United States of America
Population: 307 465 000
Concerns
Health Care
Unlike in all other developed countries, health care
coverage in the United States is not universal. In 2004,
private insurance paid for 36% of personal health
expenditures, private out-of-pocket payments covered
15%, and federal, state, and local governments paid for
44%. In 2005, 15.9% of the population were uninsured.
The subject of uninsured and underinsured Americans—
estimates of which vary widely—is a major political
issue.
War on terror
After the September 11 attacks on the WTC, the US
started what we often refer to as a “war on terror.” Both
the term and the policies it denotes have been a source of
ongoing controversy, as critics argue it has been used to
justify unilateral preemptive war, human rights abuses
and other violations of international law. The US
government has a difficult task in balancing the threat of
terrorism with the controversy of military operations in
foreign countries.
Energy
The US is the world’s larges energy consumer. The
country depends on importing large amounts of oil,
some of which comes from controversial sources such as
Saudi Arabia. The economy is strongly dependent on the
oil price. There are also big environmental issues, as the
most important sources of the energy are the fossil fuels:
Oil, coal and gas.
Suggested prayer topics
• Pray for all those who can’t afford health
care, and for those who now face the
prohibitive challenges of illness without
insurance.
• Pray that the political leaders can find a good
solution to the health care challenges in the
US.
• Pray for all those who make difficult
decisions in respect to the war on terror,
including the soldiers, the officers and the
political leaders
• Pray for the challenges in respect to energy.
• Pray for the environment and pollution
challenges
• Pray for the political leaders of the United
States, that they may reign wisely for the
benefit of their country and for the world
• Pray for the advancement of justice and
selfless love and in the United States
Life expectancy: 78.1 years
Fertility rate: 2.05 children/woman
School life expectancy: 16 years
Religion: Protestant Christian (51,3%), Roman Catholic Christian
(23.9%), Non-religious (16.1%), Mormon (1.7%), Jewish (1.7%),
Other (5.3%)
The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union left
the United States as the sole superpower in the world. The country
accounts for approximately 50% of global military spending and is a
leading economic, political and cultural force. Decisions made in
America echoes across the world.
The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on
September 11, 2001 will continue to impact America – its identity as a
land of “freedom,” its understanding of different faiths and its
involvement in global politics.
The two most traumatic experiences in the nation's history were the
Civil War (1861-65), in which a northern Union of states defeated a
secessionist Confederacy of 11 southern slave states, and the Great
Depression of the 1930s, an economic downturn during which about a
quarter of the labor force lost its jobs.
Head of Government:
President Barack Obama
Obama is a graduate of Columbia
University and Harvard Law
School, where he was the president
of the Harvard Law Review. He
was a community organizer in
Chicago before earning his law
degree. He worked as a civil rights
attorney in Chicago and taught
constitutional law at the University
of Chicago Law School from 1992
to 2004.
The National Journal ranked him
as the "most liberal" senator based
on an assessment of selected votes during 2007; in 2005 he was ranked
sixteenth most liberal, and in 2006 he was ranked tenth.
Throughout his general election campaign, Obama emphasized the
issues of rapidly ending the Iraq War, increasing energy independence
and providing universal health care. During both the primary process
and the general election, Obama's campaign set numerous fundraising
records, particularly in the quantity of small donations. On June 19,
2008, Obama became the first major-party presidential candidate to
turn down public financing in the general election since the system
was created in 1976.