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Liberty got it in one.

It's not a question of smart or stupid. Einstein probably would not have done well on this test, as he was a European and came to the U.S. rather late in life.

It's a question of an informed electorate able to make prudent choices, versus a naive or ignorant public that can be tricked by emotion, made-up facts, and defective logic.

- Jim

HankB wrote:And oddly enough, during the "Clinton Surplus" years, the national debt continued to increase.

That's partly because the U.S. Treasury has to sell bonds to the Social Security trust fund.

That is the only way that the Social Security trust fund can be invested.

Maybe there's more to the issue. I am certainly not an expert on the federal budget.

- Jim

Right.

- Jim

SCone wrote:On #33, the words "per person" throws me a curve.

That's one way to make "trick" questions -- put in superfluous information.

If income and spending are equal, then they equal per person or per anything else.

I'm lucky in having a knack for trick questions, most of the time.

- Jim

The government can have existing, older debt, even if it is not borrowing money now.

During the late 1990s, the federal government had more income than spending, but it still had debt incurred in earlier years.

The U.S. has never been debt-free since some time before WW II.

- Jim

My discussion of these questions is below. Drag the cursor over the message to see it.
30 C seems to have worked a bunch of times. That's pretty much what the government did to end the recession that started with the dot-com crash.

Of course, economists can argue that the recession would have ended anyway. Who knows? There are no do-overs in history.

33 D is the right answer. If the government is spending all its revenue and not borrowing, then the amount of taxes equals spending.

All the other answers for 33 are false statements or irrelevant.

- Jim

http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/re ... /quiz.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Many of the questions are slam-dunks, but some are real tricky. Take your time.

- Jim