The geography of US jobs

One of my colleagues at school sent me this link at the weekend which displays a fascinating graphic of job creation and loss in the USA over the last few years.  It gives the lie to the idea that there is such a thing as a national economy, even if there is a national picture.

It also serves to explain why despite a recent upsurge in gdp, many Americans are unhappy about the state of the economy—jobs are the pain that communities feel and make sense of.  Though a note of caution here since it only gives data to July 2009.

The link is here. 

Whither support for war on terror?

There’s a fine piece of writing by Tim Garton Ash in Thursday’s Guardian on how the war on the faltering economy has put thoughts about the so called war on terror to the back of many peoples’ minds.

“The first thing I see every time I come to New York is something that is not there. That soaring absence of the twin towers on the skyline of Manhattan remains this city’s most haunting presence. A landmark of air. But the shadow cast by the absent twin towers is no longer the defining feature of world politics in the way that the shadow cast by the Berlin Wall was for nearly 30 years. Most people don’t any more feel that we live in a “war on terror” in the way that we did feel that we lived in a cold war. Not across the world. Not in America. Not even in New York.”

Book for the beach

I picked up a copy of Justin Webb’s “Have a Nice Day” at the weekend, which lays out a forceful and intense case for what can be considered positives about the modern USA.

Change to come in America?

I have come across a useful page on the BBC containing a series of short videos on the challenges facing Obama as President. 

Race for the White House: changing electoral landscape

I have written an article for first past the post on the factors which may determine the outcome of the presidential election, and it should be out shortly.  Meanwhile I would draw your attention to details of an article which popped up in my email inbox this morning from the New York Times.  It covers news that the economy has had a huge impact on the contest.  It starts:

“The turmoil on Wall Street and the weakening economy are changing the contours of the presidential campaign map, giving new force to Senator Barack Obama’s ambitious strategy to make incursions into Republican territory, while leading Senator John McCain to scale back his efforts to capture Democratic states.”

The article also contains some great links to multimedia maps: a useful teaching resource if you are covering voting behaviour.

Read the rest here

Tweedledum or Tweedledumber

Already a clear favourite has emerged for my Friday Focus US Politics lesson.  Andrew Sullivan is amongst my favourite commentators and he is on scintillating form in this week’s Sunday Times

It’s the economy (again), stupid

Sixteen years after Bill Clinton’s chief election strategist, James Carville (nicknamed the ‘Ragin Cajun’), coined the phrase that defined the 1992 election, the 2008 contest promises to be dominated by debate about which candidate can most positively impact on voters’ pockets