Bill Quigley of the Center for Constitutional Rights, who teaches law at Loyola University in New Orleans, offers this “Social Justice Quiz 2012” as firm evidence that Americans need jobs.

1. Question: 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?

Answer: The combined pay of the top 299 CEOs is enough to support 102,325 average jobs.

2. Question: 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?

Answer: The median net worth of white households in the US is $ 97,000.

3. Question: In how many of the USA’s 3068 counties can someone who works full-time and earns the federal minimum wage pay 30% (HUD’s recommendation) of their income and find a one-bedroom apartment at fair market rental amount? 19? 368? 1974?

Answer: 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.

4. Question: How much must the typical US worker earn per hour to rent a two-bedroom if that worker dedicates thirty percent of his income, as HUD suggest, to rent and utilities? $ 9.39? $ 14.63? $ 18.46?

Answer: The typical worker must earn $ 18.46 an hour to rent a two-bedroom apartment.

5. Question: 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?

Answer: The top 1 percent had net worth 225 times greater than the median or typical household’s net worth, the highest ever recorded.

6. Question: Which of these countries puts the highest percentage of their people in jail or prisons? China? Iran? Iraq? Germany? Russia? USA?

Answer: The rate of incarceration per 100,000 people is: USA 730, Russia 534, Iran 334, China 122, Iraq 101, and Germany 86.

7. Question: In 2012, the US will pay out $ 620 billion for old age S. S. benefits. How much is budgeted for military spending by the US in 2012? $ 310 billion? $ 620 billion? $ 836 billion?

Answer: $ 836 billion. Over $ 713 billion on military programs and another $ 123 billion for veterans affairs.

8. Question: The US is number one in the world in military spending. How much more does the US spend compared to the top 14 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?

Answer: The US spend $ 100 billion more on our military than the next highest 14 countries combined. More than China, UK, France, Russia, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Germany, India, Italy, Brazil, South Korea, Australia, Canada and Turkey combined.

9. Question: How many people in the world live on less than $ 1.25 a day? 150 million? 500 million? Over 1 billion?

Answer: 1.4 billion people live on less than $ 1.25 a day.

10. How many people in the world live without electricity? 500 million? One billion? One and a half billion?

Answer: One and a half billion people, more than one in every five people in the world, live without electricity.

11. Question: 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?

Answer: 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.

12. Question: 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?
Answer: US consumers spend $ 67 billion each year on pets, pet products and services.

13. Question: 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?

Answer: The US poverty rate among children ranks the US 26th among 30 nations in the rate of poverty among children. –

[Do you suppose a few million shipbuilding jobs might have an effect on those atrocious numbers? To make matters worse, more than 100,000 young Americans are added to the job-seeking force every month. So where is this “recovery” we keep hearing about? Revitalize the shipyards!!]