|
|
|
|
|
|
The U.S. economy The American income and productivity have risen enormously over the past 70 years. In this period, the money for personal consumption tripled in real purchasing power. The gross national product (GNP) per capita quadrupled, reflecting growth in worker productivity. Together, all sectors of the American economy produce almost $4,527 thousand million dollars worth of goods and services annually, and each year they turn out almost $251 thousand million more. The consumption of these goods and services is spread widely. Most Americans consider themselves members of the middle economic class, and relatively few are extremely wealthy or extremely poor. According to U.S. Census Bureau figures, 20.7 percent of all Americans families make more than $50,000 a year; 4.7 percent of all American families have incomes less than $5,000; and the median annual income for all American families is about $30,853. No body can deny that the government plays an important role in the U.S. economy. From the founding of the Republic, for example, the federal government has strongly supported the development of transportation. It financed the first major canal system and later subsidized the railroads and the airlines. It has developed river valleys and built dams for power stations. For farmers, the government has provided electricity, scientific advice and a guaranteed minimum price for basic food crops. For all citizens, it checks the purity of food and drugs, insures bank deposits and guarantees certain types of loans for housing. Despite the fact that the U.S. government supports many segments of the nation’s economy, economists estimate that the public sector accounts for only one-fifth of American economic activity, with the remainder in private hands. Unemployment in the United States is six percent. The government provides short-term unemployment compensation (from 20 to 39 weeks depending upon economic conditions) to replace wages lost between jobs. Over 80 percent of all wage and salary earners are covered by unemployment insurance. In addition, both the government and private industry provide job training to help unemployed and disadvantaged Americans. The population in U.S.A: America has long been known as an ethnic “melting pot”. Its current population is 243.4 million, made up of immigrants or their descendants from virtually every country in the world. It’s believed that the first people to arrive- from Siberia, 10,000 to 20,000 years ago- were the Native Americans or the American Indians. Today, about 1.5 million American Indians and Eskimos live in the United States, many in tribal lands set aside for them in 31 states. Europe, the major source of U.S. immigration, began sending colonists to America in the early 17th century, primarily from its northern and western regions. Immigration peaked in the period from 1880 to 1920, when tens of millions of immigrants entered the United States, with the largest percentage coming from southern and Eastern Europe. Black Americans, who today number 29 million, constitute the largest single ethnic minority in the country. They were first brought to the New World as slaves in the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries. In the 20th century, large numbers of blacks, who historically lived in the south, migrated to the industrial cities of North in search of jobs and a better way of life. Hispanics, living primarily in the Southwest, are the next largest ethnic minority group in the United States. Sixty percent are Mexican-Americans with the remainder from Central and South America. The Hispanic community is extremely varied and includes large Puerto Rican populations in many Eastern cities as well as a growing Cuban-American presence in Miami, Florida. The U.S. population has also absorbed nearly 3.6 million Asians. Many Asian Americans live in Hawaii, where more than two-thirds of the population claim an Asian or Polynesian heritage. From 1945 to 1964, the number of children born in the United States increased dramatically; a total of 76 million babies were born during these years, now known as the “baby boom”. As this huge group of “baby boomers” has grown to adulthood, they have significantly changed the economic, cultural and social character of the American population. Fashioned out of traditions, customs and institutions of many lands, the American people are united culturally by the English language and politically by a faith in democracy. The U.S. political system: The nation’s capital, Washington D.C., with more than 3.4 million people, is the 10th largest metropolitan area in the country. Laid out by the French architect Pierre L’Enfant in the late 18th century, it was the world’s first city especially planned as a center of government. Under the Constitution, the states delegated many of their sovereign powers to this central government in Washington. But they kept many important powers for themselves. Each of the 50 states, for example, retains the right to run its own public school system, to license its doctors and other professionals, to provide police protection for its citizens and to maintain its roads. In actual practice, and in line with the American tradition of keeping government as close to the people as possible, the states delegate many of these powers to their political subdivisions- countries, cities, towns and villages. Thus, at the lowest political level, residents of small American communities elect village trustees to run their police and fire departments, and elect a board of education to run their schools. On the county level, voters elect executives who are responsible for roads, parks, libraries, sewage and other services, and elect or appoint judges for the courts. The citizens of each state also elect a governor and members of the state legislature. Under the constitution, the federal government is divided into three branches, 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 (in every year divisible by four). The elective process for a U.S. president is unique. Americans vote for slates of presidential 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 to be elected; if no candidate has a majority, the House of Representatives makes the decision. (In all other state and local elections, voters cast their votes directly for the candidate or referendum on that particular ballot.) 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 (the Departments of State, Defense, Commerce, Justice, etc.). Each head of an executive department 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, and in the event of the death or disability of the president, assumes the presidency for the balance of his term. 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 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 courts (at least one in every state), 11 federal courts of appeals and, at the top, the Supreme Court. Federal judges are appointed by the president with the approval of the Senate; to minimize political influences, the appointments are for life. Federal courts decide cases involving federal law, conflicts between states or between citizens of different states. An American who feels he has been convicted under an unjust law may appeal his case all the way to the Supreme Court, which may rule that the law is unconstitutional. The law then becomes void.
Normal Normal Default Paragraph Font Default Paragraph Font Table Normal Table Normal No List No List Body Text Body Text Body Text 2 Body Text 2 *€urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags *€urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags *€urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags country-region *€urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags Mina Girgis Mina Girgis Mina Girgis Mina Girgis Mina Girgis Mina Girgis Mina Girgis Mina Girgis Mina Girgis Mina Girgis Mina Girgis Mina Girgis Mina Girgis Mina Girgis Mina Girgis Mina Girgis Mina Girgis Mina Girgis Unknownÿ Times New Roman Times New Roman Symbol Symbol Traditional Arabic Traditional Arabic QThe American income and productivity have risen enormously over the past 70 years QThe American income and productivity have risen enormously over the past 70 years Mina Girgis Mina Girgis The American income and productivity have risen enormously over the past 70 years Mina Girgis Normal Microsoft Word 10.0 Tel : 5688355 The American income and productivity have risen enormously over the past 70 years Root Entry 1Table 1Table WordDocument WordDocument SummaryInformation SummaryInformation DocumentSummaryInformation DocumentSummaryInformation CompObj CompObj Microsoft Word Document MSWordDoc Word.Document.8 |
|
|
