Society
Exploring "Why" questions about Society
481 articles
Why are taxes on gasoline a fixed dollar amount when nearly every other tax is a percent of the sale?
The price of oil (and by extension, gas) fluctuates wildly in response to geopolitical events and supply factors that state governments have no control over. Rather than try to budget in advance for s
Why is salary credited in a Bank Statement?
The name comes from double entry accounting's terms for increasing and decreasing an account, and because from the bank's perspective your account is a liability not an asset (which means the debit an
Why is it called the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” when it’s not a democracy or a republic?
Your mum wants to get you to eat some food you don't like, so instead of just calling it cabbage, she calls it delicious super tasty munchy fun time. But the cabbage is severe famine and human rights
Why can one judge’s ruling set a precedent? Isn’t that too much power in the hands of one man?
If one judge is making the decision, it's likely to be a trial court decision. Trial court rulings can be appealed, and appeals courts have more judges. At least in the US, trial court rulings also do
Why are the American presidential primary elections not riddled with voters registering with the opposite party and voting against the candidate most likely to beat their favorite?
Nothing stops it, and registering for the opposing party in order to vote for the candidate that you think will win a nomination, but lose an election is not an unheard of thing. The major downside is
Why are some major media outlets speculating a Ted Cruz presidential run, ignoring that he was born in Canada?
His father was a Cuban who moved to the US in the 1950s (and was probably a US citizen by the time Cruz was born in 1970), his mother was born in US. You don't have to be born in the US to be eligible
Why has a part of black culture tried to reject white culture but maintained its steadfast faith in a religion that stems from that same culture?
Christianity wasn't ever associated with slavery. Yes, white slave owner used it to justify slavery, but white abolitionists also used it to condemn slavery. Christianity isn't slave-owning culture, i
Why, in documentaries about drug users, do the people using drugs not get arrested once the police see the video?
Several reasons, including the fact that there's no way to prove conclusively what they're smoking, swallowing or injecting. There's no real legal difference between actual drug use shown in a documen
Why is gingrich’s affair being downplayed, while Clinton was impeached for the same thing.
Clinton was accused of *perjury* and *obstruction of justice*. You cannot legislate morality hence Gingrich walks on the affair charge.
why is Ford’s stock (~$30) significantly cheaper than Nissan’s stock (~$1,100)?
Prices of individual shares are not as relevant as the overall market cap of the company. Share prices can be driven downward by having stock splits, which most companies do when the per share price b