America’s weakest link
Problems shaping the future of the south
The southern states are among the poorest of the country . The services industry has recently suffered from under investment
The subsidies for agriculture will dwindle in the future years. However, car makers might be tempted to open factories as the tax and labour conditions are favourable
Serious difficulties as far as public budgets are concerned. A crisis is looming. Governor might have to resort to drastic measures. Such as introducing a lottery or a tax on tobacco to finance public services.
The unbalance between the town and the countryside is going to increase. The towns are sprawling and congested as the result of a massif influx of immigrants from Latin Amercia and northern states. The infrastructures are not sufficient.
Atlanta, Nashville will have to face pollution and big traffic and possibly water storage. The old Bible Belt (Baptise country) remains a Christian conservative symbol and it is reinforced by the catholic immigration
The deficit crisis concerning states budgets
– Each state has his own budget
– THEY ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BE IN THE RED
– They must break even (rentrer dans leurs frais)
THE PROBLEM
– G.W. Bush : diminished their incomes by reducing federal payments
– Increasing number of obligation for the states; they must fund:
– Their own education
– Security arrangement
– National terror alert
– EX: – Oregon thinks about shorting the school year or shorting the week because they can’t afford education
– Californian & NY: mores taxes over tobacco
– EX: the No Child Left Behinf Act (2001)
– Tests for pupils and students
– The states must fund it
Wider problems
Technical breakdowns
– a blackout in the Northeast during the summer
– electrical hitch in Florida
– Disintegration of the Columbia Shuttle
– Cause: routine, negligence, budgets cuts, wear & tear (usure et viellissement), inability to reform
Military problems
– 2 Trends in the Bush Administration
– The experts and the neo-conservatives: think that America has a duty in the world
– Donald Rumsfeld: more nationalist, isolationist
– Problems of the dead soldiers in Iraq
Financial problems
– The biggest deficit of all history : 400 billions $
– Pledge to reduce taxes
– The Iraq enterprise
Unilateralism : an ambiguous position
Two opposite historic temptations
– Isolationnisme
– Monroe doctrine (1923)
– The USA refused intervention in American issues of Europeans
– The USA don’t interfere in Europeans affairs
– Manifest Destiny
– America has a mission
– Freedom
– Democracy
– Free market economy
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