FEBRUARY 21 QUIZ ANSWERS
1) Pres. Obama presented his proposed 2012 budget to Congress last Monday. What was the projected deficit in his proposed budget?
b) 1.1 trillion
The projected deficit for 2011 is 1.65 trillion.
2) House Republicans recently approved spending cuts to the 2011 budget. How much did they vote to cut?
a) 60 billion
The House bill will probably not be approved by the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats. If an agreement on the 2011 budget (or a short term compromise) is not reached by March 4, the government will shut down.
https://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41660795/ns/politics-capitol_hill/
3) What country’s prime minister was indicted last week on charges related to hiring an underage prostitute?
b) Italy
The trial is scheduled to begin April 6 in Milan. https://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/02/15/501364/main20031943.shtml
4) Last week, Jeopardy champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter faced off against (and lost to) an IBM computer. What was the computer’s name?
a) Watson
Jennings concluded the match by quoting The Simpsons and “welcom[ing] our new computer overlords.”
5) What national retail giant filed for bankruptcy last week and announced it was closing 200 stores?
b) Borders
Many blame Borders’ financial problems on its inability to keep pace in the increasingly popular field of electronic books.
6) Protests erupted in this state over a proposed state budget that would severely limit the bargaining rights of the state’s public employees and also raise their health insurance premiums. What state?
a) Wisconsin
Tens of thousands people have protested in Madison this week – some in favor of the bill and some against. Some Wisconsin Democratic Senators left the state to prevent the state Republicans from obtaining the quorum needed to vote on the bill.
https://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110219/pl_nm/us_wisconsin_protests
7) In the past week, protests against the government have broken out in which of the following Middle East countries?
d) All of the above
A number of other Middle Eastern countries have also experienced anti-government protests.
https://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/02/20/mideast.africa.unrest/index.html?hpt=T2
8) Scientists have recently eradicated the Guinea worm disease from both Niger and Nigeria. In how many countries does the guinea worm remain?
b) Three
The Guinea worm lives in dirty water and still survives in Mali, Ethiopia, and Southern Sudan. If eradicated from those countries, Guinea worm disease will join polio as one of the only two diseases ever wiped out by mankind.
https://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2011/02/18/2-more-countries-eliminate-guinea-worm/?hpt=Sbin
9) China recently became the world’s second largest economy. What country dropped into third?
c) Japan
Some experts are predicting that China will pass the United States to become the world’s biggest economy in 2030.
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/16/business/global/16yuan.html?_r=1
10) Who won the Grammy for Best Album?
a) Arcade Fire
Lady Antebellum won the most Grammys on the night with five.
https://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2011/02/13/grammy-awards.html