Deck 31: Inequality in the Global Age

Question 1

By 2012, the minority group with the largest college enrollment in the United States was __________.

A) people who identified as multiracial
B) Asian Americans
C) African Americans
D) Hispanics

Answer 1

Hispanics

Question 2

The congressional district representing __________ was designated as the poorest among the 50 states in the two decades after 2000.

A) Beattyville, Kentucky
B) Ferguson, Missouri
C) the South Bronx, New York
D) Detroit, Michigan

Answer 2

the South Bronx, New York

Question 3

What happened to Saddam Hussein after an Iraqi Special Tribunal found him guilty of crimes against humanity in December 2006?

A) He was sentenced to death and executed.
B) He was exiled to Saudi Arabia.
C) He was given a life sentence and imprisoned at Abu Ghraib.
D) He was kept under house arrest in Iraq.

Answer 3

He was sentenced to death and executed.

Question 4

Many political analysts and veteran diplomats opposed American involvement in Iraq because they __________.

A) did not think that Britain could keep its promise to be the major partner in the "coalition of the willing" that launched the invasion of Iraq
B) doubted that Saddam Hussein had links to al-Qaeda
C) feared that Saddam Hussein would retaliate with weapons of mass destruction
D) believed this invasion was an extension of American imperialism

Question 5

Whom did George W. Bush identify as the prime suspect behind the highly coordinated attacks, which were linked to the al-Qaeda network?

A) Osama bin Laden
B) Saddam Hussein
C) the Taliban
D) ISIS

Question 6

San Francisco Bay Area "extreme commuters" are those workers who __________.

A) travel from out of state to work in this part of California
B) travel great distances from outlying communities to work in this area
C) fly in daily to the San Francisco airport from Southern California to work in San Francisco
D) walk to work because they do not earn sufficient income to afford an automobile

Question 7

By 2005, the main arguments over immigration concerned __________.

A) assimilation
B) race
C) illegal immigration
D) religion

Question 8

How did the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), passed by the Bush administration, change the overall practice of teaching and learning in the public school system?

A) Science teachers had to present balanced views on creationism and evolution.
B) Greater emphasis was placed on teaching toward the content assessed on standardized tests.
C) Health education teachers could only teach about abstinence in sexual education programs.
D) Students had greater choices in taking academic electives than they had before passage of this law.

Question 9

What factor most contributed to making Asian immigrants the fastest-growing ethnic group in the United States in the late twentieth century?

A) the transfer of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to the newly created Department of Homeland Security
B) continued civil war and political instability in Vietnam and other nations in Southeast Asia
C) creation of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
D) limitations on immigration from the Western Hemisphere that were part of the Immigration Act of 1965

Question 10

Besides the World Trade Center towers, what other building was the site of a jetliner crash caused by terrorists on September 11, 2001?

A) the White House
B) the Pentagon
C) the Empire State Building
D) the U.S. Capitol

Question 11

What two factors have led to the existence of "two Americas"?

A) declining jobs and wages in white-collar professions
B) economic and racial inequality
C) the crash of technology industries and a widening gap in academic achievement
D) environmental pollution and global warming

Question 12

Adopted in 1994, California's Proposition 187 focused on the issue of __________.

A) property taxes
B) climate change
C) gay marriage
D) illegal immigration

Question 13

Why were the Democrats unsuccessful in setting deadlines for American military withdrawal from Iraq after Bush's reelection in 2004?

A) Democratic leaders, including 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry, believed that victory was possible and urged their party members in Congress to support President Bush.
B) Military intelligence supported evidence that Iraq had WMDs and posed a real threat to American security.
C) Their narrow majority in Congress made it impossible to override Bush's vetoes on funding bills that attached deadlines for military withdrawal.
D) Constituents in most Democratic congressional districts pressured their congressional representatives to support the war.

Question 14

Many of the issues that fueled the culture wars of the 1980s and 1990s, such as reproductive rights, gay rights, and gun control, __________.

A) remained controversial and divisive in the twenty-first century
B) had been resolved by 2010
C) united liberals and conservatives after 2000
D) were largely ignored by the federal government in the new century

Question 15

Which of the following statements about the Hispanic population in the United States in the decades after 2000 is true?

A) Two-thirds of all Hispanic immigrants to the United States came from the Central American nations of Guatemala and El Salvador.
B) The Hispanic population in the United States made up one-quarter of the nation's overall population in 2015.
C) Most Hispanics in the United States lived in northern industrial cities, such as New York and Chicago.
D) By 2016, Hispanics made up about half of all unauthorized immigrants to the United States.

Question 16

In addition to traditional economic problems, such as the collapse of major industries, low high school graduation rates, and a lower than average median household income, the community of Beattyville, Kentucky, like many other American rural communities, suffered from a crisis related to __________.

A) smuggling of undocumented immigrants
B) opioid addiction
C) displacement of long-time residents through gentrification
D) high rents and homelessness

Question 17

The Detainee Treatment Act sponsored by Senator John McCain was a result of __________.

A) the harsh treatment the Iraqi dictator received after his capture
B) torture of American soldiers by Iraqis and the Taliban
C) the high civilian death rates in Iraq that took place after the American occupation of that nation
D) the broadcast of graphic images and descriptions of mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers at Abu Ghraib in Baghdad

Question 18

The stereotype of the "model minority" is most commonly applied to __________.

A) African Americans
B) Asian Americans
C) Hispanics
D) Multiracial Americans

Question 19

What was one trend that emerged from the No Child Left Behind Act?

A) Less emphasis was placed on reading and mathematics skills in classroom instruction.
B) A greater number of students began to enroll in charter or private schools.
C) American public school instructors who taught advanced classes received higher wages because their higher student success rate was linked to standardized test performance.
D) Low-performing schools that did not meet the goals of NCLB had first choice in enrolling students within their districts who achieved the highest success rates on standardized tests.

Question 20

What makes it ironic that the average worker employed in the Bay Area's service sector cannot afford to live there?

A) The nation's top technology and software companies, including Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, are headquartered there and have led the region in unprecedented innovation and wealth.
B) American-born white workers cannot afford to live there, while undocumented immigrants can take full advantage of public housing programs in this area.
C) Workers in the technology industry have to commute long distances to their jobs because living in San Francisco is undesirable due to its high crime rate.
D) Workers in the lucrative high-tech industries cannot afford the high prices of automobiles and gasoline and have to find alternative methods of transportation to get to their jobs.

Question 21

In President Bush's 2002 speech, the "axis of evil" included __________.

A) Iraq, Iran, and North Korea
B) all Muslim nations
C) Israel, Russia, and Saudi Arabia
D) al-Qaeda, ISIS, and the Taliban

Question 22

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was the first bill signed by __________.

A) George W. Bush
B) Bill Clinton
C) Barack Obama
D) Donald Trump

Question 23

Both the USA PATRIOT Act and USA PATRIOT Act II __________.

A) sought to round up undocumented aliens
B) gave the government new powers to curb foreign money laundering
C) made it easier to deport suspected terrorists
D) sought to strengthen America's borders

Question 24

When Iraqi insurgents mobilized to oppose the U.S. occupation in 2004, __________.

A) American forces defeated the insurgency with little difficulty
B) the insurgents were weakened by lack of Iraqi support
C) U.S. forces faced their toughest fighting since Vietnam
D) Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld admitted the invasion had been a mistake

Question 25

What economic trend was reinforced by the publication of the Economic Innovation Group's Distressed Communities Index in 2017?

A) The economic inequality that had been growing since the Great Recession of 2008 had subsided.
B) The South Bronx in New York was the most distressed congressional district in the United States.
C) Over one-half of all U.S. residents living in distressed ZIP Codes were located in the South.
D) Business and employment opportunities began to expand to a growing number of metropolises throughout the nation.

Question 26

At the 1992 Republican National Convention, Pat Buchanan gave an opening speech focused on __________.

A) Bill Clinton's morals
B) the nation's culture wars
C) defeatist foreign policy
D) failing American schools

Question 27

The racial dimension of the responses to Hurricane Katrina victims, the dumping of toxic soil in primarily African American Warren County, North Carolina, the lead poisoning crisis in Flint, Michigan's, water supply, and the Dakota Access Pipeline protest all exemplify __________.

A) that environmental disasters and issues affect whites and people of color equally
B) that climate change has made more Americans turn to green technology
C) the issue of environmental justice
D) that the ideas that "climate deniers" have championed are true

Question 28

After Obama's stimulus plan was passed by Congress, __________.

A) the economy quickly went into a strong recovery
B) unemployment continued to grow, and the recession deepened
C) many economists complained that far too much money was being spent
D) the stock market reached its lowest level since 1982

Question 29

In the 2004 election, George W. Bush __________.

A) won the popular vote majority he failed to win in 2000
B) became the second president in succession to win twice without a popular vote majority
C) won by an even closer margin than in 2000
D) won an easy victory, showing that the nation was more united than it had been in decades

Question 30

The main issues of the election of 2004 were __________.

A) the same as those in 2000
B) war and national security
C) domestic problems
D) the deficit and national debt

Question 31

Performer and activist Harry Belafonte and author Michelle Alexander, respectively, labeled __________ as "the new slavery" and "the new Jim Crow."

A) addiction to opioids and heroin by African Americans under age 30
B) low high school graduation rates for African American teenagers
C) high maternal mortality rates for African American females
D) mass incarceration of African American males

Question 32

Not one Republican in Congress supported the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act because __________.

A) they believed this legislation was an unwarranted expansion of federal power into American lives
B) they were concerned that the lack of a government-run public option to compete with the insurance industry would not overhaul the delivery of patient care
C) the bill failed to cover patients with preexisting conditions
D) the bill did not cover a sufficient amount of uninsured Americans

Question 33

How did the U.S. Supreme Court settle the election of 2000?

A) The Supreme Court, by a one-vote difference, ordered a halt to the Florida recounts.
B) The Supreme Court ordered that Florida complete a recount to determine the winner.
C) The U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Florida Supreme Court in allowing the recount to continue after Bush's lawyers tried to stop it.
D) The Supreme Court agreed to let Gore become secretary of state in exchange for his agreement to concede the election to Bush.

Question 34

Obama's main rival for the 2008 Democratic nomination was __________.

A) Joseph Biden
B) Joe Lieberman
C) Hillary Clinton
D) John Kerry

Question 35

Obama's two Supreme Court appointments in 2009 and 2010 were both __________.

A) conservative Republicans
B) white men
C) women
D) former senators

Question 36

In the election of 2000, __________.

A) Al Gore won a majority of electoral votes
B) George W. Bush won a majority of popular votes
C) Al Gore won a majority of popular votes
D) Ralph Nader kept Bush and Gore from getting a majority of popular votes

Question 37

Scientific research from the late 1990s concluded that the main cause of global warming was __________.

A) overuse of green technology
B) rising sea levels
C) greenhouse emissions from carbon-based fuels
D) extreme weather events, including hurricanes and flash floods

Question 38

By the end of Obama's first term in 2012, __________.

A) most Americans believed that the ongoing war in Afghanistan made them feel safer from terrorism
B) American military interests had shifted from the Middle East to the U.S.-Mexican border
C) Osama bin Laden was still a wanted outlaw
D) the last convoy of American soldiers had pulled out from Iraq

Question 39

Former Vice President Al Gore's publication of An Inconvenient Truth addressed __________.

A) Bill Clinton's impeachment trial
B) the deception caused by the Bush administration's manipulation of intelligence evidence to justify American occupation of Iraq
C) global warming
D) acknowledgment of growing inequality toward African Americans in the prison system

Question 40

The first theater of Bush's campaign against terrorism was carried out in __________.

A) Pakistan
B) Iran
C) Iraq
D) Afghanistan

Question 41

What were the root causes of the financial crisis of 2008? How was President Obama's financial relief plan different from President George W. Bush's plan?

Question 42

Which of these states that had not gone Democratic for several decades did Barack Obama carry in 2008?

A) Virginia
B) California
C) Tennessee
D) Arkansas

Question 43

How did the federal and local response to Hurricane Katrina reflect the growing social and racial inequality that became more common during the first two decades of the 2000s?

Question 44

What was one strength that Donald Trump had as a political candidate in the 2016 presidential election?

A) his exemplary military service during the Vietnam War
B) his extensive political experience as a former mayor of New York City
C) his successful background in sales and the marketing of his name
D) his positive relationship with the mainstream media

Question 45

What role did Osama bin Laden play in the 9/11 attacks?

A) He coordinated the 9/11 attacks.
B) He was the absolute dictator of Iraq.
C) He negotiated a peaceful resolution between the United States and the al-Qaeda network that was linked to the 9/11 hijackers.
D) He was head of the government in Afghanistan, which was controlled by the Taliban, a radical Islamist group.

Question 46

Under George W. Bush, a new focus on the threat of __________ formed a central tenet in a sweeping reformulation of American foreign policy.

A) NAFTA
B) ISIS
C) WMD
D) ICE

Question 47

Which statement is accurate regarding the USA PATRIOT Act?

A) It gave federal officials more discretion in gathering intelligence about suspected terrorism.
B) It failed to provide new tools to stop foreign money laundering.
C) It did not result in the arrest of any terrorists in the first five years after its passage.
D) It created new government powers that were weakened somewhat by legislation passed after 2003.

Question 48

Donald Trump's victory in the Electoral College during the 2016 presidential election was most impacted by __________.

A) breaking through the "blue wall" of solid Democratic support in the industrial Midwest
B) winning the electoral votes of the nation's most populous states
C) carrying New England and the rest of the Northeast
D) winning the electoral votes in every Southern state that had once been part of the Confederacy

Question 49

Barack Obama named __________ as secretary of state when he took office in 2009.

A) John Kerry
B) Al Gore
C) Hillary Clinton
D) Bill Richardson

Question 50

Discuss the impact of the 9/11 attacks on U.S. foreign policy.

Question 51

What was one argument used by supporters of a U.S. invasion of Iraq?

A) Saddam Hussein defied UN resolutions demanding the termination of research on the development of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
B) Saddam Hussein refused to turn over Osama bin Laden to the United States.
C) The United States wanted revenge for the cruelty shown to American prisoners of war held in Iraq.
D) George W. Bush wanted to punish Saddam Hussein for planning the failed assassination attempt against his father, former president George H. W. Bush.

Question 52

In 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell __________ from the UN Security Council.

A) refused to attempt to gain support for war
B) gained tepid support for war
C) gained enthusiastic support for war
D) tried but failed to gain support for war

Question 53

How were the versions of populism that Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders used in the 2016 presidential election to appeal to voters similar to and different from each other?

Question 54

How was the Bush Doctrine regarding the war on terrorism different from earlier strategies that had once been part of Cold War policy?

A) Bush promised to take the war directly to the enemy rather than trying to contain terrorist leadership and actions to the regions where it existed already.
B) The United States and its former Cold War rival, the Soviet Union, conducted a joint military campaign against al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.
C) Bush ordered U.S. military forces to avoid regime changes in enemy nations similar to those that had once been implemented by the CIA in communist-leaning nations.
D) Unlike the Cold War, nuclear weapons of mass destruction were not a deciding factor in developing a military response to terrorist enemies and the nations that supported them.

Question 55

How did America's occupation of Iraq affect ordinary Iraqi citizens?

A) Their conditions worsened as poverty, looting, and chaos ensued.
B) They experienced unprecedented law and order in their country.
C) They witnessed improved health and sanitation conditions.
D) They began to enjoy a certain affluence under democracy.

Question 56

Donald Trump's foreign policy positions on the Paris Agreement on climate change, Muslim immigration, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership showed that he __________.

A) believed the United States should play a more prominent role in global politics
B) supported the nation's commitment to global engagement
C) prioritized nationalistic American interests over global interests
D) collaborated with the nation's allies to promote international free trade

Question 57

How did Congress respond to George W. Bush's vow to "hunt down" those responsible for the 9/11 attacks on the United States?

A) With only one dissenting vote, Congress granted President Bush power to take whatever steps he deemed necessary.
B) In an act of partisanship, the Republicans supported the president, but the Democrats were cautious in their reaction.
C) Congress agreed to support President Bush's request to send troops to the Middle East if the United Nations and NATO assisted with this mission.
D) Congress voted for an act of vengeance but wanted to oversee the steps the nation would take.

Question 58

During the early decades of the twenty-first century, how did issues related to growing inequality in the United States, including immigration, education, poverty, and criminal justice, sharpen public debate about America's social and cultural future?

Question 59

New Orleans, Louisiana, was severely impacted by __________.

A) Hurricane Maria
B) Hurricane Harvey
C) Superstorm Sandy
D) Hurricane Katrina

Question 60

What was implied by the situation in schools, employment, and the criminal justice system in the first two decades of the 2000s?

A) Race was increasingly less significant in American life.
B) The gains from the civil rights era had diminished and, in some cases, had been reversed.
C) Hispanics had replaced African Americans as the nation's poorest minority.
D) The economic growth of the 1990s and early 2000s had benefited all groups in American society equally.

Question 61

Why did Hurricane Katrina prove to be a political catastrophe for the Bush administration?

A) The government was ill-prepared to deal with the storm's devastation.
B) Congress allocated too much money for disaster relief, which resulted in an economic recession.
C) Government weather agencies failed to give the people of New Orleans advanced warning of the impending storm.
D) The Department of Transportation failed to designate proper evacuation routes for the people fleeing New Orleans before the onset of the storm.

Question 62

How did Barack Obama attempt to reach voters in the 2008 election?

A) He specifically targeted young voters and people of color.
B) He attempted to recruit the upper classes with promises of tax breaks for businesses.
C) He vilified the Republicans and ran a negative campaign.
D) He promised to end the war on terror.

Question 63

Proponents of __________ pushed for the examination of topics such as social inequality and racism.

A) multiculturalism
B) bilingual education
C) the reinstatement of school prayer
D) mandated federal and state testing in schools

Question 64

Why did a federal court rule that California's Proposition 187, a ballot initiative, was unconstitutional?

A) The federal government has exclusive jurisdiction over immigration.
B) This initiative restricted the civil rights of undocumented immigrants.
C) Refugees from war-torn countries were not addressed in Proposition 187.
D) The nation's fear and prejudices against Muslims after the 9/11 attacks influenced the court to overturn Proposition 187.

Question 65

Which of the following best characterizes the United States response to the Kyoto Protocol?

A) The United States signed the protocol but then failed to ratify it.
B) The United States met the set targets and promised more drastic reductions in the use of fossil fuels.
C) Although the U.S. Senate ratified the Kyoto Protocol, President George W. Bush withdrew the nation from this compact.
D) The United States agreed to follow the targets set by the Kyoto Protocol but has not yet met them.

Question 66

How did the two major candidates of the 2000 presidential election, George W. Bush and Al Gore, differ in their perspectives about global warming and climate change?

A) Bush urged his fellow Republicans to halt or delay government action on climate-related issues, while Gore produced literature and documentaries that taught the public about the consequences of global warming and climate change.
B) Bush supported legislation addressing advances in "green technology" to reduce global warming, while Gore preferred a continued reliance on fossil fuels.
C) Bush favored U.S. participation in the Kyoto Protocol, while Gore urged the Senate not to ratify it.
D) Gore urged his fellow Democrats to halt or delay government action on climate-related issues, while Bush produced literature and documentaries that taught the public about the consequences of global warming and climate change.

Question 67

What economic trend was most prominent in American society between 1980 and 2014?

A) and the bottom 50 percent
B) stagnant growth for the top 1 percent of earners with increasing income going to the lowest 50 percent
C) increasing economic growth for both the top 1 percent and the bottom 50 percent of earners
D) economic stagnation for both the top 1 percent and the lowest 50 percent of earners

Question 68

Which of the following helped propel Donald Trump to political prominence prior to his 2015 announcement that he was running for president?

A) his claim that President Obama was born in Kenya
B) his proposal to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border
C) his call for banning immigrants and refugees from seven majority Muslim nations
D) his sexist and misogynistic remarks and actions toward women

Question 69

How did Sarah Palin undermine John McCain's credibility?

A) Her poor performance during interviews led many to question why McCain chose her as a running mate.
B) Many critics questioned whether a woman could serve as president.
C) Palin often second-guessed Republican Party strategies and political ideologies.
D) Palin seemed to focus more on her own potential candidacy in the election of 2012.

Question 70

How did the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) impact the American system of public education?

A) Parents had the right to transfer their children out of schools that failed to meet their institutional goals.
B) Teachers maintained traditional teaching strategies and curricula that had been in place for over a century.
C) Students planning on attending college or university were required to take more rigorous admissions exams.
D) School curricula placed greater emphasis on science and social studies, the two content areas covered extensively by new standardized tests.

Question 71

What was the key feature associated with various presidential candidates of the 2016 presidential campaign?

A) two different populist challenges to the established leadership of both major political parties
B) continued use of conventional campaign strategies by the presidential nominees
C) minimal media and technology exposure to the candidates
D) satisfaction with the economic status quo for working-class Americans

Question 72

Which of the following groups suffered disproportionately in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina?

A) poor African Americans
B) middle-class whites
C) recent immigrants
D) Asians and Hispanics

Question 73

As a state senator, Barack Obama gained national attention for his stance on which of these issues?

A) the American invasion of Iraq
B) universal health care
C) abortion
D) income tax reform

Question 74

Which of the following setbacks did President Trump encounter in his first year in office?

A) Federal courts blocked his directive to ban immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim nations, declaring it unconstitutional.
B) The U.S. Senate blocked several of his cabinet appointments.
C) Congress defeated his Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
D) Congress overrode his decisions to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Question 75

What was the primary reason for the founding of the Black Lives Matter social movement in 2013?

A) to address inequities in the criminal justice system, focusing on police brutality against black men
B) to bring greater awareness to the higher percentage of African American and Hispanic imprisonments related to illegal drug usage
C) to call for stricter gun legislation to decrease murder rates in the African American community
D) to protest the high number of incarcerated African American women, many of whom were mentally ill or had experienced past incidences of physical or sexual abuse

Question 76

To the scientific community, which factors proved that climate change was a real phenomenon resulting from human activities?

A) record temperatures and rising sea levels
B) reductions in fossil fuels and greater adaptation of "green technology"
C) toxic soil dump sites and contaminated drinking water supplies
D) oil pipeline spills and hazardous power plants

Question 77

What part of the nation bore the brunt of deep poverty in the first decades of the twenty-first century?

A) rural communities
B) inner city neighborhoods such as the South Bronx that had been hit hard with white flight
C) suburban communities
D) cities in the Rust Belt

Question 78

What major policy positions endorsed by the Tea Party became the focus for many Republican politicians?

A) limited government and lower taxes
B) scaling down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and fighting against communism
C) universal health care and government bailouts of failing banks
D) stricter gun regulation and greater funding for public education

Question 79

What was one vulnerability that critics pointed out in Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election?

A) She was too close to Wall Street, the banking industry, and big money donors to be a true agent of change.
B) She was insensitive to economic needs of African Americans and Hispanics.
C) She was ineffective in responding to the verbal insults that Donald Trump hurled at her.
D) She lacked political experience.

Question 80

Which of these was the immediate cause of the financial crisis of late 2008?

A) a bubble in the housing market
B) a stock market crash in 2007
C) reregulation of the banking sector
D) rising state budget deficits