Global Positioning System

Examples of Global Positioning System in the following topics:

• The Defense Buildup and the "Evil Empire"

  • While Ronald Reagan worked to restrict the influence of the federal government in people’s lives, he simultaneously pursued interventionist policies abroad as part of a global Cold War strategy.
  • As a result of the shootdown—the cause of KAL 007's going astray thought to be inadequacies related to its navigational system—Reagan announced on September 16, 1983 that the Global Positioning System would be made available for civilian use, free of charge, to avert similar navigational errors in future.
  • In March of 1983, Reagan introduced the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), a defense project that would use ground- and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles.

• The Internationalization of the United States

  • In the United States, this has had a range of both positive and negative effects.
  • Globalization is seen by these proponents as the beneficial spread of liberty and capitalism.
  • Some critics of globalization argue that it harms the diversity of cultures.
  • Criticism was also directed toward the international currency system, which was blamed for inflationary tendencies as a result of the dominant position of the U.S. dollar.
  • The basic reason for the U.S. investments is no longer only lower production costs, faster economic growth, or higher profits in Europe, but rather the desire to maintain a competitive position based largely on American technological superiority.

• Debates over Globalization

  • Some research indicates positives trends as the world has become more globalized, though it is unclear if these trends are directly linked to globalization.
  • Those opposed to globalization view one or more globalizing processes as detrimental to social well-being on a global or local scale.
  • In general, corporate businesses, particularly in the area of finance, see globalization as a positive force in the world.
  • Many economists cite statistics that seem to support such a positive impact.
  • Anti-globalization, or counter-globalization, consists of a number of criticisms of globalization, but can be generally described as a criticism of the globalization of corporate capitalism.

• The Factory System

  • This invention, along with Eli Whitney's cotton gin, set the stage for the development of interchangeable parts and the assembly line, which would revolutionize manufacturing globally.
  • The American System, or Armory System, emerged in the 1820s and involved semi-skilled labor to produce standardized and identical interchangeable parts that could be assembled with a minimum of time and skill.
  • Interchangeability of parts was achieved by combining a number of innovations developed for textile machinery, including the invention of new machine tools and jigs, for guiding the cutting tool, fixtures for holding the work in the proper position, and blocks and gauges to check the accuracy of the finished parts.
  • The Waltham-Lowell system became a template for manufacturing in the textile industry.
  • Describe two key features of the factory system in early 19th-century America

• The Financial Crisis

  • The 2008 global financial crisis was caused by widespread corporate fraud and risky loans and resulted in foreclosures, bank bailouts, and a global recession.
  • The 2007–2012 global financial crisis, also known as the 2008 financial crisis, is considered by many economists to be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
  • This system, sometimes referred to as the securitization food chain, greatly swelled the housing loan market, especially the market for subprime mortgages, because these loans carried higher interest rates.
  • The financial crisis was triggered by a complex interplay of valuation and liquidity problems in the United States banking system in 2008.
  • Many posit that the actions of the Federal Reserve, Congress, and the president prevented the complete disintegration of the nation’s financial sector and warded off a scenario like that of the Great Depression.

• The Progressive Stake in the War

  • At the outset of World War I, Europe was ruled by a long standing system of power brokering called the Concert of Europe, in which the most powerful nations ruled by a small number of empires and monarchs guided the fate of the continent through a shifting system of alliances and treaties, some of which remained secret until they were needed.
  • Antiwar activists warned of New York bankers, profiteering munition makers, and industrialists searching for global markets to control through American involvement in the war.
  • Yet Progressives eventually came to believe that, in contrast to the great powers of the Concert of Europe, America possessed a superior moral position as the only great nation devoted to the principles of freedom, democracy and self-determination, and that those ideals could be achieved in a just war.
  • These programs often operated through the public school system, which expanded dramatically.
  • The speech was the only explicit statement of aims by any of the nations involved in World War I and led to Wilson receiving the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to create a peaceful global community.

• The League of Nations

  • President Woodrow Wilson, who first unveiled the idea in his famed speech to Congress on January 18, 1918 outlining the Fourteen Points, his blueprint for global postwar peace and diplomacy.
  • By the time the fighting ended in November 1918, World War I had leveled a profound blow, affecting the social, political, and economic systems of Europe and its colonies and inflicting psychological and physical damage.
  • The aftermath of World War I left many issues to be settled, including the exact position of national boundaries and which country particular regions would join.
  • Senate after the election of 1918, but its members were divided into multiple positions on the Treaty of Versailles and, subsequently, the League of Nations.
  • The United States was the only major power to emerge from World War I in a position of relative economic strength, with all other participants in debt, putting America in the best position to intervene in international disagreements with potential for war.

• The Environment

  • The Bush administration was often criticized for discounting the human influence on global warming and refusing to sign the Kyoto Protocol.
  • He would later reverse his position on that specific campaign pledge in March of 2001 in a letter to Nebraska senator Chuck Hagel, stating that carbon dioxide was not considered a pollutant under the Clean Air Act, and that restricting carbon dioxide emissions would lead to higher energy prices.
  • Cooney is now known to have edited government climate reports in order to minimize the findings of scientific sources tying greenhouse gas emissions to global warming.
  • Input from the business lobby group Global Climate Coalition was also a factor.
  • Throughout his presidency, President Bush consistently noted global warming as a serious problem but asserted there is a "debate over whether it's manmade or naturally caused."

• Automobiles, Airplanes, Mass Production, and Assembly-Line Progress

  • This was largely due to the adoption by industry of the technique of mass production, the system under which identical products were churned out quickly and inexpensively using assembly lines.
  • The widespread adoption of heavier-than-air, powered aircrafts had become practical for reconnaissance, artillery spotting and even attacks against ground positions during World War I.
  • The global attention garnered by the achievement of 25-year-old "Lucky Lindy" spawned advances that led to commercial aviation in the next decade.
  • Using the manufacturing assembly line system, in which individual parts or sets of pieces are added to a product at stations on a conveyor belt or other moveable line, entrepreneurs such as automobile tycoon Henry Ford were able to greatly increase productivity.
  • Telephone lines were strung across the continent, and indoor plumbing and modern sewer systems were installed for the first time in many regions.

• The Eisenhower Administration

  • As president, Dwight Eisenhower (1953-61) presided over eight years of relative peace and moderate economic growth at home while his foreign policy initiatives, including U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, shaped the global order for decades to come.
  • The presidency of General Dwight David Eisenhower, from 1953 to 1961, was a Republican interlude during the Fifth Party System, following 20 years of Democratic control of the White House.
  • His main legacy is the Interstate Highway System.
  • Despite its undemocratic nature, Spain's strategic position in light of the Cold War and Anti-Communist position led Eisenhower to build a trade and military alliance with the Spanish through the Pact of Madrid, ultimately bringing an end to Spain's isolation after World War II, and bringing about the Spanish Miracle.
  • His major project was building the Interstate Highway System using federal gasoline taxes.