A short and easy introduction to American politics and economics
(en slags introduktion på engelska till amerikansk politik och ekonomi, en uppgift jag hade på den engelska-kurs , Engelska 5, som jag går på Komvux vuxengymnasium på ABF-huset. Jag postar den här, eftersom den kan ge bra bakgrundsinformation till grejer jag skrivit på bloggen)
Politics and economy in America versus Sweden
America is a democracy, like Sweden, and has been so since the country was founded 1776. It´s a republic, unlike Sweden, which is a monarchy, and has a president, nowadays Donald Trump. America has only two parties in the Congress (America´s parliament), the Democrats and the Republicans, unlike Sweden, which has eight parties. The Democrats are the leftist of America, and the Republicans are the right-wings. In Sweden you have Sverigedemokraterna farthest to the right, and Vänsterpartiet farthest to the left. However, the leftists in America are far more right-wing than the leftists in Sweden. And likewise, the right-wings are far more right-wing in America than the right-wings in Sweden. That´s because America always has been the promised land of capitalism, and fear of communism is much bigger there than in Sweden. Sweden hasn´t had a cold war with Soviet, after all. America is the most militarized country in the world and most action-movies come from America. America has a bigger military budget than the next seven biggest countries together (1). America is the military superpower in the world, and has military bases in 80 countries (2). The list of American invasions and occupations of foreign countries is relatively long, and it is the American right which is most aggressive, especially the religious, christian fundamentalist right. Sweden is very little militarized, and has abandoned compulsory military service. Sweden hasn´t been in war for over 200 years.
Americas environmental politics are some of the worst in the world, and the country has been very reluctant to cooperate with other countries to curb its carbon emissions, for example America has refrained from ratificing the Kyoto-protocol (3), an important international agreement to curb carbon emissions. President Trump is a climate denier, and has said that climate change is a chinese hoax perpetrated to overturn the American economy (4). His environmental politics are accordingly. Sweden, however, is a leading voice in environmental issues. The Stockholm Resilience Centre, at Stockholm University, a sustainability education centre, is world-famous in its discipline.
America isn´t just the military superpower in the world, it´s also its financial centre, and global financial recessions and depressions during the last hundred years have always begun in America, lastly the Great Recession in 2008. Wall Street in New York and the American Stock Market is the hub of the global financial world. Sweden is a hidden corner in comparison. America has a big financial bubble going on right now, which is the biggest in history. Renowned investor Peter Schiff predicts that it will burst soon, and collapse the American economy and lead to a new Great Depression (which is even worse than that), an abandonment of the dollar as the world´s reserve currency, and a much lower living standard for many of the Americans. Some think that the recent little Stock Market crash of 10 % is the beginning of this. Sweden is also a bubble economy, it has had a housing bubble for many years. It will certainly be effected if the American bubble bursts, which is sometimes called ”The everything bubble”, because most assets are involved in it somehow. Before, when bubbles have burst, America and the rest of the world has often solved it by creating another bubble in some other area, but now, if the current bubble bursts, it will be difficult to solve it by creating another, because all assets are in a bubble already. This is, speaking with investment researcher Graham Summers, ”the endgame for central banking policy” (5).
(1) An article in ”National priorities project:” ”US military spending vs the world”’
(2) An article in ”The nation”: The US has military bases in 80 countries. All of them must close,” by Alice Slater 24.1.2018
(3) A Wikipedia article called ”Kyoto Protocol”
(4) An article in CNN politics: ”Donald Trump doesn´t think much of the climate, in 20 quotes”, by Chris Cillizza 8.8.2017
(5) Graham Summer´s book on Amazon: ”The everything bubble. The endgame for central banking policy,” published in 2017.
