Odds and Ends Unit 8

President Barack Obama 2009-Present #44

Background Democrat from Illinois Won the 2008 Presidential election First African American to be elected (Civil Rights) Re-elected in 2012

Actions American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 The Act included: direct spending on infrastructure, education, health, and energy federal tax incentives expansion of unemployment benefits and other social welfare provisions. Affordable Health Care Act “Obamacare” The Act was created to: increase the quality and affordability of health insurance lower the uninsured rate by expanding public and private insurance coverage reduce the costs of healthcare for individuals and the government

Actions Ended U.S. military involvement in the Iraq War (2011) Began involvement in Iraq to combat The Islamic State “ISIS or ISIL (2014) Normalized relations with Cuba “Cuban Thaw” U.S. travel restrictions lifted Fewer restrictions on remittances (transfer of money) U.S. banks access to the Cuban financial system Establishment of a U.S. embassy in Havana

Influential Persons

Sam Walton Global Economic Interdependence Built a chain of retail stores that sold goods at lower prices than competitors

Estee Lauder Developed new ways to market her own line of American cosmetics. Sold in dept. stores & applied make-up to customers to show effectiveness

Lionel Sosa Started an advertising agency specializing in the Hispanic market

Bill Gates The largest philanthropist in America today. Developed software programs that made it possible to operate personal computers

Oprah Winfrey Producer of her own talk show, magazine, book, and cable network The richest female in America for a decade and one of the top 10 wealthiest in the Nation.

Michael Dell Assembles and sells PCs at lower prices than competitors. 41 st richest person in the World in 2012

Rise of Conservatism Era of policies favoring big business and the rich. The rise was also seen with support coming from groups like the NRA (National Rifle Association, Moral Majority and others.

Globalization The internet played the largest part of American Globalization. Results of Globalization are things like: lower tariffs (thanks to NAFTA for example), heaper travel prices, new methods of shipping goods for large companies, etc. We also see a rise in the numbers of those with American Asian & Hispanic heritage. American culture (such as rap music, Levi jeans, fast food) can be seen in other countries around the world.

Iran-Contra Affair A deal in which the US government sold weapons to Iran in exchange for release of US hostages in Lebanon. Profits from the sale of these weapons went to Nicaragua to support the Contra Guerillas who were trying to overthrow the Sandinista government there. This went against US Policy and was considered illegal. Iran chose to kidnap more hostages hoping to gain more weapons. This did not happen but the illegal activity was exposed.