WHAT CAUSED THE CURRENT ECONOMIC CRISIS IN THE UNITED STATES?

The U.S. economy is probably experiencing its worst crisis since the great depression of 1929. Today’s economic crisis has extended to almost all sectors, affecting everyone. The crisis started in the home mortgage market, especially the market of the subprime mortgages; this was a combination of high speculation and easy access for credit.

I was living in the U.S. when everyone started to buy houses around 2004, it was a time of prosperity and happiness, but people were not only buying house to achieve that long quest of the “American dream” of being able to buy a house, a car and even a boat, everyone was buying houses because prices were rising, interest rates were low and banks were giving off loans as easily as buying a carton of milk at the supermarket. But how did the U.S. got to this situation? To answer that we have to trace a few years.

The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank in September 11, 2001 decided to lower interest rates at 1% to keep the economy strong, this led to banks on Wall Street to borrow from the Federal Reserve for 1% and other surpluses from other economies like Japan, China and other countries of the Middle East created and abundance of cheap credit for banks. Eventually investors entered the business with banks creating the credit bubble.

By this time everyone had access to easy credit, with low interest rates, this led to a major buy and sale of the housing business, for example a house that cost 80,000 dollars, someone with a $15,000 investment (down payment) would get a loan for $65,000 and only in a few months they would sell it for 90-100 thousand dollars, and because there was a big demand for houses, everyone was buying and selling. Mean while in Wall Street banks and investors were dividing the mortgages depending on their risk (safe, ok and risky) this strategy for making tons of money was that banks would sell millions of mortgages to investors, it was an easy was to make money for everyone, but what nobody knew was that they had created a time bomb.

The turning point was when loans were giving to people of high risk, this were the subprime mortgages and eventually this home owners started to default on their payments, on the bride side banks and investors would get the house, but then thousand of home owners defaulted in their payments and thousands of houses were up for foreclosure, this led to a collapse of the prices of the houses , on the other side home owners that could pay their houses realize that it didn’t make sense to pay a mortgage of  200,000 dollars when their home was worth 80,000, eventually they started to default too.

Now everyone in Wall Street (banks, investors) had a thousand of houses in their possession but no money to pay the billions of loans that they had, and people in Main Street had loss their house and their life time savings, the time bomb exploded! The result was millions of houses for sale and zero buyers, banks and investors were bankrupt, asking for a bail out. This was the down turn of the U.S economy that included unemployment, millions in debt and the wake up moment from the American dream.

WHAT MAKES THE AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL SYSTEM SO UNIQUE?

When structuring the political system of the United States of American, the founding fathers wanted to avoid a political system that in any way reflected the monarchical system of Great Britain and specially avoid a tyranny, and in order to establish a their own political system the US based their principal ideals on John Locke’s self government of the people through popular elections and  Montesquieu’s harmonic cooperation between the branches of power in order to avoid that a branch would accumulate enough power to take over control a establish a tyranny.

In the presidential system of the US the president is both the head of state and the head of government, as well as the military commander in chief and chief diplomat, in other words the president is the head of the military forces and the international relations. Within the executive branch, the president has constitutional powers to manage national affairs. Furthermore the president has the ability to recommend measures to congress and has the right and power to sign or veto a legislation passed by congress, but in the contrary side congress may override a presidential veto if the votes goes by two thirds majority in both houses (congress and senate). Also the president has the power to appoint the ministers of government and with the consent of the senate appoint Supreme Court justices and federal judges.

The president of the United States is elected for a four year term and may serve a maximum of two terms, this was mandated by a constitutional amendment enacted in 1951, following the precedent of Franklin Delano Roosevelt that was elected for a record of four terms but only concluded three because of his dead in 1945.

The biggest difference of the US presidential system and electoral system is that the president is not won directly by the voters but by an electoral college representing each state, for example depending on the population of the state the electoral votes that it gets, in this case California (55), Texas (38) and New York (29) have the largest number of electoral votes. The total of electoral votes is 538; in order to become the president of the US a candidate has to win at least 270 electoral votes. This system of election means that a candidate can win the largest number of popular votes but can lose the elections if the candidate doesn’t win the electoral votes.

How did the US attempt to stop the spread of communism?

The end of world War II was the end of an era for a couple of world powers and the rise of the United States and the Soviet Union as world super powers, with Europe completely destroy and facing hunger, instability, chaos, social and political division. Europe shifted its looks to this two nations for help, consequently Europe was divided into two; Western and Eastern Europe. But this was not the only division the two worlds super powers had different political, economic and social ideals, each side believed that the system was adequate for their model, the USA believed in capitalism and the USSR in communism. Over the next 45 years both nations developed a series of foreign policies to expand their ideals and values. First it started in Europe and eventually spread all around the world; it was the ideological fight between the USA and the USSR and between capitalism and communism, in the second half of the twentieth century countries around the world were allies either with the USA or the USSR, but neutrality was almost obsolete.

The policy of "containment“(stop the spread of communism) begun by President Harry Truman and continue with Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Johnson, Ford, Carter and Reagan, in other words the USA was firm on stopping communism until the collapse of the Soviet Union. The first policies to stop the spread of communism were the Truman Doctrine and the Marshal Plan. The Truman Doctrine consisted in defending democracy and stated that USA would intervene to support any nation that was being threatened by a takeover by an armed minority; the first countries to receive this help were Greece and Turkey emerged in a civil war over the control of the government. On the other hand the Marshal Plan manly an economic policy to help rebuilt Western Europe and its economies in order to prevent the spread communism.

In just a few years the ideological fight spread all around the world, and in order to stop the influences of the USSR, the United States got involved in conflicts around the world (Korea, Vietnam and Grenada,) and the CIA help fight left-wing movements in Iran, Guatemala, Indonesia, the Tibet, Iraq, Congo, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Chile, and Nicaragua.

The United States throughout a series of foreign policies involving military interventions, economic help, secret operations and providing materials (fire arms, intelligence, information) around the world fought the spread of communism during the Cold War. Eventually with the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the USA became the only super world power and the hegemony its today.It was probably pay off with a millions of dollars spend and thousands of American lives lost specially in the Vietnam War, but this long time policy to stop communism inspire many cultural changes inside the USA and around the world, for example the hippie movement in the 1960’s and their legacy to make peace and not war. 

Bibliografía

Bodden, V. (2008). days of change; the cold war . Minnesota .

How were the different programs proposed through Roosevelt´s New Deal tackle the problems created by the Great Depression?

The Great Depression of 1929 was a worldwide depression that lasted around ten years; the years that the depression lasted vary by country. In the United States after three decades of prosperity on October 29, 1929 or “Black Tuesday” as what it came to be known, the stock market crashed, stock prices collapsed, panic struck Wall Street, people tried to sell their stocks, but there were no buyers, millions of investors were now bankrupt, factories close and millions lost their jobs, this cause that over the next years consumer spending and investment drooped, unemployment rose to it heights rates and by 1933 some 15 million Americans  were unemployed, it sure was one of the hardest situation in American history, not only economically, but also socially and politically.  

Americans needed a great leader with conviction, a visionary with great strategy that would rescued America from the darkest storm, and this man was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, he was elected President in November 1932. Roosevelt measures contained a highly interventionist and regulator state. In his first hundred days, he proposed programs to help bring recovery to the economy. He asked congress to end prohibition, so that Americans could buy alcohol once again, this decision busted Americans spending and also created jobs, he also pushed the increase of public spending, and with the Tennessee Valley Authority Act the government build dams along the Tennessee River to prevent flooding and to create cheaper electricity, this created thousands of jobs. He also passed the National recovery Act, the Agricultural Adjustment Act and the Home Owner’s Loan Act, all of this acts tried to control prices, protect the workers, create jobs, subsidize farmers and regulate banks and loans.

But eventually a social crisis appeared, people that lost their house, their job and their whole stability didn’t believe that the United States could overturn the situation, in the rural areas hit by dust storms farmers emigrated to the city only to find cities in chaos, every day people would make lines for hours just to received a meal or a subsidize so they could feed their families, many had to leaved their home because they couldn’t pay their mortgages therefore they had to lived in tends, fortunately FDR wasn’t ready to give up.

 In the second hundred days of the New Deal Roosevelt launched a second, more aggressive series of programs to deal with the bad shape of the economy, the Work Progress Administration, the National Labor Relation Act and one of the most important program still in vigor today the Social Security Act, which guaranteed pensions and employment insurance.

With all this programs created by the Roosevelt administration several of the consequences of the Great Depression were tackle, unemployment decreased, and factories machinery started to run again, the confidence of the American people rose once more, and by 1937 FDR thought that the depression was over and slowly cut government spending, but the depression was not over until the US entered the war in Europe and the pacific, and the American factories were put into max production.

Roosevelt New Deal gave America hope, when many thought everything was over, the relief programs and the regulations through the New Deal created millions of jobs, made American trust again the banks and the market. Possibly if it wasn’t for the Roosevelt and his New Deal, America would have never been ready to enter the Second World War.

Bibliografía

Hillstrom, K. (2008). The Great Depression and the New Deal. Michigan : illustrada.

How did the big stick diplomacy, the dollar diplomacy and the moral diplomacy influence the American foreign policy process of the early xx century?

US foreign policy would be characterized in the turn of the twentieth century by the policies of three presidents; Theodore Roosevelt “Big Stick Diplomacy”, William Taft “Dollar Diplomacy” and Woodrow Wilson “Moral Diplomacy. All of them shared similar characteristics and also differ in many ways, but all the three defended American interests, increased American influence and backed up American business overseas.

Theodore Roosevelt “Big Stick Diplomacy” was based on the idea of “speak softly and carry a big stick”; he believed that the US should become a world power and that it was necessary to carry out actions to demonstrate the US intentions. Not only Roosevelt believed that it was necessary to show a hard power but also it was important to export American values and ideals (democracy, freedom, culture). Consequently Roosevelt’s actions were very aggressive reflecting his “Big Stick Diplomacy”. For example the US had interest in building a canal in Central America, its options were Nicaragua and Panama after Nicaragua was ruled out, Panama became the priority, and in 1903 revolted against Colombia with the support of the United States Navy, becoming a new republic and gaining their independence, with this action the United States gained perpetual control of the canal. Roosevelt’s approach to Latin America was based on the Monroe Doctrine “America for the Americans” he acted on behalf of Venezuela when British and German ships blockade its costliness, acted on behalf of Dominican Republic to avoid European intervention. To show American power he increased the US Navy size, and in 1907 commanded the fleet to go on a world tour to show its power. But he also showed a face of mediator in the Russo-Japanese war and between France and Germany for the control of Morocco.

On the other hand William Taft “Dollar Diplomacy” was based on buying alliances, expanding trade and protecting US business overseas. The initial idea of the dollar diplomacy was to give out loans to countries in debt and in this order of ideas the US would control those countries economy, increasing trade with the US, consequently by increasing trade Taft believed that values and ideals could be exported and American influence would increase. Taft invited US banks to rescue Honduras and other countries, he send troops overseas to stabilize Nicaragua; he protected American overseas business, but eventually Taft’s policies were not backed up the congress neither by the Latin American countries.

Wilson’s foreign policy was based on moral principles rather than commercial or military ones.  Democracy should be exported around the world and the improvement of the relationships with Latin America needed to be immediately.  His most important contribution to the international system was his fourteen points which resemble a moral attitude and approach to world politics, also the establishment of the League of Nations in order to guarantee the political and territorial independence of all states and to avoid a war similar to the world war I.

It’s evident that these foreign policies shaped the US in the turn of the twentieth century and stills holds up a big impact on today’s foreign policy, first of all I want to mention that the US exile from isolation and entered the role of a world power. Furthermore these policies shaped American foreign policy during the next years, in World War II, Cold War and war on terror. If we look at American influence over the years, it has intervened military in many conflicts around the world (Europe, the Pacific, Korea, Vietnam, Somalia, Nicaragua and Iraq) it has also exported its ideals and values of democracy and freedom for example Philippines and countries behind the iron curtain. And finally it has developed economic tides in order to gather alliances we can see this in the Plan Colombia. 

Bibliografía

Beck, M. W. (1997). Big Stick Diplomacy: The Politics of the Panama Canal. Houston .

Why did the US fight a civil war and in what ways did this country change after it?

The United States was a divided country long before the civil war started. The American Civil War was a civil war fought from 1861 to 1865 between the northern states (the Union) and the southern states (the Confederacy). Its causes can be traced back to tensions that formed early in the nation’s history.  From the first slave’s arrival in the colonies, slavery spread to all the settlements, differences set early in the thirteen colonies during the first years of their development. The US fought a civil war for four specific reasons; First the economic and social differences between the North and the South, second the states versus the federal rights, , third the growth of the abolition movement and finally the election of the sixteenth president of the United States Abraham Lincoln in1860.

The economic factor divided the north and the south. In 1793 Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, this machine was capable of reducing the time it took to separate seeds from the cotton, consequently cotton became very profitable and the south economy, this made the necessity to increase the plantations in the same way it made necessary the need increase slavery. This meant that the south social/work structure was based on one relation between owner and slave. The south hold onto an antiquated social order. On the other hand, the northern economy was based on industry and a city life. This disparity between the north and the south set up major differences in economic and social attitudes.

States versus federal rights was a big issue in the U.S, many appeal that states should have more right to decided their postures, other saw essential the federal rights to maintain the union .But in 1832 when Congress adopted a series of high import tariffs against the wishes of the Southern states, the "states' rights card became a popular Southern response to any unpopular national policy. This resulted in the idea of nullification, whereby states could refuse federal acts. But this law (nullification) was never approved, in result the southern states started to talk about secession.

The second Great Awakening, a widespread evangelical movement of the early nineteenth century, rejuvenated antislavery among white Americans. Convinced that slavery was a sin, not a social problem. Abolitionist believed that they could achieve their goal by persuading slaveholders because of the moral issue; in contrast slaveholders argued that the bible justified slavery and that it was part of the divine plan.  Eventually white abolition movements appear in politics around 1830’s with the idea to promoted acts that prohibited slavery. Sympathies in the north began to grow for abolitionists and against slavery and slaveholders.

In the Presidential Election of 1860, Lincoln won the presidency, he was against slavery and on his inaugural speech warned the south "In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you.... You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to preserve, protect and defend it."  In response to treat that the southern states felt, in 1861 seven states of the lower South- South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas attempted to secede from the United States because of Abraham Lincoln’s election.Certainly many were consequences of the civil war in the development of the American state, the country held together and maintained the union, on the other hand there was the economic, social and political changes that helped shape the nation. At the end of the civil war the economy in the north was prosperous; its economy had boomed during the war, in contrast with the South since the war was fought entirely on its territory, the economy sustained immense damage with cities completely ruin.

A social change that resulted in the “unification of America” was the end of slavery, five million blacks were free. At no other point did so many Americans go through such change of status. The social structure change, there would never be again a relationship between a master (slaveholder) and a slave. Also the reconstructions amendments were adopted between 1865 and 1870. The 13^th, 14^th and 15^th amendments abolish slavery, granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States and provided all citizens with equal protection under the law and the last one prohibits the government from denying a citizen the right to vote bases on race, color, or previous condition of slavery. As a result Americans became more tolerant and a more united country.

Bibliografía

Burns, K. (Dirección). (2010). Civil War life [Película].

Engle, S. D. (2001). The American Civl War. Osprey Publishing.

Mitchell, R. (2001). The American Civil War 1891-1865 . longman.

Potter, D. M. (1968). Civil war.

Seed, C. C. (2004). The American Civil War. Greenwood press.

What is the intended scope of the second amendment to the Constitution of the United States? Is it an example of an “individual rights theory” or a “collective rights theory?”

The debate to bear arms in the United States has intensified in the past few months since the tragic massacres of last year, the first one was a mass shooting inside a Century movie theater in Aurora Colorado during the premier of the film The Dark Knight Rises, the suspect identified as James Holmes eventually rose from his chair and shot the audience, killing 12 people and injuring 58 others, the other one was the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre, the shooter Adam Lanza enter the school and shot and killed 20 children and 6 staff members.

The second amendment of the United Stated reads; “a well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." In my opinion there are two key phrases that should be analyzed first “a well regulated militia” and second “the right of the people to keep and bear arms”. While some interpreters believe that the amendment creates an individual constitutional right for citizens to bear arms others argue that the framers intended only to restrict congress from legislating away a state's right to self-defense. Looking at this approach, the argument that the amendment intent to restrict congress from legislating away a states right to self-defense makes no sense because the congress is made up of citizens of the United States that were voted to represent the people and to legislate for the people, also in the history of the U.S.A we have never seen a congress not protecting the State or its citizens, instead the right to bear arms is a right for self defense also the founder fathers wanted to prevent a tyranny form of government and a tool to prevent an event like this one was the right to bear arms.

In my personal opinion and after giving it much thought the intended scope of the second amendment is an example of an individual rights theory because the United States constitution restricts legislative bodies from prohibiting firearm possession making it unconstitutional. The U.S supreme court strengthen the second amendment in the cases of District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008 and McDonald V. the city of Chicago in 2010 in both cases the court eliminated and made unconstitutional any law prohibiting the right to bear arms.

Bibliography

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9759404/Connecticut-school-shooting-America-to-mourn-Sandy-Hook-massacre.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/da-colo-theater-shooting-victims-harassed-article-1.1257841

http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/second_amendment