Skeptics Stack Exchange
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Questions tagged [united-states]

Use this tag for questions about claims based in the United States, or limited to the United States.

The United States of America (also referred to as the United States, the U.S., the USA, the States, or America) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district.

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Are US businesses paying historically low proportions of income as wages?

In this story about non-compete clauses for low wage jobs, the New York Times reported, "American businesses are paying out a historically low proportion of their income in the form of wages and salaries." Is this true?
RationalGeek
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Is there as many media staff as protestors in Ferguson?

In Media making up the mob: Journalists amid protesters in Ferguson, Mo. in the Washington Post, it's claimed there's as many media staff as protestors in Ferguson: Early Wednesday, Lowery estimated that the size of the group protesting and the…
Andrew Grimm
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Are 35% of Americans currently in collections?

An article from the Associated Press, STUDY: 35 PERCENT IN US FACING DEBT COLLECTORS, cites a study by the Urban Institute. The article states: The study found that 35.1 percent of people with credit records had been reported to collections for…
Brian M. Hunt
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Did the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) increase individual market premiums by an average of 49% nationwide?

This article in Forbes says it did. Did they pick and choose their data, or is that an accurate assessment? Ample Evidence Shows Average Premiums and Spending Exploded After ACA Implementation in 2014 While it is important to look at data for…
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Has lead poisoning in kids in St. Louis (Mo.) decreased since 2001?

[The mayor of St. Louis, Missouri, Francis] Slay cites the efforts to… and reduce lead poisoning in children as some of his most fulfilling work. Regarding the latter, "The drop has been dramatic," he said. "It was over 20 percent when I took…
msh210
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Do retailers make all of their money for the year in last 45 days?

Dave Ramsey, an American financial author and radio host, recently made the following claim on his 6 December 2013 radio show (at 5 minutes into the show) when discussing holiday shopping in the United States (i.e. Black Friday through…
rjzii
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Does chicken meat from the US contain arsenic?

Facebook brought this Minds.com article to my attention: After years of sweeping the issue under the rug and hoping no one would notice, the FDA has now finally admitted that chicken meat sold in the USA contains arsenic, a cancer-causing toxic…
Oddthinking
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Was 31.5% of Medicare payments in 2006 the result of fraud?

To much fanfare, in 2006 Medicare announced that only 7 percent of its payments were a result of fraud. Two years later, The New York Times reported that it was actually 31.5 percent -- and that Medicare had aggressively hidden the fraud from…
Chad
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Was John Wilkes Booth killed in the Garrett barn?

The Wikipedia article on John Wilkes Booth has a few paragraphs on the theories that he escaped, such as: In 1907, Finis L. Bates wrote Escape and Suicide of John Wilkes Booth, contending that a Booth look-alike was mistakenly killed at the Garrett…
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Did USA send Federal Reserve System officers to Iran to print cash for Iranian oil

Short introduction: Recetly some russian newspapers talked about airplane, lost in Moscow Sheremetevo airport. And this airplane was claimed to be full of Euros in cash, up to 20 billions (20 000 000 000, 200 wooden pallets with €20bn in…
osgx
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Was Roscoe Filburn ordered to destroy his crops?

The Wikipedia article on Wickard v. Filburn claims that: Filburn was ordered to destroy his crops... Numerous other sources also claim this, including two that I would normally consider reliable. The Globe and Mail: The U.S. Department of…
user5582
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Have US judges ever declared someone not guilty due to determinism?

I am often confronted with arguments for or against biological or social determinism versus free will. One of the arguments I hear regularly is that determinism is bad for society because denying the possibility "to have done otherwise" undermines…
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Was the USA colonized by criminals?

There are some places on the Internet that claim that The Americas were (at least at the start) colonized by criminals and unwanted populations: Answerbag.com: North America was first colonized with criminals and the poor (Roanoke and The Jamestown…
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Is the "Reader voices strong opinion on atheists" letter a hoax?

I've seen on Facebook the following image being shared: Letters to the Editor Reader voices strong opinion on atheists It's time to stomp out atheists in America. The majority of Americans would love to see atheists kicked out of America. If you…
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Are more sunglasses sold in Seattle than in any other US city?

Seattlites and sunglasses enthusiasts proudly assert the claim, but I've found no comparative analysis to back it up. Typical claim Terry D. Seidler, a Seattle tour guide, makes the typical statement in a list of Seattle Firsts and attributes it to…
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