GSTamral
03-28-2004, 01:52 PM
Ok, better than the other test, here are a better list of 6 questions to gauge where you are on the economic scale. I have tried to keep them as neutral and even as possible. Record down your answers and use the points breakdown at the end to determine your economic state of mind.
1) Do you believe decisions in law making should:
a) Focus entirely on service to the masses, ignoring consequences to small groups of individuals. (Whats best for everyone as a whole is most important). Someone who could support a law to move all toxic waste in the country to, let's say, Rhode Island, if toxic waste levels all over country were getting to dangerous levels, thereby making 49 states safe at the expense of 1.
b) Focus generally on service to the masses, but limited to prevent situations in which groups of individuals could be strongly negatively impacted.
c) Focus primarily on service to individuals , effectively choosing to prevent most things that would hurt another individual or groups of, even if it is better for society as a whole.
d) Focus entirely on the individual, irrespective of the benefits to the masses. Someone at this level would agree that if a cop illegally searched a person's vehicle and found cocaine, the person should be exonerated, even if it could be otherwise proven that they had intent to distribute the cocaine.
2) What type of system of taxation best describes your feelings?
a) All individuals should pay a flat amount, which is fixed at a specific dollar amount, irrespective of salary, in order to pay for all social services.
b) Individuals should pay a flat percentage of salary to pay for social services. This percentage will be determined by whatever percentage is needed to pay for all public services financed by the governing body.
c) Individuals should pay a progressively increasing tax, in which the percentage increases with increasing salary. These percentages should be capped and appropriated in a manner to avoid extreme discrepancies (no marginal tax rate over 60%)
d) Same as C, however, no limitations to the discrepancies in marginal tax rate.
e) The tax system should be progressive, however, there should be a limitation on personal wealth. All amounts over a certain fixed number should be taxed at 100%. This would entail that if the fixed maximum is 250,000, that whether a person earns 255,000 or 5,000,000, it doesnt matter, everything over 250,000 is taxed in its entirety.
f) The system should mandate equal salaries for labor. Government should have the authority to determine salaries for all positions, with no major discrepancies at any level. (All salaries between, for example, 40,000 (Mcdonalds worker) - 80,000 (Surgeon)).
3) What best describes your feelings on the inheritance tax?
a) It is an unfair system of double taxation, and punishes parents who succeed and attempt passing it on to their children. It also undermines the ability of people to create and keep private family businesses, as many are forced into sale due to the tax.
b) It needs to be changed, as the limits of wealth on the statute need to be increased in order to protect family businesses from being forced into sale because of the debt accrued by the heirs in acquiring it. For those of extreme wealth, however, it serves to allow society to benefit without significantly affecting them.
c) It should exist as it currently is. Because the first 600,000 is untaxed, amounts above that are taxed serve the benefits of social services more so than they service the individual receiver of the inheritance.
4) A corporate president is found to have intentionally lied during stockholder meetings, the effects of which cost both employees and shareholders years worth of saving up. A fair punishment for said individual would be to:
a) Make him liable for every penny that was lost by others, irrespective of the law.
b) Try him and if convicted, automatically give him the maximum penalty allowed under the law.
c) Give him the same penalty that would be given for the crime commited, with leniency given if this was his first offense.
d) Since he was not even under oath during the time he misled people, it has not even been established that what he did was a crime. That must be established before any punishment can be dealt out, and even then, respect must be given in sentencing for any grey areas of the law that were taken advantage of.
5) During times of an electricity crisis, a man places an ad in the newspaper advertising an natural, time established clothes dryer for 70 dollars. People immediately rush to purchase the dryer, only to receive a clothesline and safety hooks. The person placing the add can best be described as:
a) A shrewd businessman who broke no laws.
b) An asshole who broke no laws.
c) Laws must be created to prevent people like him from being able to excercise that type of behavoir.
d) An asshole who should return everyone's money immediately, and be sent to jail for running a scam.
What best describes your views on the role of government in society:
a) The government exists to provide security, opportunity, education and social welfare to everyone, and should do everything within its's power to do so, including socialization of industry.
b) The government exists to provide the above, however, it must also take into account as an entity, it does not produce anything, and only serves to redistribute, so it must address as many issues as it can without becoming too large an entity.
c) The government exists to help people help themselves. All effort should be made to ensure all citizens have security, education, opportunity, and a limited degree of social welfare. However, in order to control costs and size, those who do not take advantage of opportunity and choose not to work should not enjoy the same benefits as those who do work. Efforts should be focused on helping members of society who are productive, and members of society who are not productive because they cannot be (disabilities, etc).
d) The role of government is to provide security, education and opportunity. Social welfare will be partially maintained by government, and partially maintained by society. People who have must be trusted to give a portion to people who do not. Social welfare will exist to protect people who contribute to society and to those who do not because they are unable to. The system should be focused on freeing itself from the burdens of paying for those who refuse to abide by the rules, and instead divert effort into helping those who are trying but not succeeding.
e) Government should provide security and education, and it should fall onto the people to determine their own levels of opportunity. The government should not socialize any aspect of the system that is not directly tied to security or education, including creation of laws that disrupt industry or other business practices. People who try and work will tend to succeed, people who do not will be coerced into working because there will be no free handouts.
Point values for questions:
1)
a) 6 pts
b) 4 pts
c) 2 pts
d) 0 pts
2)
a) 8 pts
b) 6 pts
c) 4 pts
d) 3 pt
e) 1 pts
f) 0 pts and you're an idiot.
3)
a) 4 pts
b) 2 pts
c) 0 pts
4)
a) 6 pts
b) 4 pts
c) 2 pts
d) 0 pts
5)
a) 2 pts
b) 0 pts
c) 3 pts
d) 6 pts
6)
a) 0 pts
b) 3 pts
c) 4 pts
d) 6 pts
e) 10 pts
0 - 9 pts - liberal
10 - 14 pts - liberal moderate
15-19 pts - moderate
21- 25 - conservative moderate
25 - 32 - conservative
33 - 40 extreme right wing
Taking this test myself, I used the following answers:
1) b
2) b
3) a
4) a
5) c
6) d
28 pts which puts me firmly in the conservative side.
1) Do you believe decisions in law making should:
a) Focus entirely on service to the masses, ignoring consequences to small groups of individuals. (Whats best for everyone as a whole is most important). Someone who could support a law to move all toxic waste in the country to, let's say, Rhode Island, if toxic waste levels all over country were getting to dangerous levels, thereby making 49 states safe at the expense of 1.
b) Focus generally on service to the masses, but limited to prevent situations in which groups of individuals could be strongly negatively impacted.
c) Focus primarily on service to individuals , effectively choosing to prevent most things that would hurt another individual or groups of, even if it is better for society as a whole.
d) Focus entirely on the individual, irrespective of the benefits to the masses. Someone at this level would agree that if a cop illegally searched a person's vehicle and found cocaine, the person should be exonerated, even if it could be otherwise proven that they had intent to distribute the cocaine.
2) What type of system of taxation best describes your feelings?
a) All individuals should pay a flat amount, which is fixed at a specific dollar amount, irrespective of salary, in order to pay for all social services.
b) Individuals should pay a flat percentage of salary to pay for social services. This percentage will be determined by whatever percentage is needed to pay for all public services financed by the governing body.
c) Individuals should pay a progressively increasing tax, in which the percentage increases with increasing salary. These percentages should be capped and appropriated in a manner to avoid extreme discrepancies (no marginal tax rate over 60%)
d) Same as C, however, no limitations to the discrepancies in marginal tax rate.
e) The tax system should be progressive, however, there should be a limitation on personal wealth. All amounts over a certain fixed number should be taxed at 100%. This would entail that if the fixed maximum is 250,000, that whether a person earns 255,000 or 5,000,000, it doesnt matter, everything over 250,000 is taxed in its entirety.
f) The system should mandate equal salaries for labor. Government should have the authority to determine salaries for all positions, with no major discrepancies at any level. (All salaries between, for example, 40,000 (Mcdonalds worker) - 80,000 (Surgeon)).
3) What best describes your feelings on the inheritance tax?
a) It is an unfair system of double taxation, and punishes parents who succeed and attempt passing it on to their children. It also undermines the ability of people to create and keep private family businesses, as many are forced into sale due to the tax.
b) It needs to be changed, as the limits of wealth on the statute need to be increased in order to protect family businesses from being forced into sale because of the debt accrued by the heirs in acquiring it. For those of extreme wealth, however, it serves to allow society to benefit without significantly affecting them.
c) It should exist as it currently is. Because the first 600,000 is untaxed, amounts above that are taxed serve the benefits of social services more so than they service the individual receiver of the inheritance.
4) A corporate president is found to have intentionally lied during stockholder meetings, the effects of which cost both employees and shareholders years worth of saving up. A fair punishment for said individual would be to:
a) Make him liable for every penny that was lost by others, irrespective of the law.
b) Try him and if convicted, automatically give him the maximum penalty allowed under the law.
c) Give him the same penalty that would be given for the crime commited, with leniency given if this was his first offense.
d) Since he was not even under oath during the time he misled people, it has not even been established that what he did was a crime. That must be established before any punishment can be dealt out, and even then, respect must be given in sentencing for any grey areas of the law that were taken advantage of.
5) During times of an electricity crisis, a man places an ad in the newspaper advertising an natural, time established clothes dryer for 70 dollars. People immediately rush to purchase the dryer, only to receive a clothesline and safety hooks. The person placing the add can best be described as:
a) A shrewd businessman who broke no laws.
b) An asshole who broke no laws.
c) Laws must be created to prevent people like him from being able to excercise that type of behavoir.
d) An asshole who should return everyone's money immediately, and be sent to jail for running a scam.
What best describes your views on the role of government in society:
a) The government exists to provide security, opportunity, education and social welfare to everyone, and should do everything within its's power to do so, including socialization of industry.
b) The government exists to provide the above, however, it must also take into account as an entity, it does not produce anything, and only serves to redistribute, so it must address as many issues as it can without becoming too large an entity.
c) The government exists to help people help themselves. All effort should be made to ensure all citizens have security, education, opportunity, and a limited degree of social welfare. However, in order to control costs and size, those who do not take advantage of opportunity and choose not to work should not enjoy the same benefits as those who do work. Efforts should be focused on helping members of society who are productive, and members of society who are not productive because they cannot be (disabilities, etc).
d) The role of government is to provide security, education and opportunity. Social welfare will be partially maintained by government, and partially maintained by society. People who have must be trusted to give a portion to people who do not. Social welfare will exist to protect people who contribute to society and to those who do not because they are unable to. The system should be focused on freeing itself from the burdens of paying for those who refuse to abide by the rules, and instead divert effort into helping those who are trying but not succeeding.
e) Government should provide security and education, and it should fall onto the people to determine their own levels of opportunity. The government should not socialize any aspect of the system that is not directly tied to security or education, including creation of laws that disrupt industry or other business practices. People who try and work will tend to succeed, people who do not will be coerced into working because there will be no free handouts.
Point values for questions:
1)
a) 6 pts
b) 4 pts
c) 2 pts
d) 0 pts
2)
a) 8 pts
b) 6 pts
c) 4 pts
d) 3 pt
e) 1 pts
f) 0 pts and you're an idiot.
3)
a) 4 pts
b) 2 pts
c) 0 pts
4)
a) 6 pts
b) 4 pts
c) 2 pts
d) 0 pts
5)
a) 2 pts
b) 0 pts
c) 3 pts
d) 6 pts
6)
a) 0 pts
b) 3 pts
c) 4 pts
d) 6 pts
e) 10 pts
0 - 9 pts - liberal
10 - 14 pts - liberal moderate
15-19 pts - moderate
21- 25 - conservative moderate
25 - 32 - conservative
33 - 40 extreme right wing
Taking this test myself, I used the following answers:
1) b
2) b
3) a
4) a
5) c
6) d
28 pts which puts me firmly in the conservative side.