| 1. Which of the following is comparable to the size of a typical three-car garage?
a. a basketball court
b. a McDonald's restaurant
c. an "RV" (recreational vehicle)
d. the average home in the 1950s.
Answer: d. Many of today's three-car garages occupy 900 square feet, just about the
average size of an entire
home in the 1950s. Many people use the extra garage space to store things they own
and seldom use. Often we
hear that Americans have lost ground economically and have less purchasing power.
But Americans are buying
more luxurious items, partly by working more and going deeply into debt. The homes
they live in and the cars
they drive today are often bigger and more technologically advanced than those
purchased by their parents.
2. The percentage of Americans calling themselves "very happy" reached its highest
point in what year?
a. 1957
b. 1967
c. 1977
d. 1987
Answer: a. The number of "very happy" people peaked in 1957, and has remained fairly
stable or declined ever
since. Even though we consume twice as much as we did in the 1950s, people were just
as happy when they had
less.
3. How much of an average American's lifetime will be spent (on average) watching
television commercials?
a. 6 months
b. 3 months
c. 1 year
d. 1.5 years
Answer: c. In contrast, Americans on average spend only 40 minutes a week playing
with their children, and
members of working couples talk with one another on average only 12 minutes a day.
4. True or false? Americans carry $1 billion in personal debt, not including real
estate and mortgages.
Answer: False. Americans carry $1 trillion in personal debt, approximately $4,000
for every man, woman and
child, not including real estate and mortgages. On average, Americans save only 4
percent of their income, in
contrast to the Japanese, who save an average of 16 percent.
5. Which activity did more Americans do in 1996?
a. graduate from college
b. declare bankruptcy
Answer: b. In 1996, more than 1 million Americans declared bankruptcy, three times
as many as in 1986.
Americans have more than 1 billion credit cards, and less than one-third of credit
card holders pay off their
balances each month.
6. In the industrialized world, where is the U.S. ranked in terms of its income
equality between the rich and
the poor? (First being the most income-equal.)
a. 1st
b. 5th
c. 12th
d. 22nd
Answer: d. The income disparity between the rich and the poor is greatest in the
United States.
7. The world's 358 billionaires together possess as much money as the poorest _____
of the world's
population?
a. 15 percent
b. 30 percent
c. 50 percent
d. 10 percent
Answer: c. Nearly 50 percent. The world's 358 billionaires' combined assets roughly
equal the assets of the
world's poorest 2.5 billion people.
8. Since 1950, Americans alone have used more resources than:
a. everyone who ever lived before them
b. the combined Third World populations
c. the Romans at the height of the Roman Empire
d. all of the above
Answer: All of the above. Since 1950, Americans alone have used more resources than
everyone who ever lived
before them. Each American individual uses up 20 tons of basic raw materials
annually. Americans throw away 7
million cars a year, 2 million plastic bottles an hour and enough aluminum cans
annually to make six thousand
DC-10 airplanes.
9. Americans' total yearly waste would fill a convoy of garbage trucks long enough to:
a. wrap around the Earth six times
b. reach half-way to the moon
c. connect the North and South Poles
d. build a bridge between North America and China
Answer: a. and b. Even though Americans comprise only five percent of the world's
population, in 1996 we used
nearly a third of its resources and produced almost half of its hazardous waste. The
average North American
consumes five times as much as an average Mexican, 10 times as much as an average
Chinese and 30 times as
much as the average person in India.
10. Which president feared that untamed American capitalism might create a corrupt
civilization?
a. Jimmy Carter
b. Ronald Reagan
c. Theodore Roosevelt
d. Abraham Lincoln
Answer: c. President Theodore Roosevelt feared that allowing American capitalism to
develop unleashed would
eventually create a corrupt civilization. He was a strong proponent of simple living.
11. Which economic indicator counts pollution three times as a sign of a growing
economy?
a. the GDP (Gross Domestic Product)
b. the GPI (Genuine Progress Indicator)
Answer: a. The GDP counts pollution three times: first when it is made, second when
it is cleaned up and
third when health-care professionals treat pollution-related health problems. An
organization called
Redefining Progress developed an alternative economic progress measurement, the GPI
(Genuine Progress
Indicator). GPI takes into account 24 aspects of economic life that the standard GDP
(Gross Domestic Product)
ignores. The GPI adds value for such activities as housework and volunteerism, and
subtracts for the costs of
such problems as crime, car accidents and family breakdown.
12. Of the Americans who voluntarily cut back their consumption, what percent said
(in 1995) that they are
happier as a result?
a. 29 percent
b. 42 percent
c. 67 percent
d. 86 percent
Answer: d. Eighty-six percent of Americans who voluntarily cut back their
consumption feel happier as a
result. Only 9 percent said they were less happy. In 1996, 5 percent of the "baby
boom" generation reported
practicing a strong form of voluntary simplicity. By the year 2000, some predict
this number will rise to 15
percent. |
