COD Ch. 18 Economic Policy

The US government spends a lot of money-the national budget is approaching two trillion dollars per year!. That fact alone makes it powerful. Most of the major differences between Republicans and Democrats are related to the role of government in our economy. This chapter is a sort of "Government Economics for Dummies"-no insults intended. There are a lot of terms and theories to learn but you will finish with a much better understanding of why the chairman of the Federal Reserve is such an important person and why it is so hard to raise or lower federal spending and taxes.

After studying this chapter you should be able to answer multiple choice questions about:

1. Key Terms in the chapter. These are especially important for this chapter.
2. How much control does the president have over the US economy.
3. Why government needs economic theories.
4. Laissez faire economic and the "invisible hand."
5. The Consumer Price Index.
6. Keynesian economic theory, noting that all the Key Terms in this section are mentioned in the news regularly.
7. Who controls fiscal policy in the US? What do critics say about this?
8. The role of monetary policy as an economic theory, who controls it, and the three means of that control.
9. How coordinating economic policy is hampered by the split management of fiscal and monetary policies.
10. The goals of supply-side economics; how well did it work?
11. The actors involved and the steps in the budgetary process (pp. 566-571). This is complicated so read and study carefully. Try to figure out how pluralism affects the budgetary process. The budget, after all, is just another bill passed by Congress; perhaps a glance back to Ch. 11 for a refresher on the bill passing process will be helpful.
12. Possible objectives of tax policy.
13. The cause of difficulties in trying to enact tax reform.
14. The tax burden of US taxpayers, the various taxes included, and how ours compares to the tax burdens of other democratic nations.
15. The four largest spending categories in the federal budget.
16. How incremental budgeting and uncontrollable spending make it politically difficult to manage the federal budget.
17. The effectiveness of US taxing and spending policies in producing greater economic equality.
18. How majoritarianism and pluralism affect US tax policies.

Texas Politics Today Ch. 12 Taxing and Budgeting

We pay taxes to the State of Texas, also. This chapter explains practically everything you could want to know, at least for Exam purposes, about Texas taxes.
After studying this chapter you should be able to answer multiple choice questions about:

1. The Key Terms in the chapter. These are especially important for this chapter.
2. Describe the various types of state and local taxes paid in Texas.
3. How taxes can be used for both social and economic regulation as well as revenue
4. Tax loopholes and their purpose (bottom of p. 350)
5. Issues in taxation: types of taxes, regulatory taxes, benefits received, ability to pay
6. Describe the paradox of the "benefits paid" theory of taxation.
7. Progressive and regressive taxation and the type of tax system that Texans prefer.
8. Nontax sources of state revenue.
9. The budgetary process in Texas and the roles of the various participants in it..

COD Ch. 20 Global Policy

As you will learn in this chapter, but may know already, foreign policy is not usually a big issue to most people in the country. However, in spite of our past ability (and the wishes of some current politicians) to act like we were, the US is not the only country in the world. Our security and standard of living both are affected by the foreign policy pursued by our leaders.

After studying this chapter you should be able to answer multiple choice questions about:

1. The Key Terms in the chapter. These are especially important for this chapter
2. The goal of US foreign policy.
3. How presidents became the leading actor in US foreign policy.
4. Statutory powers in foreign policy
5. The roles and power of the president and Congress in foreign policymaking
6. The organization and cast in the US foreign policymaking establishment and their powers.
7. The broad contours of US foreign policy history in the 20th century
8. The history of the Cold War, containment, and the impact of Vietnam of US foreign policy
9. The impact that the end of the Cold War has had on US foreign policymaking.
10. The impact of the hot war on terrorism on the Bush presidency.
11. The difference between foreign and global policy
12. Major global policy issues
13. The difference between public opinion and leaders’ opinions in the two CCFR surveys of 2002 and 2004. Why do you think these differences exist?
14. Using the pluralist models (China trade bill) to assess the role of public opinion in shaping US foreign policy