Government Test Ch. 16-18

Front 1

fiscal policy

Back 1

economic policies involving taxing, spending, and deficit levels of the national government

Front 2

monetary policy

Back 2

economic policies involving the money supply, interest rates, and banking activity

Front 3

government bonds

Back 3

certificates of indebtedness that pay interest and promise repayment on a future date

Front 4

federal reserve board (the fed)

Back 4

independent agency of the executive branch of the federal government charged with overseeing the nation's monetary policy

Front 5

inflation

Back 5

rise in the general level of prices, not just the prices of some products

Front 6

recession

Back 6

decline in the general level of economic activity

Front 7

gross domestic product (GDP)

Back 7

measure of economic performance in terms of the nation's total production of goods and services for a single year, valued in terms of market prices

Front 8

economic cycles

Back 8

fluctuations in real GDP growth followed by contraction

Front 9

unemployment rate

Back 9

percentage of the civilian labor force who are not working but who are looking for work or waiting to return to or begin a job

Front 10

international trade

Back 10

the buying and selling of goods and services between individuals or firms located in different countries

Front 11

protectionism

Back 11

a policy of high tariffs and quotas on imports to protect domestic industries

Front 12

free trade

Back 12

a policy of reducing or eliminating tariffs and quotas on imports to stimulate international trade

Front 13

mandatory spending

Back 13

spending for program commitments made by past congresses

Front 14

entitlement programs

Back 14

social welfare programs that provide classes of people with legally enforceable rights to benefits

Front 15

indexing

Back 15

tying of benefit levels in social welfare programs to the general price level

Front 16

in-kind (noncash) benefits

Back 16

benefits of a social welfare program that are not cash payments, including free medical care, subsidized housing, and food stamps

Front 17

balanced budget

Back 17

government budget in which expenditures and revenues are equal, so that no deficit or surplus exists

Front 18

discretionary spending

Back 18

spending for programs not previously mandated by law

Front 19

deficits

Back 19

imbalances in the annual federal budget in which spending exceeds revenues

Front 20

national debt

Back 20

total debt accumulated by the national government over the years

Front 21

individual income tax

Back 21

taxes on individual's wages and other earned income, the primary source of revenue for the U.S. federal government

Front 22

tax expenditures

Back 22

revenues lost to the federal government because of exemptions, exclusions, deductions, and special treatment provisions in tax laws

Front 23

tax avoidance

Back 23

taking advantage of exemptions, exclusions, deductions, and special treatments in tax laws (legal)

Front 24

tax evasion

Back 24

hiding income and/or falsely claiming exemptions, deductions, and special treatments (illegal)

Front 25

incidence

Back 25

actual bearer of a tax burden

Front 26

progressive taxation

Back 26

system of taxation in which higher income groups pay a larger percentage of their incomes in taxes than do lower income groups

Front 27

regressive taxation

Back 27

system of taxation in which lower income groups pay a larger percentage of their incomes in taxes than do higher income groups

Front 28

proportional (flat) taxation

Back 28

system of taxation in which all income groups pay the same percentage of their income in taxes

Front 29

capital gains

Back 29

profits from buying and selling property including stocks, bonds, and real estate

Front 30

transfer payments

Back 30

direct payments (either in cash or in goods and/or services) by governments to individuals as part of a social welfare program, not as a result of any service or contribution rendered by the individual

Front 31

poverty line

Back 31

official standard regarding what level of annual cash income is sufficient to maintain a "decent standard of living" ; those with incomes below this level are eligible for most public assistance programs

Front 32

means-tested spending

Back 32

spending for benefits that is distributed on the basis of the recipient's income

Front 33

underclass

Back 33

people who have remained poor and dependent on welfare over a prolonged period of time

Front 34

social insurance programs

Back 34

social welfare programs to which beneficiaries have made contributions so that they are entitled to benefits regardless of their personal wealth

Front 35

public assistance programs

Back 35

those social welfare programs for which no contributions are required and only those living in poverty are eligible, includes food stamps, Medicaid, and Family Assistance

Front 36

entitlements

Back 36

any social welfare programs for which there are eligibility requirements, whether financial or contributory

Front 37

social security

Back 37

social insurance program composed of the Old Age and Survivors Insurance program, which pays benefits to retired worker who have paid into the program and their dependents and survivors, and the Disability Insurance program, which pays benefits to disabled workers and their families

Front 38

unemployment compensation

Back 38

social insurance program that temporarily replaces part of the wages of workers who have lost their jobs

Front 39

supplemental security income (SSI)

Back 39

public assistance program that provides monthly cash payments to the needy elderly (65 or older), blind, and disabled

Front 40

Family Assistance

Back 40

public assistance program that provides monies to the states for their use in helping needy families with children

Front 41

food stamp program

Back 41

public assistance program that provides low-income households with coupons redeemable for enough food to provide a minimal nutritious diet

Front 42

earned income tax credit (EITC)

Back 42

tax refunds in excess of tax payments for low-income workers

Front 43

Medicaid

Back 43

public assistance program that provides health care to the poor

Front 44

dependency ratio

Back 44

in the social security system, the number of recipients as a percentage of the number of contributing workers

Front 45

COLAs

Back 45

annual cost-of-living adjustments mandated by law in social security and other welfare benefits

Front 46

temporary assistance to needy families

Back 46

welfare reform program replacing federal cash entitlement with grants to the states for welfare recipients

Front 47

deductibles

Back 47

initial charges in insurance plans, paid by beneficiaries

Front 48

managed care

Back 48

programs designed to keep health care costs down by the establishment of strict guidelines regarding when and what diagnostic and therapeutic procedures should be administered to patients under various circumstances

Front 49

preferred provider organizations (PPOs)

Back 49

groups of hospitals and physicians who have joined together to offer their services to private insurers at a discount

Front 50

health maintenance organizations (HMOs)

Back 50

health care provider groups that provide a stipulated list of services to patients for a fixed fee that is usually substantially lower than such care would otherwise cost

Front 51

Medicare

Back 51

social insurance program that provides health care insurance to elderly and disabled people

Front 52

national health insurance

Back 52

government provided insurance to all citizens paid from tax revenues

Front 53

collective security

Back 53

attempt to bring order to international relations by all nations joining together to guarantee each other's "territorial integrity"and "independence" against "external aggression"

Front 54

soviet union

Back 54

the union of soviet socialist republics (USSR) consisting of Russia and its bordering lands and ruled by the communist regime in Moscow, officially dissolved in 1991

Front 55

superpowers

Back 55

refers to the U.S. and the soviet union after WWII when these two nations dominated international politics

Front 56

regional security

Back 56

attempt to bring order to international relations during the Cold War by creating regional alliances between a superpower and nations of a particular region

Front 57

north atlantic treaty organization (NATO

Back 57

mutual-security agreement and joint military command uniting the nations of western europe, initially formed to resist the soviet expansionism

Front 58

cold war

Back 58

political, military, and ideological struggle between the U.S. and the USSR following the end of WWII and ending with the collapse of communism in 1991

Front 59

truman doctrine

Back 59

U.S. foreign policy, first articulated by President Harry Truman that pledged the U.S. to "support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures"

Front 60

containment

Back 60

policy of preventing an enemy from expanding its boundaries and/or influence, specifically the U.S. foreign policy vis-a-vis the soviet union during the cold war

Front 61

marshall plan

Back 61

U.S. program to rebuild the nations of western europe in the aftermath of WWII in order to render them less susceptible to communist influence and takeover

Front 62

korean war

Back 62

communist north korea invaded non-communist south korea in June 1950, causing truman to intervene militarily, with UN support. General MacArther defeated the North Koreans, but with China's entry into the war, a stalemate resulted. An armistice was signed in 1953 with korea divided along nearly original lines

Front 63

cuban missile crisis

Back 63

the 1962 confrontation between the soviet and U.S. over soviet placement of nuclear missiles in Cuba

Front 64

vietnam war

Back 64

war between non communist south vietnam and communist north from 1965 to 1975, with increasing U.S. involvement ending with U.S. withdrawal in 1973 and communist victory in 1975. The war became unpopular in the U.S. after 1968 and caused President Johnson not to run for a second term. More than 58,000 americans died in the war

Front 65

deterrence

Back 65

U.S. approach to deterring any nuclear attack from the soviet union by maintaining a second strike capability

Front 66

second-strike capability

Back 66

ability of a nation's forces to survive a surprise nuclear attack by the enemy and then to retaliate effectively

Front 67

SALT I

Back 67

first arms limitations treaty between the U.S. and soviet, signed in 1972, limiting the total number of offensive nuclear missiles; it included the ABM treaty that reflected the theory that the population centers of both nations should be left undefended

Front 68

ABM treaty

Back 68

a formal treaty in 1972 between the U.S. and the soviet in which each side agreed not to build or deploy missiles

Front 69

SALT II

Back 69

lengthy and complicated treaty between the U.S. and soviet agreed to in 1979 but never ratified by Senate, that set limits on all types of strategic nuclear launch vehicles

Front 70

ballistic missile defense (BMD)

Back 70

weapons system capable of detecting, intercepting, and destroying missiles in flight

Front 71

terrorism

Back 71

the term 'terrorism' means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by sub national groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience.

Front 72

preemptive attacks

Back 72

the initiations of military action by the U.S. to prevent terrorists or rogue nations from inflicting heavy damage on the U.S.