17 Feb 2012By Bill Quigley and Sam Schmitt
Question One. The combined pay of the 299 highest
paid CEOs in the US is enough to support how many
median salary jobs?
45,000? 83,000? 102,325?
Two. The median net worth of black households in the
US is $2,200. What is the median net worth of white
households in the US?
$4,400? $44,000? $97,000?
Three. The US Department of Housing and Urban
Development issues a national survey every year
listing fair market rents for every county in the US.
HUD also suggests renters should pay no more than 30
percent of their income on housing costs. In how many
of the USA's 3068 counties can someone who works
full-time and earns the federal minimum wage pay 30%
of their income and find a one-bedroom apartment at
the fair market rental amount?
19? 368? 1974?
Four. How much must the typical U.S. worker earn per
hour to rent a two-bedroom apartment if that worker
dedicates thirty percent of his income, as HUD
suggests, to rent and utilities?
$9.39? $14.63? $18.46?
Five. The wealthiest 1 percent of the US has a net
worth which is how many times greater than the median
or typical household's net worth?
50? 150? 225?
Six. Which of these countries puts the highest
percentage of their people in jails and prisons?
China? Iran? Iraq? Germany? Russia? USA?
Seven. In 2012, the US will pay out about $620 million
for old age Social Security benefits to 45 million
families. How much is budgeted for military spending
by the US in 2012?
$310 billion? $620 billion? $836 billion?
Eight. The US is number one in the world in military
spending. How much more does the US spend compared to
the top 15 countries in the world in military
spending?
More than any 2 other countries combined? More than
any 5 other countries combined? More than all the rest
of the 15 top military spending countries combined?
Nine. How many people in the world live on less than
$1.25 a day?
150 million? 500 million? Over 1 billion?
Ten. How many people in the world live without
electricity?
500 million? One billion? One and half billion?
Eleven. The US government donates over $30 billion a
year in official development assistance (foreign aid)
to poor countries. Where does that rank the US
government in percentage of giving among the richest
23 countries?
First? Tenth? Nineteenth?
Twelve. The US government donates over $30 billion a
year to poor countries. How much do US consumers spend
on pets and pet supplies each year?
$10 billion? $30 billion? $67 billion?
Thirteen. The poverty rate among children in the US is
over 20 percent. How does US compare with the rest of
the 30 nations surveyed by the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development?
First? Tenth? Twenty-sixth?
Answers to Social Justice Quiz 2012:
One. The combined pay of the top 299 CEOs is enough to
support 102,325 average jobs. Source: Corporate
Paywatch.
Two. The median net worth of white households in the
US is $97,900. Source: Economic Policy Institute.
Three. Except for eleven counties in Illinois and
another eight in Puerto Rico, there is no county in
the US where a one bedroom fair market rate apartment
is available to a person working full-time at the
minimum wage. Source: The National Low Income Housing
Coalition.
Four. The typical worker must earn $18.46 an hour to
rent a two bedroom apartment. Source: National Low
Income Housing Coalition.
Five. In the last numbers reported, the top 1 percent
had net worth 225 times greater than the median or
typical household's net worth, the highest ever
recorded. Source: Economic Policy Institute.
Six. The rate of incarceration per 100,000 people is:
USA 730, Russian 534, Iran 334, China 122, Iraq 101,
and Germany 86. Source: International Centre for
Prison Studies, University of Essex.
Seven. $836 billion. Over $713 billion on military
programs and another $123 for veterans affairs.
Source: US Office of Management and Budget, Fiscal
Year 2012.
Eight. The US spends $100 billion more on our military
than the next highest 15 countries combined. More than
China, UK, France, Russia, Japan, Saudi Arabia,
Germany, India, Italy, Brazil, South Korea, Australia,
Canada and Turkey combined. Source: Stockholm
International Peace Research Institute, 2011 Yearbook.
Nine. 1.4 billion people live on less than $1.25 a
day. Source: United National Development Program,
Human Development Report 2010.
Ten. One and half billion people, more than one of
every five people in the world, live without
electricity. Source: United Nations Development
Program, Human Development Report 2011.
Eleven. US government ranks 19th out of 23 countries
in assistance to poor nations, giving about two-tenths
of one percent of US gross national income to poor
countries. Source: Global Issues: Foreign Aid for
Development Assistance.
Twelve. US consumers spend $67 billion each year on
pets, pet products and services. Source: US Census
Bureau 2012 Statistical Abstract.
Thirteen. The US poverty rate among children ranks the
US 26th among 30 nations in the rate of poverty among
children. Source: Poverty among children. OECD.
Bill Quigley is Associate Director of the Center
for Constitutional Rights and a law professor at
Loyola University New Orleans. He is a Katrina
survivor and has been active in human rights in Haiti
for years. He volunteers with the Institute for
Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) and the Bureau
de Avocats Internationaux (BAI) in Port au Prince.
Contact Bill at quigley77@gmail.com
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