Term
How large is the national debt? |
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Definition
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Term
What president tried to balance the budget by raising taxes, but ended up losing his bid for reelection? |
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Definition
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Term
What was Clinton’s biggest success as president? |
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Definition
Balanced the budget and started to pay down the national debt |
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Term
What does a liberal believe? |
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Definition
That the federal can and should use its power to solve problems in society |
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Term
Since the 1980s, who were the only 2 Democrats that were elected president? |
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Definition
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Term
What are 2 reasons that the religious right joined the conservative movement? |
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Definition
Abortion became legalized. Laws were passed that restricted religion's role in the public sphere |
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Term
What conservative president emerged in the 1980s? |
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Definition
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Term
What is Reagonomics? How does it work? |
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Definition
Tax cuts, especially for the rich, encourage investment in businesses, which creates jobs that trickle down |
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Term
What are three things that caused conservatism to reemerge in the 1970s? |
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Definition
there was a backlash against civil rights, the economy was weak, and the religious right became political |
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Term
What does a conservative believe? |
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Definition
that gov't should be small, cheap, and focus on military defense and traditional values |
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Term
Describe three reasons that the national debt is so large. |
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Definition
Americans like spending programs, hate taxes, and have frequently borrowed to pay for wars |
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Term
Why did the U.S. invade Iraq in 2003? |
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Definition
believed that were was weapons of mass destruction and ties to terrorism there |
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Term
What was the United States relationship to Osama Bin Laden during the 1980s, when he was fighting the Soviet Union? |
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Definition
We supported him and his mujahideen followers |
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Term
What caused Osama to become anti-American? |
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Definition
The U.S. kept troops in Saudia Arabia, near holy Islamic cities, after the first Iraq war |
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Term
Why has the U.S. supported dictators in the Middle East? |
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Definition
to prevent the spread of Communism and maintain access to oil |
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Term
What are three causes of terrorism? |
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Definition
poverty in the M.E., oppressive dictators offer no hope for change, and the U.S. support of Israel |
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Term
Why did the U.S. invade Afghanistan in 2001? |
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Definition
to kill Osama and destroy the Taliban |
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Term
According to Al-Qaeda and Osama, what does the U.S. need to do if it doesn’t want to be the focus of terrorist attacks? |
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Definition
convert to Islam and abandon the M.E. |
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Term
According to Osama, what needs to happen for the Middle East to regain glory and prosperity? |
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Definition
Everyone needs to turn to pure Islam and create societies based on religious law |
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Term
When the countries of the Middle East were originally formed, what were the major factors in determining their borders? |
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Definition
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Term
According to the assumptions of the Bush administration, a war with Iraq would be …. |
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Definition
cheap, fast, and require few troops |
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Term
What major decision made by Paul Bremer led to a massive spike in violence and chaos in Iraq? |
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Definition
the decision to fire the Iraqi army |
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Term
The problem with sending a small force of U.S. soldiers to Iraq was … |
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Definition
Not enough troops to secure the peace, prevent chaos |
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Term
What are two reasons that have led to the U.S. being involved in the Middle East since the 1950s? |
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Definition
Stop communism, maintain access to oil |
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Term
What’s the Bush Doctrine? |
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Definition
U.S. Has the right to preemptively attack any country that poses a threat |
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Term
What problems have been created by the new governments in Iraq and Afghanistan? |
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Definition
they tend to be poor, corrupt, and people's lives have not improved |
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Term
Which president made the decision to get involved in Iraq and Afghanistan? |
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Definition
George W. Bush (baby bush) |
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Term
What is going to happen to the national debt in the future? |
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Definition
IT will increase dramatically in the future |
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Term
What event caused the U.S. to take a military stance towards Middle Eastern nations and also led to the creation of the Bush Doctrine? |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
A way to combine home mortgages, slice them into pieces, and sell the pieces to investors |
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Term
Why did lenders start giving money to people who couldn’t pay it back? |
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Definition
Because they knew they would sell the loans to investors and banks |
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Term
What were Credit-Default Swaps? How did they work? |
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Definition
They are like insurance policies for investments. IF your investment fails, they cover the loss |
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Term
Describe race relations today in regards to wealth and education. |
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Definition
Whites are still far ahead in terms of education and wealth |
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Term
What was Osama bin Laden’s plan for defeating America? |
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Definition
drag the U.S. into a long war in the M.E., have Islamists fight them there, and drain the U.S. economy |
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Term
Describe the economy throughout most of the 2000s |
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Definition
there was growth, particularly in housing prices and consumption and debt |
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Term
Did Iraq have weapons of mass destruction and ties to terrorism? |
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Definition
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Term
What did the government do for major banks when they were on the verge of bankruptcy? |
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Definition
They loaned them hundred of billions of dollars to keep them alive |
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Term
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Definition
A gov't bailout of 750 billion dollars to Wall Street banks |
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Term
What happened after the housing bubble burst? |
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Definition
housing prices collapsed and the economy tanked |
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Term
How did the housing crash affect the rest of the economy? |
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Definition
stock prices crashed, unemployment skyrocketed, and businesses collapsed |
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Term
Why did the government loan hundreds of billions to banks and AIG after the crash? |
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Definition
there was a fear that inaction would lead to the collapse of the global economy |
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Term
Describe the economy today |
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Definition
the economy has been growing, but at a slow rate, and unemployment has been decreasing |
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Term
How have things changed for Wall Street since the crash? |
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Definition
They haven't changed. Wall Street has only seen weak regulations placed on them |
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Term
What was the 2009 Stimulus Plan? |
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Definition
A huge spending plan consisting of tax cuts and public works projects. Goal was for it to boost the economy |
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