In attempting to determine who was to blame for the 2008 housing bubble and the subsequent economic recession, all of the arguments below have been made, EXCEPT _______.
a. The government decreased its influence and oversight over the creation and trading of real estate derivatives.
b. Major financial institutions and insurance companies like AIG and Citigroup were financially negligent and had long planned to defraud innocent homeowners.
c. Corporate executives purchased stock options in their corporations and cashed in when they knew their companies' earnings records were falsified to give confidence to the public.
d. Tax cut legislation in 2001 cut federal revenues by at least 1.35 trillion dollars, partly by reducing taxes paid by the wealthy.
e. The rich have felt that it is good to become as wealthy as possible, taking little responsibility for the public good.
Question 2
Income inequality in the United States today
a. is rapidly disappearing because of the improvements in workers' incomes.
b. is still present although the real income of ordinary workers has risen steadily every year since 1947
c. has persisted and the real incomes for many ordinary Americans have declined since 1970
d. persists although real incomes for most workers increased during the 1970s