2000-present Notes based on Kennedy’s American Pageant, Maier’s Inventing America, and other sources

2000 Election  D: Al Gore (VP, former senator and rep.)/Joe Lieberman (CT senator)  calls for modest tax cut to middle, lower classes; use remainder of surplus to reduce nat’l debt, fund Social Security, expand Medicare  R: George W. Bush (TX gov.)/Dick Cheney (Sec. of Def. under George H.W. Bush, etc)  massive tax cuts as response to budget surpluses  school vouchers  “faith-based” institutions to serve poor  privatize Social Security  no nation-building  Green Party: Ralph Nader

2000 Election  Electoral vote extremely close; comes down to Florida  FL vote so close, state law required recount  2nd tally: Bush victorious by narrow margin  Dems: demand hand recounts in some counties w/ confusing ballots and faulty voting machines  GOP: go to court to stop counting  FL Supreme Court ordered hand recount of 60,000 ballots machines failed to read

2000 Election  Bush campaign appeals to US Supreme Court: Bush v. Gore (2000)  5 more conservative justices rule in favor of Bush campaign  final margin of victory in FL: 537 votes out of 6 million cast  Meanwhile, 97,488 Floridians voted for Nader  final popular vote in US:  Bush: 50,456,002  Gore: 50,999,897

2000 electoral map, by state

2000 electoral map, by county Source:

A final Herb Block cartoon for you:

GWB policies Pulled funding for internat’l health programs that funded abortions Funded faith-based social welfare programs Limited gov’t-sponsored research on embryonic stem cells Challenged scientific findings on groundwater contamination and global warming – Pulled out of Kyoto protocol (limiting greenhouse emissions) Energy policy: – Advocated opening ANWR – VP Cheney created bill mainly w/ input of energy companies; created loophole exempting oil and gas companies from key environmental regulations Surpluses of 1990s become deficits b/c of $1.3 trillion tax cut (Kennedy 1000)

GWB policies 2002: No Child Left Behind: mandates testing and “sanctions against schools that failed to meet federal performance standards” 2003: prescription drug benefit for seniors Calls for banning gay marriage (Kennedy 1008) Source:

Terrorist attacks, September 11, 2001 Al Qaeda terrorists attack US: – 2 hijacked planes flown into World Trade Center – 1 hijacked plane flown into Pentagon – 1 hijacked plane forced to crash by passengers, in PA Rationales: – Resentment re: US’s economic embargo on Iraq US’s military presence in Middle East US’s support for Israel US’s economic, military, cultural power (Kennedy 1003)

George W. Bush, 9/14/2001 “Just three days removed from these events, Americans do not yet have the distance of history. But our responsibility to history is already clear: to answer these attacks and rid the world of evil. War has been waged against us by stealth and deceit and murder. This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger. The conflict was begun on the timing and terms of others. It will end in a way, and at an hour, of our choosing.” –President Bush, Washington, D.C. (The National Cathedral), September 14, 2001 –Source:

September 11: consequences 3000 people die Bush overcomes shadow of disputed election War against Taliban (Islamic fundamentalists who ruled Afghanistan), which was harboring Osama bin Laden PATRIOT Act: allowed “extensive telephone and surveillance” and “detention and deportation of immigrants suspected of terrorism” Creation of Department of Homeland Security Military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba becomes prison for terrorist suspects (Kennedy 1003)

Iraq “regime change”= official US policy toward Iraq since Clinton years (1998) Bush declares Iran, Iraq, North Korea represent “axis of evil” – Iran had supported terrorist operations in Middle East; Iran and N. Korea were pursuing nuclear weapons

Iraq Bush accuses Iraq of – Oppressing its own people – Disrupting weapons inspectors – Developing nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons of mass destruction (WMD) – Supporting terrorists like Al Qaeda Bush suggests that Iraq can be democratized and serve as model for Middle East democratization (Kennedy 1004) – Note Wilsonian idealism, now called neoconservativism

Iraq Congress authorizes use of force (Oct 2002) UN weapons inspections return, are “harassed and blocked;” no WMD found; inspectors seek more time; UN “declined to authorize the use of force to compel compliance” March 19, 2003: Bush launches military attack on Iraq, which quickly crumbles May 1, 2003: Bush declares “major combat operations in Iraq have ended” (Kennedy 1005) Source:

Iraq Toppling the regime proves easier than establishing peace and security – Insurgency follows, making occupation and reconstruction costly – US’s reputation suffers – WMD never found – Link b/t Iraq and Al Qaeda never substantiated (Kennedy 1006) Source:

2004 Election R: Bush/Cheney – Runs on tax cuts, war on terror, defender of moral values D: John Kerry (MA- Senator)/John Edwards – Liberal – Painted as a flip-flopper (Kennedy 1008) Source: Source: salon.com

Excerpt: George W. Bush’s 2005 Inaugural Address We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world. America's vital interests and our deepest beliefs are now one. From the day of our Founding, we have proclaimed that every man and woman on this earth has rights, and dignity, and matchless value, because they bear the image of the Maker of Heaven and earth. Across the generations we have proclaimed the imperative of self-government, because no one is fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave. Advancing these ideals is the mission that created our Nation. It is the honorable achievement of our fathers. Now it is the urgent requirement of our nation's security, and the calling of our time. So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world. Source:

“Great Recession” Fiscal YearLehigh Valley Food Stamp Recipients Annual Cost ,324$30,950, ,003$39,251, ,556$46,049, ,186$50,853, ,577$57,838, ,301$72,982, ,148$94,887, ,992N/A The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (“food stamps”) is funded by the federal government. Source: The Morning Call, June 12, 2011, who sourced it from PA Dept. of Public Welfare

“Great Recession” Eligibility: – Four-person household: max. monthly income: $2,941 – One-person household: max monthly income: $1,444 Lehigh Valley: – ~20,000 jobs lost in “Great Recession” – May 2011: more than 1 in 10 LV residents on food stamps PA: – 1.8 million people on food stamps; up ~75% from pre-recession levels – Cost in 2010: $2.3 billion – Avg. monthly amount provided in food stamps in PA: $260 Nationally: – Cost in 2010: $68.2 billion – 70 federal programs provide food, housing, medical care and cash to poor; cost: $900 billion annually

Source: “How the Deficit Got This Big,” New York Times, July 23, 2011, day/24sun4.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=how%20the%20 deficit%20got%20so%20big&st=cse Surpluses and Deficits since 2000

Source: “How the Deficit Got This Big,” New York Times, July 23, 2011, day/24sun4.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=how%20the%20 deficit%20got%20so%20big&st=cse Surpluses and Deficits since 2000

These pie charts represent the distribution of wealth in three different places. Each slice of the pie chart represents the proportion of wealth held by one fifth of the population in the country: the yellow slice, by the wealthiest fifth; the blue slice by the next wealthiest, down to the red slice, which represents the poorest fifth, in terms of wealth.  Which pie chart represents which countries? Country A Country BCountry C From experiments conducted by psychologists Dan Ariely of Duke University and Michael I. Norton of the Harvard Business School, based on pie charts representing various levels of wealth distribution. Source: Ariely of Duke University and Michael I. Norton Wealth distribution, 2011

The correct answer was 'Freedonia' (an equality utopia that does not exist), Sweden and the United States. does-the-us-slice-the-pie-continued.html

The economic boom that peaked in 2007 represented the first time that median real (that is, inflation-adjusted) incomes did not recover to their previous peak before declining into the next recession. More ominously, family incomes have yet to recover, even though the recession ended three and a half years ago. That has brought the total decline in real incomes to nearly 9 percent since So where has the economic growth from the recovery gone? Much of it has gone to corporate profits, as companies took advantage of the high unemployment rate and the ability to shift production globally to hold down wages in the United States. Source: Steven Rattner The New York Times December 31, 2012,Steven Rattner America in 2012, as Told in Charts

Source: Steven Rattner The New York Times December 31, 2012,Steven Rattner America in 2012, as Told in Charts The rise in income inequality has exacerbated the decline in median incomes. In 2010, a stunning 93 percent of all income gains went to the top 1 percent of Americans. Also astonishing: just 15,000 households received 37 percent of all of those income gains. In no other period in recent American history have economic gains been concentrated so disproportionately in an elite sliver. (The red bars indicate recessions.)

The explosion of the federal budget deficit since the turn of the century stems from multiple causes, including huge tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 and rapid spending growth in many areas like defense, and later, the stimulus to combat the recession. But no budget- busting factor looms larger than the soaring cost of government-financed health care, particularly Medicare and Medicaid. In addition to driving current and projected deficits, the rise in spending has squeezed the resources available for other domestic programs. Often dismissed as wasteful government spending, these “discretionary” programs include important areas of investment, such as infrastructure, research and development and education. In reducing such investments, we are eating our seed corn. Source: Steven Rattner The New York Times December 31, 2012,Steven Rattner America in 2012, as Told in Charts

2012 median family income, after inflation: $50,054 (source: incomes-dropped-last-year-census-bureau- says.html?_r=0)

Source: John Light/BillMoyers.com, data from “Striking it Richer” by Emmanuel Saez (January 23, 2013)“Striking it Richer” by Emmanuel Saez

View short video on income inequality: inequality-goes-viral/ inequality-goes-viral/