United States
From AmericolaWiki
The United States of America is a country of the western hemisphere, comprising fifty states and several territories. Forty-eight contiguous states lie in central North America between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bounded on land by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south; Alaska is in the northwest of the continent with Canada to its east, and Hawaii is in the mid-Pacific.[2] The United States is a federal constitutional republic. Washington, its capital, is coextensive with the District of Columbia (D.C.), the federal capital district.[3]
At over 3.7 million square miles (over 9.6 million km²) and with over 300 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area and third largest by population.[4] With a gross domestic product (GDP) of over $13 trillion, the U.S. has the largest national economy in the world.[5] GDP per capita ranks first among the larger economies of the world.
American society is the product of large-scale immigration; the US may be described as both a melting pot or a pluralistic salad bowl. Home to a complex social structure[6] as well as a wide array of household arrangements,[7] the U.S. is one of the world's most ethnically and socially diverse nations.[8]
The nation was founded by thirteen colonies declaring their independence from Great Britain on July 4, 1776 as the new nation, the "United States of America." It adopted the current constitution (which has been amended several times subsequently) on September 17, 1787. The country greatly expanded in territory throughout the 19th century, acquiring further territory from Great Britain, as well as lands from France, Mexico, Spain, and Russia. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, it became the world's sole remaining superpower, and is a declared nuclear weapons state. The United States continues to exert economic, political, cultural and military influence around the globe.[9]
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[edit] Etymology
Common names and abbreviations of the United States of America include the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the U.S. of A., the States (informal), and America (colloquially). The earliest known use of the name America is attributed to the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller who, while working in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges in 1507, created a globe and a large map showing North and South America.[10] According to the Library of Congress "Waldseemüller christened the new lands "America" in recognition of Vespucci’s understanding that a new continent had been uncovered as a result of the voyages of Columbus and other explorers in the late fifteenth century."[11]
The Americas were also known as Columbia, after Columbus, prompting the name District of Columbia for the land set aside as the U.S. capital. Columbia remained a popular name for the United States until the early 20th century, when it fell into relative disuse; it is still used poetically, and appears in various names and titles.[12][13] One female personification of the country is called Columbia.[14]
The phrase "United States of America" was first used officially in the Declaration of Independence, adopted on July 4, 1776. On November 15, 1777, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, the first of which stated "The Stile of this Confederacy shall be 'The United States of America.'" The name was originally proposed by Thomas Paine.
The most common adjectival and demonymic form for the United States is American. This term is used for U.S. citizens living abroad, and for cultural characteristics ("American language," "American sports") and is rarely (at least not in English) used to refer to people not connected to the U.S. The word "American" has been especially controversial in Latin America, where Spanish speakers refer to themselves as "americanos" and use the adjective "estadounidense" to describe a person from the United States.
[edit] Geography
The United States is the world's third or fourth largest nation by total area, before or after the People's Republic of China, depending on how two territories disputed by China and India are counted. Including only land area, the United States is third in size behind Russia and China, just ahead of Canada.[15] The continental United States stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and from Canada to Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico. Alaska is the largest state in area. Separated by Canada, it touches the Pacific and Arctic Oceans. Hawaii occupies an archipelago in the Pacific, southwest of North America. The commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the largest and most populous U.S. territory, is in the northeastern Caribbean. With a few exceptions, such as the territory of Guam and the westernmost portions of Alaska, nearly all of the country lies in the western hemisphere.
The coastal plain of the Atlantic seaboard gives way further inland to deciduous forests and the rolling hills of the Piedmont. The Appalachian Mountains divide the eastern seaboard from the Great Lakes and the grasslands of the Midwest. The Mississippi-Missouri River, the world's fourth longest river system, runs mainly north-south through the heart of the country. The flat, fertile prairie land of the Great Plains stretches to the west. The Rocky Mountains, at the western edge of the Great Plains, extend north to south across the continental United States, reaching altitudes higher than 14,000 feet (4,300 m) in Colorado.[16] The area to the west of the Rockies is dominated by deserts such as the Mojave and the rocky Great Basin. The Sierra Nevada range runs parallel to the Rockies, relatively close to the Pacific coast. At 20,320 ft (6,194 m), Alaska's Mount McKinley is the country's tallest peak. Active volcanoes are common throughout the Alexander and Aleutian Islands and the entire state of Hawaii is built upon tropical volcanic islands. The supervolcano underlying Yellowstone National Park in the Rockies is the continent's largest volcanic feature.[17]
Because of the United States' large size and wide range of geographic features, nearly every type of climate is represented. The climate is temperate in most areas, tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida, polar in Alaska, semiarid in the Great Plains west of the 100th meridian, desert in the Southwest, Mediterranean in coastal California, and arid in the Great Basin. Extreme weather is not uncommon—the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico are prone to hurricanes and most of the world's tornadoes occur within the continental United States.[18]
[edit] Environment
With habitats ranging from tropical to Arctic, U.S. plant life is very diverse. The country has more than 17,000 identified native species of flora, including 5,000 in California (home to the tallest, the most massive, and the oldest trees in the world).[19] More than 400 mammal, 700 bird, 500 reptile and amphibian, and 90,000 insect species have been documented.[20] Wetlands such as the Florida Everglades are the base for much of this diversity. The country's ecosystems include thousands of nonnative exotic species that often harm indigenous plant and animal communities. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 protects threatened and endangered species and their habitats, which are monitored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
In 1872, the world's first national park was established at Yellowstone. Another fifty-seven national parks and hundreds of other federally managed parks and forests have since been formed.[21] Wilderness areas have been established around the country to ensure long-term protection of pristine habitats. Altogether, the U.S. government regulates 1,020,779 square miles (2,643,807 km²), 28.8 percent of the country's total land area.[22] Protected parks and forestland constitute most of this. As of March 2004, approximately 16 percent of public land under Bureau of Land Management administration was being leased for commercial oil and natural gas drilling;[23] public land is also leased for mining and cattle ranching. The United States is the second largest emitter, after China, of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels.[24] The energy policy of the United States is widely debated; many call on the country to take a leading role in fighting global warming.[25]
[edit] History
[edit] Native Americans
Before the European colonization of the Americas, a process that began at the end of the 15th century, the present-day continental U.S. was inhabited exclusively by various indigenous peoples, including Alaskan natives, who migrated to the continent over a period that may have begun 35,000 years ago and may have ended as recently as 11,000 years ago.[26] While the current country declared its independence from Great Britain in 1776, the histories of different U.S. states vary considerably.
[edit] European colonization
The first confirmed European landing in present-day United States territory was by Christopher Columbus, who visited Puerto Rico on November 19, 1493. Florida was home to the earliest European colonies on the mainland; of these colonies only St. Augustine which was founded by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés in 1565 remains.
A hundred or so French fur traders set up small outposts in the Great Lakes region. A few thousand Spanish settled in New Mexico and California. The first successful English settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, followed in 1620 by the Pilgrims' landing at Plymouth, Massachusetts. In 1609 and 1617, respectively, the Dutch settled in part of what became New York and New Jersey. In 1638, the Swedes founded New Sweden, in part of what became Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania after passing through Dutch hands. Throughout the 17th and early 18th centuries, England (and later Great Britain) established new colonies, took over Dutch colonies, and split others. Several colonies were used as penal settlements from the 1620s until the American Revolution. With the division of the Carolinas in 1729, and the colonization of Georgia in 1732, the 13 British colonies that became the United States of America in 1776 were established and all had active local and colonial governments with elections open to most free men, with a growing devotion to the ancient rights of Englishmen and a sense of self government that stimulated support for republicanism. By the 1770s the colonies were becoming "Anglicized" (that is, more like England). With high birth rates, low death rates, and steady immigration, the colonies doubled in population every 25 years. By 1770 they had a population of three million, about half as many as Britain itself. However, no representation was allowed them in the British Parliament.
[edit] American Revolution and Early Republic
Tensions between American colonials and the British during the revolutionary period of the 1760s and 1770s led to open warfare 1775-1781. George Washington commanded the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) as the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The Congress had been formed to confront British actions and created the Continental Army, but it was handicapped by lack of authority to levy taxes; it printed large amounts of paper money that soon lost value. In 1777, the Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, uniting the states under a weak federal government, which operated until 1788. After the United States defeated Great Britain, dissatisfaction with the weakness of the national government led to a constitutional convention in 1787. By June of 1788, enough states had ratified the United States Constitution to establish the new government, which took office in 1789. The Constitution, which strengthened the union and the federal government, has since remained the supreme law of the land.[27]
[edit] Westward expansion
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From 1803 to 1848, the size of the new nation nearly tripled as settlers (many embracing the concept of Manifest Destiny as an inevitable consequence of American exceptionalism) pushed beyond national boundaries even before the Louisiana Purchase.[28] The expansion was tempered somewhat by the stalemate in the War of 1812, but it was subsequently reinvigorated by victory in the Mexican-American War in 1848.
Between 1830–1880 up to 40 million American Buffalo were slaughtered for skins and meat, and to aid railway expansion. The expansion of the railways reduced transit times for both goods and people, made westward expansion less arduous for the pioneers, and increased conflicts with the Indians over the land and its uses. The loss of the buffalo, a primary resource for the plains Indians, added to the pressures on native cultures and individuals for survival.
[edit] Civil War
As new territories were being incorporated, the nation was divided over the issue of states' rights, the role of the federal government, and — by the 1820s — the expansion of slavery, which had been legal in all thirteen colonies but was rarer in the north, where it was abolished by 1804. The Northern states were opposed to the expansion of slavery whereas the Southern states saw the opposition as an attack on their way of life, since their economy was dependent on slave labor. The failure to permanently resolve these issues led to the Civil War, following the secession of many slave states in the South to form the Confederate States of America after the 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln.[29] The 1865 Union victory in the Civil War effectively ended slavery and settled the question of whether a state had the right to secede. The event was a major turning point in American history and resulted in an increase in federal power.[30]
[edit] Reconstruction and industrialization
After the Civil War, an unprecedented influx of immigrants hastened the country's rise to international power. These immigrants helped to provide labor for American industry and create diverse communities in undeveloped areas together with high tariff protections, national infrastructure building and national banking regulations. The growing power of the United States enabled it to acquire new territories, including the annexation of Puerto Rico and the Philippines after victory in the Spanish-American War,[31] which marked the debut of the United States as a major world power.
[edit] World War I, Great Depression, and World War II
At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the United States remained neutral. Americans sympathized with the British and French, although many citizens, mostly Irish and German, opposed intervention.[32] In 1917, the United States joined the Allies, turning the tide against the Central Powers. Reluctant to be involved in European affairs, the Senate did not ratify the Treaty of Versailles, which established the League of Nations. The country pursued a policy of unilateralism, verging on isolationism.[33] In 1920, the women's rights movement won passage of a constitutional amendment granting women's suffrage. In part due to the service of many in the war, Native Americans gained U.S. citizenship in the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924.
During most of the 1920s, the United States enjoyed a period of unbalanced prosperity as farm profits fell while industrial profits grew. A rise in debt and an inflated stock market culminated in the 1929 crash that triggered the Great Depression. After his election as president in 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt responded with the New Deal, a range of policies increasing government intervention in the economy. The Dust Bowl of the mid-1930s impoverished many farming communities and spurred a new wave of western migration. The nation would not fully recover from the economic depression until the industrial mobilization spurred by its entrance into World War II. The United States, effectively neutral during the war's early stages after the Nazi invasion of Poland in September 1939, began supplying materiel to the Allies in March 1941 through the Lend-Lease program.
On December 7, 1941, the United States joined the Allies against the Axis Powers after a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan. World War II cost far more money than any other war in American history,[34] but it boosted the economy by providing capital investment and jobs, while bringing many women into the labor market. Allied conferences at Bretton Woods and Yalta outlined a new system of intergovernmental organizations that placed the United States and Soviet Union at the center of world affairs. As victory was achieved in Europe, a 1945 international conference held in San Francisco produced the United Nations Charter, which became active after the war.[35] The United States, having developed the first nuclear weapons, used them on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August. Japan surrendered on September 2, ending the war.[36]
[edit] Superpower
The United States and Soviet Union jockeyed for power after World War II during the Cold War, dominating the military affairs of Europe through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Warsaw Pact. The United States promoted liberal democracy and capitalism, while the Soviet Union promoted communism and a centrally planned economy. The Soviet Union supported dictatorships, as did the United States on occasion, and both engaged in proxy wars. United States troops fought Communist Chinese forces in the Korean War of 1950–53. The House Committee on Un-American Activities pursued a series of investigations into suspected leftist subversion, while Senator Joseph McCarthy became the figurehead of anticommunist sentiment.
The Soviet Union launched the first manned spacecraft in 1961, prompting U.S. efforts to raise proficiency in mathematics and science and President John F. Kennedy's call for the country to be first to land "a man on the moon," achieved in 1969.[37] Kennedy also faced a tense nuclear showdown with Soviet forces in Cuba. Meanwhile, America experienced sustained economic expansion. A growing civil rights movement headed by prominent African Americans, such as Martin Luther King Jr., fought segregation and discrimination, leading to the abolition of Jim Crow laws. Following Kennedy's assassination in 1963, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed under President Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson and his successor, Richard Nixon, expanded a proxy war in Southeast Asia into the unsuccessful Vietnam War.
As a result of the Watergate scandal, in 1974 Nixon became the first U.S. president to resign, rather than be impeached on charges including obstruction of justice and abuse of power; he was succeeded by Gerald Ford. During the Jimmy Carter administration in the late 1970s, the U.S. economy experienced stagflation. The election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980 marked a significant rightward shift in American politics, reflected in major changes in taxation and spending priorities.[38] In the late 1980s and 1990s, the Soviet Union's power diminished, leading to its collapse. The leadership role taken by the United States and its allies in the United Nations–sanctioned Gulf War, under President George H. W. Bush, and later the Yugoslav wars helped to preserve its position as the world's last remaining superpower. The longest economic expansion in modern U.S. history—from March 1991 to March 2001—encompassed the administration of President Bill Clinton.[39] In 1998, Clinton was impeached by the House on charges relating to a civil lawsuit and a sexual scandal, but was acquitted by the Senate and remained in office.
The controversial presidential election of 2000 was resolved by a Supreme Court decision that effectively awarded the presidency to Texas governor George W. Bush, son of George H. W. Bush. On September 11, 2001, terrorists struck the World Trade Center in New York City and The Pentagon near Washington, D.C., killing nearly three thousand people. In the aftermath, President Bush launched the War on Terrorism under a military philosophy stressing preemptive war now known as the Bush Doctrine. In late 2001, U.S. forces led a NATO invasion of Afghanistan, removing the Taliban government and al-Qaeda terrorist training camps. Taliban insurgents continue to fight a guerilla war against the NATO-led force. In 2002, the Bush administration began to press for regime change in Iraq on controversial grounds. Lacking the support of NATO, Bush formed a Coalition of the Willing and the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, removing President Saddam Hussein from power. Although facing both external[40] and internal[41] pressure to withdraw, the United States maintains its military presence in Iraq.
[edit] Government and politics
[edit] Political system
The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation. Its government relies on representative democracy through a congressional system under a set of powers specified by its Constitution, which was a replacement of the original constitution, the Articles of Confederation, which was in effect from 1781-1788. However, it is "not a simple representative democracy, but a constitutional republic in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law."[42] Citizens are usually subject to three levels of government, at federal, state, and local levels, although most areas are subject to multiple local governments, such as county or metropolitan governments in addition to municipal government. Officials at all three levels are either elected by voters in a secret ballot or appointed by other elected officials. Executive and legislative offices are decided by a plurality vote of citizens in their respective districts, with judicial and cabinet-level offices nominated by the Executive branch and approved by the Legislature. In some states, judicial posts are filled by popular election rather than executive appointment.
The federal government comprises three branches, which are designed to check and balance one another's powers:
- Legislative: The Congress, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, which makes federal law, declares war, approves treaties and has powers of impeachment and the purse.
- Executive: The President, who appoints, with Senate approval, the Cabinet and other officers, who administers and enforces federal law, can veto bills, and is Commander in Chief of the military.
- Judiciary: The Supreme Court and lower federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the President with Senate approval, which interpret laws and their validity under the Constitution and can overturn laws they deem unconstitutional.
The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature. The House of Representatives has 435 members, each representing a congressional district for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states according to population every tenth year. Each state is guaranteed at least one representative: seven states have one each; California, the most populous state, has 53. Each state has two senators, elected at large to six-year terms; one third of Senate seats are up for election every second year.
The United States Constitution is the supreme legal document in the American system, and serves as a social contract for the people of the United States, regulating their affairs through government chosen by and populated by the people. All laws and procedures of both state and federal governments are subject to review, and any law ruled by the judicial branch to be in violation of the Constitution is overturned. The Constitution is a living document as it can be amended by a variety of methods, all of which require the approval of an overwhelming majority of the states. The Constitution has been amended 27 times, the last time in 1992.
The Constitution contains a dedication to "preserve liberty" with a "Bill of Rights" and other amendments, which guarantee freedom of speech, religion, and the press; the right to a fair trial; the right to keep and bear arms; universal suffrage; and property rights. However, the extent to which these rights are protected and universal in practice is heavily debated. The Constitution also guarantees to every State "a Republican Form of Government". However, the meaning of that guarantee has been only slightly explicated.[43]
American politics is dominated by the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. Members of these two parties hold the overwhelming majority of elected offices across the country at federal, state, and lower levels. Independent or so-called "third party" candidates tend to do better in lower-level elections, although there are presently some independent members of the Senate. Within American political culture the Republican Party is considered "center-right" or conservative while the Democratic Party is considered "center-left" or liberal. The size of both parties has allowed for considerable divergence of views within both parties.
Since 2001, the President has been George W. Bush, a Republican. Following the 2006 mid-term elections, the Democratic Party holds a majority of seats in both the House and Senate for the first time since 1994, except for a Democratic plurality in the Senate in 2001–02.[44]
[edit] Foreign relations and military
The United States has vast economic, political, and military influence on a global scale, which makes its foreign policy a subject of great interest around the world. Almost all countries have embassies in Washington, D.C., and many host consulates around the country. Likewise, nearly all nations host American diplomatic missions. However, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Bhutan, and Sudan do not have formal diplomatic relations with the United States.[45]
American isolationists have often been at odds with internationalists, as anti-imperialists have been with promoters of Manifest Destiny and American Empire. American imperialism in the Philippines drew sharp rebukes from Mark Twain, philosopher William James, and many others. Later, President Woodrow Wilson played a key role in creating the League of Nations, but the Senate prohibited American membership in it. Isolationism became a thing of the past when the United States took a lead role in founding the United Nations, becoming a permanent member of the Security Council and host to the United Nations headquarters. The United States enjoys a special relationship with Britain and strong ties with Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Israel, and fellow NATO members. It also works closely with its neighbors through the Organization of American States and free trade agreements such as the trilateral North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. In 2005, the United States spent $27.3 billion on official development assistance, the most in the world; however, as a share of gross national income (GNI), the U.S. contribution of 0.22 percent ranked twentieth of twenty-two donor states. On the other hand, nongovernmental sources such as private foundations, corporations, and educational and religious institutions donated $95.5 billion. The total of $122.8 billion is again the most in the world and seventh in terms of GNI percentage.[46]
The president holds the title of commander-in-chief of the nation's armed forces and appoints its leaders, the secretary of defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The United States Department of Defense administers the armed forces, including the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps, and the Air Force. The Coast Guard falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime and the Department of the Navy in times of war. In 2005, the military had 1.38 million personnel on active duty,[47] along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and the National Guard for a total of 2.3 million troops. The Department of Defense also employs approximately 700,000 civilians, disregarding contractors. Military service is voluntary, though conscription may occur in wartime through the Selective Service System. The rapid deployment of American forces is facilitated by the Air Force's large fleet of transportation aircraft and aerial refueling tankers, the Navy's fleet of eleven active aircraft carriers, and Marine Expeditionary Units at sea in the Navy's Atlantic and Pacific fleets. Outside of the American homeland, the U.S. military is deployed to 770 bases and facilities, on every continent except Antarctica.[48] Due to the extent of its global military presence, scholars describe the United States as maintaining an "empire of bases."[49]
U.S. military spending in 2006, over $528 billion, was 46 percent of the entire military spending in the world and greater than the next fourteen largest national military expenditures combined. (In purchasing power parity terms, it was larger than the next six such expenditures combined.) The per capita spending of $1,756 was approximately ten times the world average.[50] At 4.06 percent of GDP, U.S. military spending ranked 27th out of 172 nations.[51] The official Department of Defense budget in 2006, $419.3 billion, was a 5 percent increase over 2005.[52] The estimated total cost to the United States of the war in Iraq through 2016 is $2.267 trillion.[53] As of October 23, 2007, the United States had suffered 3,834 military fatalities during the war and over 28,100 wounded.[54]
[edit] Economy
| Economy of the United States | |
|---|---|
| Median Income[55][56] | |
| Median income | $32,611 for individuals $46,326 for households |
| Income distribution[57][58] | |
| Top 20% | $52,500 for individuals $91,705 for households |
| Bottom 20% | $12,500 for individuals $20,000 for households |
| National economic indicators | |
| Unemployment | 4.5%[59] |
| GDP growth | 3.4% |
| CPI inflation | 2.5%[60] |
| Gini index | 46.9% |
| SOURCE: US Department of Commerce | |
The economic system of the United States can be described as a capitalist mixed economy. While private organization constitute the bulk of the economy, government activity accounts for 36% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Most businesses in the U.S. are not incorporated and do not have a payroll but are simple sole proprietorships.[61] The U.S. has a smaller social safety net than other developed countries, and regulation of businesses is slightly less than the average of developed countries.[62]
The economy is fueled by an abundance in natural resources, well-developed infrastructure, and productivity. Americans tend to work considerably more hours annually, take less vacation and produce more per hour than workers in most other developed nations,[63][64] increasing productiveness and GDP.[5] The vast majority, 79%, of Americans are employed in the service sector.[65] While income levels in the US are high, income is distributed less equally than in similar developed nations such as Austria or Sweden.[66] The United States is the second largest exporter and largest importer of goods, with Canada, China, Mexico, Japan, and Germany as its top five trading partners.[67]
[edit] Income
According to the US Census Bureau, median household incomes ranged from $33,000 in West Virginia to $57,000 in New Hampshire,[68] with an overall national median of $46,000.[69] These income levels are similar to those found in other post-industrial nations such as Switzerland ($54,000),[70] the United Kingdom ($39,000)[71] and New Zealand ($40,000).[72] As 42% of US households had two or more income earners, there is a discrepancy between personal and household income. The median income for an individual age 25 or older in the labor force with earnings was $32,000 in 2005.[73]
[edit] Socio-economic class
While the social class structure of the United States remains a vaguely defined concept, sociologists point to social class as the perhaps most important societal variable.[6] Social classes are groups consisting of those who share similar positions within the economy.[74] Occupation, educational attainment and income are used as the main indicators of socio-economic status.[6] Sociologist Dennis Gilbert of Cornell University has proposed a system, adapted by other sociologists,[7] with six social classes. He identified an upper (capitalist) class consisting of the wealthy and powerful, an upper middle class consisting of highly educated professionals, a middle class consisting of semi-professionals and craftsmen, a working class consisting of clerical and blue-collar workers, and two lower classes. At the bottom he identified a class of the working poor and an underclass. The former consists of service and low-rung blue collar workers and the latter of those who do not participate in the labor force.[7][75]
Social mobility is another issue of debate, especially when attempting to conduct international comparisons. While some analysts have found the US to have a relatively low social mobility compared to Western Europe and Canada,[76][77][78] others point out that bottom quintile households are more likely to rise to the top fifth than to remain near the bottom.[79] Former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan has suggested that the growing income inequality and low class mobility of the U.S. economy may eventually threaten social stability in the future.[80] The locally funded education system, is stipulated to provide lower quality education to those in poor jurisdication than to those in more affluent jurisdictions.[81][82]
[edit] Science and technology
The United States has been a leader in scientific research and technological innovation since the late nineteenth century, attracting immigrants such as Albert Einstein. The bulk of research and development funding, 64 percent, comes from the private sector.[83] The United States leads the world in scientific research papers and impact factor.[84] In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first patent for the telephone. The laboratory of Thomas Edison developed the phonograph, the first long-lasting light bulb, and the first viable movie camera. In the early twentieth century, the automobile companies of Ransom Olds and Henry Ford pioneered assembly line manufacturing. The Wright brothers, in 1903, made what is recognized as the "first sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flight."[85] During World War II, the United States developed nuclear weapons, ushering in the atomic age. The space race produced rapid advances in rocketry, material science, computers, and many other areas. The United States largely developed the Arpanet and its successor, the Internet. Americans enjoy high levels of access to technological consumer goods.[86] Almost half of U.S. households have broadband Internet service.[87] The country is the primary developer and grower of genetically modified food; more than half of the world's land planted with biotech crops is in the United States.[88]
[edit] Transportation
The United States has a variety of freeway and highway systems, multiple large international airports as well as an extensive freight rail network. The automobile industry developed early and more rapidly in the United States. As the largest developed nation, the US is home to more roadways than any other country in the world.[89] While mass transit systems are commonplace in some large cities, these systems tend to be less extensive than in other developed nations.[90]
Air travel is the preferred mode of transport for long distances. In terms of passengers, seventeen of the world's thirty busiest airports in 2004 were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Hartsfield – Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL). In terms of cargo, in the same year, twelve of the world's thirty busiest airports were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Memphis International Airport. The airline industry is privately owned, however most airports are government owned.
Several major seaports are in the United States, on the east, west and gulf coasts.[91] The interior of the U.S. also has major shipping channels, via the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Mississippi River. The first water link between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic, the Erie Canal, allowed the rapid expansion of agriculture and industry in the Midwest and made New York City the economic center of the country.