A crisis year for U.S.
Politics, crime, weather became more extreme
WASHINGTON – The United States went through its normal pattern of reeling from one crisis to another as it stumbled through 2012, a year highlighted by mass shootings, extreme-weather events, a battle between the rich and everybody else and round after round of bare-knuckle politics bought and paid for by record amounts of corporate greenbacks.
CRIME
Thousands of people streamed into Newtown, Conn., from all over the United States after Adam Lanza, 20, shot dead 20 first-graders and seven adults. They brought teddy bears and flowers. They prayed and expressed sorrow and sympathy. In the end, however, they turned the massacre into a sort of selfabsorbed “happening.”
Gun-loving America produced 16 mass shootings in 2012, according to The Nation. They resulted in the murders of 89 people and the wounding of 111. Six of the shooters committed suicide. Motivation for these shootings included mental illness, domestic disputes, loss of job and racism.
The Connecticut killings sparked yet another debate over weak gun laws. U.S. President Barack Obama, who rarely mentioned gun control during his election campaign, promised fast action and to use “all of the powers of his office” to ban the sale of military-style rifles and magazines. He tasked U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden with coming up with a plan that can be brought to Congress in January.
United States shooting homicides in 2010: 8,707; Canadian: 170.
ENV I RONMENT
In 2013, the U.S. is due to publish its National Climate Assessment Report. Leaks about the report show that it says temperatures are increasing at an accelerating rate causing more forest fires, intensive storms such as tornadoes and hurricanes, insect infestations that are killing tens of thousands of trees, droughts and species reductions.
Drought and flooding are becoming chronic problems. The National Climatic Data Center stated that in November, 45 per cent of the United States suffered “severe to extreme drought,” an increase of eight per cent over October.
Americans are beginning to fear that mega-storms such as superstorm Sandy, which hit New York and New Jersey on Oct. 30, are a sign of things to come. Nancy Grimm, a senior scientist working on the upcoming report, said this month that “U.S. ecosystems are undergoing massive change due to climate change.”
ECONOMY
Four years after the economic collapse of 2008, the U.S. economy grew at 2.7 per cent in the third quarter, buoyed primarily by deficit spending by the federal government. The U.S. debt grew to $16.4 trillion, up almost $1.2 trillion.
This sparked a battle between Republicans and Democrats over spending cuts to avoid the socalled fiscal cliff that would trigger large tax hikes for all taxpayers, $500 billion in budget cuts and, experts predict, another recession.
Expect 2013 to be just as contentious. The federal debt is expected to reach Congress’s selfimposed debt ceiling in January and the Republicans are threatening a default to extract major cuts to social programs, which Obama so far has refused.
POLITICS
A record total of more than $5 billion was spent on national elections, fuelling a ferocious battle essentially over the growing gap between the rich and everybody else.
Massive corporate donations flowed to the Republicans. Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney was videotaped at a Los Angeles fundraiser writing off 47 per cent of the country as layabouts and parasites. He lost.
Politically, the fight over the fiscal cliff is critical for Obama. If he compromises too much, he is in danger of losing the confidence of his supporters. If he does not stand firm, he could be a spent political force in Congress before his second term even begins.