The area of public policy that focuses on internal matters such as education, transportation, and law enforcement.
What is domestic policy?
100
A good place to grow old; a dangerous place to be young.
How has the United States been described?
100
The last president under whom the national government spent less than it collected in tax revenue.
Who was Bill Clinton?
100
During his administration, the United States piled up larger deficits (both absolutely and relatively) than during any other presidency in modern times.
Who is President Obama?
100
The total amount of money owed by the national government to a variety of lenders.
What is the national debt?
200
The area of public policy that mostly looks externally, to focus on relations with other countries.
What is foreign policy?
200
The part of the federal budget that Congress controls directly during the appropriations process each year.
What is discretionary spending?
200
This crisis caused U.S. revenues to drop and expenditures to climb at the same time, producing almost-immediate budgetary shortfalls.
What is the Great Recession?
200
The reason why income data showing that the middle class is shrinking might be giving a false picture.
What are employment benefits?
200
The difference between the amount of revenue collected in a fiscal year and the amount spent, in cases when the government spends more than it collects.
What is a deficit?
300
A broad area of public policy that is dominant in both domestic and international contexts.
What is economic policy?
300
A term describing how frequently children die soon after being born.
What is the infant mortality rate?
300
His presidential candidacy helped encourage Democrats in the White House and Republicans in Congress to spend less than they collected in revenue.
Who was Ross Perot?
300
Until the late 2000's, his administration oversaw the biggest budget deficits (as a share of the country's wealth) seen since World War II ended.
Who was President Reagan?
300
Used to adjust debt figures so that they can be expressed as a fraction of the society's wealth generation (rather than in raw or absolute terms).
What is Gross-Domestic Product (or GDP)?
400
An area of policy that political scientists normally teach not as part of their public policy but instead as part of the Constitution and the judiciary.
What is civil rights & civil liberties?
400
The part of the federal budget that Congress does not control directly during the appropriations process each year, because it's locked in place based on promises made in prior law.
What is mandatory spending?
400
The country's imports and exports grew increasingly out of balance soon after this pact was approved, as the Reform Party predicted.
What is the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)?
400
A policy that indirectly depletes the value of people's savings over time without requiring them to be taxed directly?
What is inflation?
400
The difference between the amount of revenue collected in a fiscal year and the amount spent, in cases when the government spends less than it collects.
What is a surplus?
500
The area of public policy in which the President tends to be the dominant policy maker.
What is foreign policy?
500
The generation whose ongoing retirement threatens to undermine programs for the elderly due to their numerical size.
Who are the Baby Boomers?
500
Raise taxes, cut spending, or spur economic growth (leading to more wealth production and increased revenue).
What are the ways to shrink federal debt as a share of GDP?
500
A relatively new practice used to extract petroleum from hard-to-reach deposits, which helped limit U.S. oil imports.
What is fracking?
500
The difference between the value of goods that a country exports and the value of goods that a country imports, when the former is smaller.