POLS Terms- Exam #4

The UN Security Council has _________ permanent members and _________ elected members.

5, 10

Approximately _______ of the federal budget is in the mandatory spending category.

60%

What is the main difference between Texas' home-rule cities and general-law cities?

A general-law city is charted for localities with a population of fewer than 5,000 persons.

__________ is a unit of government that performs a single service in a limited geographical area.

A special district

Which of the following programs provide the most benefits the working poor?

Earned Income Tax Credit

What is a key problem with counties in Texas?

Many of them are too small and underpopulated to function well.

Medicare is a _________ program; Medicaid is a _________ program.

Contributory; noncontributory

Elderly Americans particularly benefit from which tow government programs?

Social Security and Medicare

________ are government grants of cash or other valuable commodities such as land that are used to promote activities desired by government leaders.

Subsidies

Which of the following is the best example of the shadow welfare state?

Tax breaks

Which of the following is a noncontributory program?

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families

In Texas, _________ create(s) special purpose districts.

Texas voters in the areas that will be covered

In Texas, county governments are responsible for which of the following tasks?

administration of social services

If the economy is experiencing high rates of inflation, the Fed would likely respond by

aggressively raising interest rates.

Economic aid is an economic ________; sanctions are an economic ________.

carrot, stick

Deterrence assumes the ______ of the U.S. response and the ______ of an adversary.

certainty; rationality

Which of the following groups receives the least benefit from government's social policies?

children and the working poor

The two policies in the United States ultimately adopted in the Cold War were

containment and deterrence

A __________ form of government is one in which public policies are developed by the city council and execute and administrative functions are assigned to a professional city manager.

council-manager

In Texas, lesser criminal cases are generally prosecuted by _________, while the more serious criminal cases tend to be prosecuted by _________.

county attorneys; district attorneys

Who collects the taxes owed to a Texas county?

county tax assessor-collector

The United States' decisions to fight wars in Korea and Vietnam can be understood as part of its policy of

deterrence

The representation of a government to other foreign governments is called

diplomacy

If the United States formally recognizes a country, it means that the United States will

engage in routine trade and diplomatic exchanges with that country and will allow that country's citizens to travel to America

The goal of Social Security is to

ensure a basic income to all workers once they retire

The idea that all people should the the freedom to user whatever talents and wealth to achieve their goals is called

equality of opportunity.

An agreement between the president and another country that has the force of a treaty but does not require the Senate's advice and consent is called a(n)

executive

A key power of the Fed is to

expand and contract the amount of credit available.

The power to raise or lower tax rate is part of

fiscal policy

The three most important federal programs to assist the working poor are

the Affordable Care Act, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

The two sides in the Cold War were

the Soviet Union and the United States

Adam Smith's theory of _______ maintains that many individual economic transactions come together to create a greater good for all.

the invisible hand

What is preemption?

the legislature's power to overrule ordinances or actions of local home-rule cities

Tax expenditures primarily benefit which groups?

the middle and upper class

In a crisis, which of the following has the greatest foreign policy influence?

the president

Mayors are elected using at-large elections because

the represent the entire geographical area of hte city rather than one specific district

The five permanent members of the Un security have more influence over the Security Council's decision than other countries because

they are each given a "veto" that is sufficient to reject any substantive proposal

Upton Sinclair's 1906 exposé "The Jungle," helped spur government's active role in regulation by revealing

unsanitary practices at meatpacking plants.

The "feminization of poverty" refers to the act that

women are more likely to be poor than men.

Before the development of the welfare state, the primary problem with private charities was that they

would make subjective decisions on who was deserving of aid.

What is the role of the State Department in American foreign policy?

It carries out routine diplomatic activities

What is the purpose of the World Trade Organization?

It promotes free trade among its member countries

During the Neal Deal, _______ theory that a government could boost employment by stimulating demand became quite influential.

John Maynard Keynes's

Something that must supplied by the government because the marketplace cannot provide it in sufficient quantities is called

a public good.

A school district is

a special district

Those who believe in the theory of _________ maintain that the government's role in regulating the economy should be focused on lowering taxes and creating incentives for a more productive and efficient use of resources.

supply-side economics

Amnesty International is a(n)

interest group that works to protect human rights

The federal funds rate refers to the

interest rate on loans between banks

The nineteenth-century policy of _______ was based on the geographic distance of the United States from other countries.

isolationism

Part of the reason welfare programs became so unpopular was that

many Americans came to believe that welfare recipients did not want to work.

A(n) _______ benefit is one where potential recipients must document genuine need.

means-tested

The policy of deterrence and containment pursued by the United States during the Cold War can be viewed as

midway between preventive war and appeasement

If you live outside city limits, water, sewer, sanitation, and electricity services are offered by

municipal utility districts (MUDs)

The policy of striking a nation that might be contemplating hostile actions is called

preventive war

The central thrust of federal housing policy has been to

promote home ownership

Special districts in Texas are primarily paid for revenue generated by

property taxes and user fees

The International Monetary Fund

provides loans and facilities a short-term flow of money to countries in need

An officially expressed purpose or goal backed by a sanction is a

public policy.

Social Security taxes are _________. Most income taxes are _________.

regressive; progressive

The Securities and Exchange Commision

requires companies to inform buyers of investment risks and protects investors against fraud.

The Great Depression changed American attitudes about welfare by

revealing that poverty could be caused by a flawed economic system, not just by personal irresponsibility

The two primary goals of American Foreign policy are

security and prosperity

In a mayor-council form of government, the mayor __________ while the city council ____________.

serves as chief executive officer of the city; serves as the legislative body for the city

The chief law-enforcement officer in Texas' county government is the

sheriff

What type of government is called hidden government because people often do not know it exists?

special purpose districts

Although the Federal Reserve's decision to cut the federal funds rate is expected to _______ economic growth, its decision to raise the federal funds rate is expected to _______ economic growth.

speed up; slow down

Which of the following has been a fundamental goal of the government's involvement in the economy?

stimulating economic growth

Why are Texas counties important?

They provide the main form of government in rural areas.

When two sides of an international conflict possess such enormous arsenals of nuclear missiles that each has the ability to destroy the other in the event of war, it is called

"mutually assured destruction"

_________ policies are designed to eliminate the abuses of powerful ________.

Antitrust; monopolies

As the number of urban areas grew in the state in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the management of local affairs became such a growing burden on the Texas legislature that it passed the

Home-Rule Charter Amendment in 1912

The periodic adjustment of benefit or wages that takes into account the increased cost of living is called

Indexing

Defining property rights, contracts, and standards for goods are part of the government's interest in which economic goal?

Promoting stable markets

__________ taxation occurs when people in lower income brackets pay a larger percentage of their income taxes

Regressive

Which of the following statements best summarizes the Democratic and Republican parties' views on the appropriate role of government in the economy.

Republicans tend to draw on the ideas of laissez-faire economics as they argue for significant reductions in nonmilitary spending: Democrats stress the importance of government regulation in promoting a strong economy.

Why is higher education policy an important component of the government's efforts to foster equality of opportunity?

There remains a substantial wage premium for college graduates over high school graduates.

Social Security is a good example of

a contributory program

What is the composition of a Texas county commissioner's court?

a county judge who is elected countywide and presides over the meetings, and four county commissioners who are each elected to represent about one-quarter of the population of the county

The term the welfare state is best described as policies

a nation has to promote and protect the economic and social well-being of its citizens

According to the Dillon Rule doctrine,

general-law cities and towns are much more constrained than home-rule cities, and cannot take any action unless explicitly authorized by a law passed by the state.