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The United States of America is the fourth largest country in the world (after Russia, Canada and China). It occupies the southern part of North America and stretches from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. It also includes Alaska in the north and Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The total area of the country is about nine and a half million square kilometres.
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (Domestic & Foreign Policy)
DOMESTIC POLICY OF THE USA
The United States of America is the fourth largest country in the world (after Russia, Canada and China). It occupies the southern part of North America and stretches from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. It also includes Alaska in the north and Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The total area of the country is about nine and a half million square kilometres. The USA borders on Canada in the north and on Mexico in the south. It also has a sea-boarder with Russia.
The USA is made up of 50 states and the District
of Columbia, a special federal area where the capital of the country,
Washington, is situated. The population of the country is more than
270 million.
If we look
at the map of the USA, we can see lowlands and mountains. The highest
mountains are the Rocky Mountains, the Cordillera and the Sierra Nevada.
The highest peak is Mount McKinley which is located in Alaska.
America's largest rivers are the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Rio Grande and the Columbia. The Great Lakes on the border with Canada are the largest and deepest in the USA.
The climate of the country varies greatly. The coldest regions are in the north. The climate of Alaska is arctic. The climate of the central part is continental. The south has a subtropical climate. Hot winds blowing from the Gulf of Mexico often bring typhoons. The climate along the Pacific coast is much warmer than that of the Atlantic coast.
The population of the US is about 250 million people. The USA is a highly developed industrial country. It has a highly developed motor-car industry which is concentrated in and around Detroit. Electric and electronic engineering, transport, communication, ship-building, textile industry are very powerful. Ship-building is developed along the Atlantic coast and in San Francisco. The textile industry is to be found in the north-east and in the south of the country. There are coal-mines in the Cordillera Mountains and the Kansas City region. Iron is mined near the Great Lakes. The rich oil fields are in California, Texas and some other regions.
The capital of the United States is Washington. Among other big cities and towns are New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles and others. The USA has a highly developed railway system, and also has the best network of roads in the world.
The USA is a federation of states. It consists of 50 states and the district of Columbia. The President is the head of the government, he is elected for four years. The US Congress consists of two Houses — the Senate and the House of Representatives. The head of the Senate is the Vice-President, the head of the House of Representatives is the Speaker. The Republican and the Democratic Parties are the main parties in the country. At the election time they contest presidency and the majority of seats in the Congress.
The USA is a highly developed industrial country. It's the world's leading producer of copper and oil and the world's second producer of iron ore and coal. Among the most important manufacturing industries are aircraft, cars, textiles, radio and television sets, armaments, furniture and paper.
Though mainly European and African in origin, Americans are made up from nearly all races and nations, including Chinese and native Americans.
The largest cities are: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, San-Francisco, Washington and others.
Political system
The United States is a federal union of 50 states, each of which has its own government. The seat of the central (federal) government is Washington, DC. The Congress consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
There are two main political parties in the USA: the Republican and the Democratic, though there's hardly any difference between their political lines.
Under the Constitution, the states delegated by many of their sovereign powers to the central government in Washington. But they kept many important powers for themselves. Each of the states, for example, retains the right to run its own public school system, to decide on the qualifications of its voters, to license its doctors and other professionals, to provide police protection for its citizens and to maintain its roads.
According to the US Constitution the powers of the government are divided into 3 branches: the executive, headed by the President, the legislative, exercised by the Congress, and the judicial, each chosen in a different manner, each able to check and balance the others.
The Executive Branch is headed by the President, who, together with the Vice President, is chosen in nationwide elections every four years. Americans vote for the states of professional electors equal to the number of Senators and Representatives each state has in Congress (a total of 535 persons). The candidate with the highest number of votes in each state wins all the electoral votes of that state. The presidential candidate needs 270 electoral votes. Any natural-born American who is 35 years old or older may be elected to this office. The President proposes bills to Congress, enforces federal laws, serves as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and, with the approval of the Senate makes treaties and appoints federal judges, ambassadors and other members of the Executive Departments. Each Cabinet head holds the title of Secretary and together they form a council called the Cabinet.
The Vice President, elected from the same political party as the President, acts as chairman of the Senate.
The Legislative Branch is made up of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The 435 seats in the House of Representatives are allocated on the basis of population, although every state has at least one representative. Each state elects two members of the 100-member Senate, a Senator's term of office is six years.
Both two Houses must approve a bill for it to become law, but the President may veto or refuse to sign it. If so, Congress reconsiders the bill. If two-thirds of the members of both houses then approve it, the bill becomes law even without the President's signature.
The Judicial Branch is made up of Federal District Court, 11 Federal Courts of Appeals and, at the top, the Supreme Court.
In order to amend the Constitution, Congress must pass the proposed amendments by a two-third majority vote in each House, and three-fourths of the states must concur.
National defense and Securing the Homeland
Revitalizing National Defense: President Bush on August 16, 2004 announced the most comprehensive restructuring of U.S. military forces overseas. By closing bases no longer needed to meet Cold War threats that have ended, this new initiative will bring home many Cold War-era forces while deploying more flexible and rapidly deployable capabilities in strategic locations around the world. It will make America safer by better preparing military to address the new dangers associated with rogue nations, global terrorism, and weapons of mass destruction.
The Department of Homeland Security was created with one single overriding responsibility: to make America more secure. Border and Transportation Security: DHS has unified the agencies responsible for securing our borders – many now wearing the same uniform – to keep out terrorists, criminals, and dangerous material. Chemical and Biological Threats: DHS has established the BioWatch program, which protects many large U.S. cities by monitoring the air for biological agents that could be released by terrorists.
Military Goals for the 21st Century:
The Bush Administration has implemented the most sweeping changes to the organization of our national security institutions since World War II, and has launched a number of significant foreign policy and homeland security initiatives consistent with 9/11 Commission recommendations. It created a new Department of Homeland Security and ensured it has the resources and authority to protect the homeland, established the Terrorist Threat Integration Center to integrate and analyze, in a single place, both foreign and domestic intelligence on global terror and called for the establishment of a National Intelligence Director and a National Counterterrorism Center.
Healthcare, HIV/AIDS initiatives
Confronting the International HIV/AIDS Pandemic
Health care costs are rising at the fastest rate in nearly a decade, imposing a burden on families and businesses. Healthcare policy includes: reducing the rise in health care costs for all Americans through measures such as limiting frivolous medical liability lawsuits and modernizing health care IT; create new and more affordable coverage options – targeted to those who need help the most: low-income children and families; employees of small businesses; and the self-employed; establish new tax-free Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) to help more Americans gain affordable coverage.
The need for providing treatment to Americans living with HIV/AIDS, Immediate availability of $20 million in new funding to deliver life-saving drugs to the men and women in the United States living with HIV/AIDS who are waiting today for HIV-related medication. Prevention and Research, HIV/AIDS remains a serious public health threat. The President has supported increases in other programs helping Americans afflicted with HIV/AIDS: substance abuse treatment, which helps to prevent transmission through intravenous drug use, and Community Health Centers, which in low-income or rural areas, may provide the only source of treatment and support to HIV-infected individuals. The President continues to support efforts to promote prevention while encouraging research to combat this deadly disease. Efforts include: emphasizing abstinence, encouraging Testing Global Vaccine Enterprise Easy-to-Use AIDS, Medications Lifting Barriers to AIDS Vaccine Development.
Education
President Bush's plan is improving the quality of education for young people so that they get the skills and training they need to succeed in higher education and the job market. President Bush is helping to expand opportunities for American students and workers. His proposals will help more Americans graduate from high school prepared for college or the workforce, access post-secondary education, and get the job training and skills to compete in a changing and dynamic economy and fill jobs in emerging industries.
Economy
The economic history of the United States has its roots in the marginally successful colonial economies that progressed to a small, independent farming economy. Over the course of those years, the United States grew into a large industrialized economy, making up approximately a fifth of the world economy.
The economic system of the United States can be described as a capitalist free market-oriented mixed economy, in which corporations and other private firms make the majority of microeconomic decisions and governments prefer to take smaller role in the domestic economy, although the United States government's role is relatively large, at 38% of the GDP. The U.S. has a small social safety net, and regulation faced by business firms in the U.S. is slightly below the average of developed countries. The fiscal policy of the country since the New Deal has followed the general ideals of Keynesian economics, which replaced Classical economics following the Great Depression. Neoliberal ideals have become more prominent since the presidency of Ronald Reagan, due to the growing influence of globalization. Since the early 1980s, the United States has transformed from being a net creditor to having a substantial current account deficit and a national debt which has reached record high levels relative to national GDP since World War II.
Economic activity varies greatly across the country. For example, New York City is the center for financial, publishing, broadcasting, and advertising industries, while Los Angeles is the most important center for film and television production. The San Francisco Bay Area is a major center for technology. The Midwest is known for its reliance on manufacturing and heavy industry, with Detroit serving as the center of the American automotive industry. The Southeast is a major area for medical research, tourism, and the lumber industry.
The largest sector in the United States economy is service, which employs roughly three quarters of the work force. The economy is fueled by an abundance of natural resources, such as coal, petroleum, and precious metals. However, the country still depends upon foreign nations for large amounts of resources, such as petroleum. In agriculture, the country is a top producer of corn, soy beans, rice, and wheat, with the Great Plains labeled as the "breadbasket of the world" for their tremendous agricultural output. The U.S. has a large tourist industry, ranking third in the world, and is also a exporter in goods such as automobiles, airplanes, steel, and electronics. The largest trading partner of the United States is Canada (19%), followed by the People's Republic of China, Mexico, and Japan.
The President's new proposal would:
Provide help for unemployed Americans, including extending unemployment benefits and creating new re-employment accounts to help displaced workers get back on the job
Environmental philosophy
The focus is on results - making air, water, and land cleaner. To employ the best science and data, policies should encourage innovation and the development of new, cleaner technologies.
FOREIGN POLICY OF THE USA
The overall aim of foreign policy of the U.S. is to build "a stronger 21st century America in a freer, more peaceful world." The following key issues in this sphere can be singled out:
The United States has large economic, political and military influence on a global scale, which makes its foreign policy a subject of great interest and discussion around the world. The country has one of the largest diplomatic presences of any nation. Almost every nation has full diplomatic relations with the United States, with embassies in Washington, D.C. and consulates around the country. The nations considered America's closest allies are the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Japan, and Israel. Only a few do not have formal diplomatic relations with the United States, which include Cuba, North Korea, Iran, and Sudan.
As American power grew, it began to look at interests farther abroad, particularly in the pursuit of trade. It consequently occupied territories in the Pacific, such as Hawaii and the Philippines, demanded the opening of Japan to trade, and competed with other powers for influence in China. After World War II, the country was a major player in the establishment of the United Nations and became one of five permanent members of the Security Council.
During the Cold War, its foreign policy sought to limit the influence of the Soviet Union around the world. In the effort to contain the Soviets, the U.S. founded NATO, which compels the country to defend against any foreign invasion of any NATO state in North America and Europe. In an example of realpolitik, the U.S. also established diplomatic relations with Communist countries that were antagonistic to the Soviet Union, like the People's Republic of China during the Sino-Soviet split. In recent times, the United States has increased its border securities against illegal immigration and the shipment of illegal narcotics, particularly from Mexico and the Caribbean. The country has also sought to fight terrorism and control the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, but its main goal remains to protect American interest and the safety of its citizens at home and abroad.
Within the first issue the U.S. supports NATO's enlargement and forging a partnership between NATO, Russia, and Ukraine. In peace-keeping pushing for a comprehensive peace in the Middle East and in the Balkans, and prevention of new conflicts are important.
The second issue means that the U.S. want is to bring its former adversaries, Russia and China, into the international system as open, prosperous, stable nations. Today, The U.S. confront the risk of a Russia’s inability to control the flow of its money, weapons and technology across its borders. The U.S continues a policy of purposeful engagement with China's leaders and people. That is reflected in the deal reached to bring China into the WTO.
The U.S. aims to cooperate with other nations to solve such problems of global importance as proliferation, terrorism, drugs, and climate change. The fourth issue means creating a world trading and financial system that will lift the lives of ordinary people on every continent around the world. The U.S. emphasizes the roles of freed trade and liberal investment for world economic growth. As to the fifth issue the U.S. aims to deepen democracy where it is already taking root.
The U.S. has developed friendly relations with Ukraine and strongly supports the economic reform policies in our country. The issues of cooperation between these countries include Ukraine's participation in KFOR, closing the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, aid for small enterprise development in Ukraine, educational exchange programs.
The key directions of domestic policy of the U.S. include economic, social, innovation, community, military, and environmental policy, fighting crime, and development of efficient systems of government, education, and healthcare. Fiscal policy focuses on decreasing national debt and tax relief to small businesses, and those who pay for healthcare, save for collage and retirement. Consumer protection means first of all creation of science-based food safety system and protection of privacy on-line.
While retirement policy aims to simplify the pension process for small businesses and protect employee pension funds, labor policy means protection against on-the-job discrimination, transforming welfare system into one that encourages work. Within educational policy the main issues are increasing accountability, computer literacy, and widening opportunities for study in collages. The key objectives of healthcare policy are reducing medical errors, investing in biomedical research, fighting teen smoking, providing opportunities for the Disabled.
The Administrative reform provides for decentralization of government, elimination of outdated programs, and increasing quality of governmental services. Crime prevention and fighting the scourge of drugs and gangs are important to ensure public safety. Military policy aims to make sure that the armed forces have the most advanced weaponry, sophisticated intelligence, and information systems. The primary focus of environmental policy is promotion of making more energy-efficient cars and homes, and reducing climate-disrupting and health-threatening pollution.
As a result of activity of the U.S. government real wages have started to rise again. America has the lowest unemployment and fastest economic growth in more than 30 years. The U.S. has the lowest inflation rate in decades. More Americans own their home than ever before.
USA Freedom corps
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