,000.
C)below 6,500.
D)below 10,000.

Question 54

What did the presidential candidates of 2008 John McCain and Barack Obama have in common?

A)Both were House Representatives.
B)Both had served in the Vietnam War.
C)Both were Ivy-League schooled Northeasterners.
D)Both were a surprising choice for their party.

Question 55

By 2008, President George W. Bush's popularity had sunk to?

A)45 percent.
B)51 percent
C)The high seventies.
D)The mid-twenitess.

Question 56

President Barack Obama did which of the following during the first two years in office?

A)He closed the prison at Guantanamo Bay.
B)He nationalized the American car industry.
C)He increased troop levels in Afghanistan.
D)He increased spending on social security.

Question 57

The Financial Regulatory Reform Act of 2010

A)put caps on CEO earnings.
B)imposed a new bank tax.
C)abolished the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.
D)imposed tighter regulation on banks' trading practices.

Question 58

How did President Barack Obama's nominations to the Supreme Court change the political balance in the highest court?

A)It left the political balance unchanged.
B)It tilted it further to the left.
C)It tilted it further to the right.
D)It gave it a pro-women bias.

Question 59

Which of the following was a cause for the $4 trillion in additional debt racked up since 2009?

A)the ongoing costs of two wars
B)Social Security outlays
C)Medicare expenses
D)Foodstamp programs

Question 60

Why did approximately 60,000 New Orleans residents have to face Hurricane Katrina in the flooded city?

A)City, state, and federal officials had failed to make provisions for people without cars.
B)These remaining residents had defied several attempts to save them from the flood.
C)The flooding of the city of New Orleans was completely unexpected.
D)Since the city residents were black, the mayor and other authorities did not care.

Question 61

Identify who, what, where, when, and/or why the following are important:
1. global war on terror
2. "coalition of the willing"
3. waterboarding
4. "wedge" issues
5. "standards based educational reform"
6. initial public offering (IPO)
7. toxic assets
8. Bernard Madoff
9. Sarah Palin
10. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Question 62

How did the world respond to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001?

A)Most nations' responses were muted and uncomfortable.
B)World reactions were mixed and especially Europeans seemed reserved.
C)Only Israel offered its heartfelt condolences.
D)Demonstrations of support for the U.S. were seen worldwide.

Question 63

Which of the following nations was NOT on the "axis of evil"?

A)France
B)North Korea
C)Iraq
D)Iran

Question 64

What disturbing element emerged almost immediately after U.S. troops had captured Iraq in April 2003?

A)There were no plans to preserve order or restore Iraq's economy.
B)Al Qaeda had already established its headquarters in Iraq.
C)Saddam Hussein continued to control guerilla fighters from a hidden location.
D)Iranian mercenaries were roaming the city with no other goal than to plunder.

Question 65

What impact did the White House Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives have?

A)It turned people away from belonging to a church, which was not intended.
B)With its ample resources, it fostered corruption in church leadership offices.
C)It blurred the line between funding for services and for proselytizing.
D)The Office came up with the No Child Left Behind Act for school reform.

Question 66

Ten years after the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act,

A)students were graduating from high school in larger numbers.
B)the results of the ambitious education reform remained modest.
C)almost 15 percent of inner-city schools had been closed.
D)the number of private schools had dropped precipitously.

Question 67

Which of the following companies did NOT get caught in an accounting scandal?

A)WorldCom
B)Qwest Communications
C)Lehman Brothers
D)Enron

Question 68

How did other nations respond to the financial deregulation in the United States in the late 1990s and 2000s?

A)Foreign investors rarely found out about the new opportunities.
B)Banks across Europe and Asia bought large amounts of investment products in the deregulated market.
C)Coming from a more conservative business climate, European banks shied away from the fruits of deregulation.
D)As lawmakers had intended, Asian nations bought up the majority of the new assets available through deregulation.

Question 69

President Barack Obama was born in

A)Kenya.
B)Hawaii.
C)Indonesia.
D)Kansas.

Question 70

Which of the following aspects of the great recession had the most long-lasting impact?

A)the slump in housing prices
B)the crisis of the nation' automakers
C)the bailout of AIG
D)the failure of Lehman Brothers

Question 71

Which of the following best assesses the impact of the 2010 midterm elections?

A)Democrats held their own.
B)Republicans won mightily.
C)A lackluster turn-out failed to create change.
D)Voters rewarded experience and punished novices.

Question 72

How did President George W. Bush legitimate the U.S. invasion of Iraq?

Question 73

How did religious faith weaken the Bush administration's support for science, education, and research?

Question 74

How did the Bush administration handle Hurricane Katrina?

Question 75

How did the turn in the housing prices expand into a worldwide great recession?

Question 76

Why was presidential candidate Barack Obama so popular abroad?

Question 77

Discuss the escalation of the war on terror and what it has accomplished.

Question 78

Examine the election results of 2006, 2008, and 2010. What does this tell you about the mood of voters and their hopes and expectations of Washington?

Question 79

Identify who, what, where, when, and/or why the following are important:
1. Enron
2. Bush Doctrine
3. compassionate conservatism
4. right-to-life
5. Hamdan v. Rumsfeld
6. John McCain
7. Rush Limbaugh
8. Great Recession
9. BP oil spill
10. Tea Party

Question 80

How many people died in the attacks of September 11, 2001?

A)over 350
B)over 1,850
C)over 2,750
D)over 6,000