1.

In 2011, median family income in the US was $61,455. 4 out of 5 American families hold no more than what total dollar figure in their savings and checking accounts?

Answer: B, $5,300 

The median value of financial assets held is higher--$21,500 in 2010—but includes life insurance and other retirement accounts.  Only the top fifth of income-earning American families have sufficient liquidity to weather job loss, a disability spell, or chronic illness.  Even many of those families would be taxed by extended periods of trouble.

2.

What is an American infant’s probability of being born into a poor family?

Answer: C, 27% (analysis of Current Population Report data from US Census Bureau, 2012). 

27% come home from the hospital to families living at or under the federal poverty level.  40% of American infants are born into families with incomes of less than $35,000.

3.

What percentage of US federal government spending is on cash assistance to impoverished families with children?

Answer: D, 0.001% 

Just 29% of the $16 Billion Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program—about $5B--is for direct cash assistance to families.  (This time-limited benefit averages $389 per month.) As total federal spending in 2012 totaled $3.6 Trillion, one thousandth of one percent of federal spending is on cash assistance to poor families with children.

4.

What country has the greatest share of world income?

Answer: D, United States of America

(International Monetary Fund, April, 2011)

In 2010, the US share of the $62.8T world economy was $14.6T or 23.3% of the total.  China, despite having a population four times that of the US, was a distant second at 9%.  Japan (8.7%), Germany (5.3%), and France (4.1%) round out the top 5 economies.  These five countries constitute half of the world’s income.

5.

Which of the following countries—the 5 largest economies in the world--has the highest per capita income?

Answer: D, United States of America, (International Monetary Fund, April, 2011) 

In 2010, the US per capita income was $47,284, slightly larger than those of Japan ($42,820), France ($41,019) and Germany ($40,631).  China’s per capita income, while growing rapidly, is only $4,382, one tenth that of the US.

6.

Which of the following countries—the 5 largest economies in the world--has the highest debt as a percentage of national income (GDP)?

Answer: D, Japan

The International Monetary Fund reports that Japan has the highest ratio of debt to national income at 238%.  The US at 73% (CBO, 2013) is lower than Germany (82%) and France (90%) but higher than China (23%).  Prior to the Great Recession, the U.S. ratio was half of what it is today. 

7.

During the Great Recession of 2008, what percentage of the 15 million Americans that lost jobs received Unemployment Insurance (UI) payments?

Answer: A, 50% (GAO, February, 2012). 

Within federal guidelines, states set qualification criteria, tax levies and benefit payment levels for the unemployment insurance (UI) program. Over the last decades, a number of factors including state economic competition and the changing nature of work have resulted in a reduction of workers with UI coverage, and great variation in benefits across states.

8.

In what year is the Social Security program projected to go bankrupt?

Answer: D, None of the above. 

Today, as for the last 30 years, FICA payroll tax contributions to the Social Security Trust Fund are well in excess of outgoing payments to program beneficiaries: seniors, the permanently disabled and widowed spouses and their kids. A large $2.5 Trillion Trust Fund balance has been built up. Sometime in the next decade or so, outflows will exceed inflows because the ratio of workers to beneficiaries will decrease as more and more baby boomers retire. To ensure payment of full benefits, the large Trust Fund balance will be drawn down. In 2033, the Trust Fund balance is projected to reach zero. At that time, annual payroll tax contributions by workers are predicted to fund 77% (decreasing to 72% by 2087) of promised benefits (2013 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of The Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds). A problem to be sure--one that could be remedied with modest changes to payroll taxes and benefits today--but nothing akin to bankruptcy.

9.

Which country has socialized medicine?

Answer: A, United Kingdom. 

In the UK, the government owns the hospitals and employs the doctors. That is socialized medicine. In Canada, provincial governments are the only payer of care. This is socialized insurance. Canadian doctors are self-employed, and the vast majority of hospitals are not government-owned, but rather non-profit organizations sponsored by universities or local communities. The same is true in Germany, but a range of health plans called sickness funds are the source of coverage and payment for all citizens. This German model is closest to the ever-evolving American system. Ours is neither socialized medicine nor socialized insurance. Doctors are mostly privately employed, hospitals tend to be community or university sponsored not-for-profit organizations and for profit insurers and many supply side businesses are major players. This will continue under Obamacare.

10.

In which country are healthcare costs the highest, life expectancy the shortest and insurance coverage the most uncertain?

Answer: E, United States. 

The U.S, spends 30-50% more per person on healthcare than any nation on Earth, but is alone in failing to guarantee health insurance coverage to its citizens. This will continue to be true even after Obamacare is fully implemented. Life expectancy is slightly lower in the US, averaging 79 years, as compared to that in Germany (81), UK (80), Japan (83), and Canada (82). (World Health Organization, 2011).

11.

Which is the biggest provider of life insurance in the US?

Answer: E, None of the above. 

The Social Security Survivors Insurance Program is the largest provider in the country. Over $105B was paid to widowed spouses and their dependents in 2010. This is almost twice of what was paid by all insurance companies combined.

12.

Democratic Presidents--especially Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who proposed and signed into law the Social Security Act--are seen as favoring social insurance programs. Which Republican President(s) proposed or signed legislation creating or improving social insurance programs?

Answer: E, All of the Above. 

Theodore Roosevelt proposed a program of social insurance in 1912. Dwight Eisenhower proposed and signed into law an expansion of Social Security in 1954 and signed the disability provisions of Social Security into law in 1956 and 1960. Richard Nixon proposed a national health insurance plan in 1971 and signed into law the cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) to Social Security benefits in 1972.

 

Ronald Reagan signed into law the Greenspan Commission recommendations that shored up the Social Security Trust Fund in 1983, declaring: “These amendments reaffirm the commitment of our government to the performance and stability of social security. It was nearly 50 years ago when, under the leadership of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the American people reached a great turning point, setting up the social security system. F.D.R. spoke then of an era of startling industrial changes that tended more and more to make life insecure. It was his belief that the system can furnish only a base upon which each one of our citizens may build his individual security through his own individual efforts. Today we reaffirm Franklin Roosevelt's commitment that social security must always provide a secure and stable base so that older Americans may live in dignity.”