Archive for the ‘American current affairs’ Category
Americans: rich and poor
September 19th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Last week the US census revealed that 46 million Americans – one in six – now live in poverty, the highest number ever. In 2010, the top 20% of Americans earned 49.4% of the nation’s income. The top 1% account for 24% of all income. About 47% of US people pay no federal income taxes, […]
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Lichtman’s 13 Keys back Obama to win
September 1st, 2011 by Roger Darlington
American professor Allan Lichtman has developed a series of 13 tests which have enabled him to predict correctly every US Presidential election since Ronald Reagan. This week, he called the 2012 election for Barack Obama. Gosh, I hope so; otherwise I might have to leave you Earthlings to it. You can check out Lichtman’s analysis […]
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Should rich Americans pay more tax?
August 16th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Britain is a very unequal society in terms of distribution of income and wealth – and this has to have been a factor (although not the whole story by far) in the recent riots. But the United States is an even more unequal society and (like the UK) becoming more so. So there is a […]
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Could the Republican candidate be a supporter of Dominionism?
August 16th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
As the Republican Party in the United States starts the process of choosing its candidate to oppose Barack Obama in the Presidential election of November 2012, the field is narrowing to such an extent that the eventual candidate might be a supporter of the movement known as Dominionism which has been described as a belief […]
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How can America cut its deficit?
August 2nd, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Economics can seem complicated and coverage of the debate over raising the US debt limit has been about process more than substance. But, in this article, George Monbiot, makes the implications of the agreement clear: “There are two ways of cutting a deficit: raising taxes or reducing spending. Raising taxes means taking money from the […]
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Why is the most powerful nation on earth powerless to resolve its debt crisis?
July 31st, 2011 by Roger Darlington
“The crisis is ostensibly about raising America’s debt ceiling from its present $14.3 trillion (£8.7tn). But in reality the crisis is not about the ceiling but a consequence of the polarisation of US politics that began under George W Bush and hardened with the arrival of Barack Obama in the White House and the birth […]
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Which American politician said this? (2)
July 19th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
On Sunday, I did a posting with a quote on the separation of church and state and asked which American politician had said it. I promised you the answer today. The answer is Barry Goldwater in the US Senate in 1981 and you can find more information on his trenchant views here. Contrary to what […]
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Income inequality grows in UK and USA
July 5th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
UK income inequality increased by 32% between 1960 and 2005. During the same period, it increased by 23% in the USA, and in Sweden decreased by 12%. In the 1960s Sweden and the UK had similar levels of income inequality. By 2005 the gap between the two had increased by 14%. Since the 1980s, income […]
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The First Amendment and the Supreme Court (1)
June 27th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
The combination has just blocked the state of Arizona’s effort to combat the influence of money in elections – see here.
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The First Amendment and the Supreme Court (2)
June 27th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
The combination has just blocked the state of California’s effort to block the sale of violent video games to minors – see here.
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