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I didn't have time to gather all the facts so forgive me for being so brief but here it goes:“Within his first week, he signed an Executive Order ordering an audit of government contracts, and combating waste and abuse. http://1.usa.gov/dUvbu5Created the post of Chief Performance Officer, whose job it is to make operations more efficient to save the federal government money. http://n.pr/hcgBn1On his first full day, he froze White House salaries for the duration of the Great Recession.http://on.msnbc.com/ewJUIxHe appointed the first Federal Chief Information Officer to oversee federal IT spending and efficiency. http://www.cio.govHe committed to phasing out unnecessary and outdated weapons systems and signed the Weapons Systems Acquisition Reform Act, in an attempt to limit waste, fraud and abuse in the defense procurement and contracting systems. http://bit.ly/hOw1t1http://bit.ly/fz8GAdHe created the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. http://bit.ly/hwKhKaSigned an Executive Order instructing federal agencies to review all federal regulations and remove any unnecessary and/or burdensome regulations from the books.http://1.usa.gov/Lpo5bdDismantled the Minerals Management Service, thereby cutting ties between energy companies and the government. http://nyti.ms/bw1MLuBanned gifts from lobbyists to anyone in the Executive Branch. http://bit.ly/fsBACNBanned anyone from working in an agency they had lobbied in previous years and placed strict limits on lobbyists’ access to the White House. http://nyti.ms/gOrznVHeld the first-ever first online town hall from the White House, and took questions from the public. http://bit.ly/gVNSgXBecame the first president to stream every White House event, live.http://1.usa.gov/kAgOP5Established a central portal for Americans to find service opportunities.http://www.serve.govRestored the 30-day time frame for former presidents to review records and eliminated the right for the vice president or family members of former presidents to do the reviews, giving the public greater access to historic White House documents, and curtails the use of executive privilege to shield them. http://1.usa.gov/gUetLbImproved the Freedom of Information Act and issued new guidelines to make FOIA more open and transparent when processing FOIA requests. http://1.usa.gov/gjrnp2Streamline the Department of Education’s procurement policies and made them more transparent. http://bit.ly/1r9oQvhProvided the first voluntary disclosure of the White House Visitors Log in history. http://1.usa.gov/hQ7Signed a law to completely reform NSA Data Collection program and keep phone records in the hands of the phone company. http://bit.ly/1dG34vDStaved Off a Bush Depression, Improved the EconomyPushed through and signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, also known as “the stimulus package.” He also launched http://recovery.gov, a website that allows taxpayers to track spending from the Act. http://1.usa.gov/ibiFSshttp://1.usa.gov/e3BJMkBy the end of his first year, the economy created and sustained 2.1 million jobs and stimulated the economy by 3.5%. http://reut.rs/i46CEEHe created the massive TARP financial and banking rescue plan and forced banks and other entities to pay back virtually all of the bailout money.http://1.usa.gov/eA5jVShttp://bit.ly/eCNrD6He created the Making Home Affordable home refinancing plan. http://1.usa.gov/goy6zlIn 2010, more jobs were created than had been created during Bush’s eight years.http://bit.ly/hrrnjYHe pushed through and implemented an auto industry rescue plan that saved as many as 1 million jobs and possibly the entire auto industry.http://bit.ly/ibhpxrhttp://bit.ly/gj7mt5Through his investment in GM, returned to the company to its place as the premiere car company in the world. http://lat.ms/zIJuQxIn February 2016, GM was in such good financial shape, they gave a share of the profit to each worker, with checks up to $11,000. http://detne.ws/1mk7JryDoubled funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, to improve manufacturing efficiency. http://bit.ly/eYD4nfIncreased infrastructure spending after years of neglect. http://bit.ly/f77aOwSigned the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, which helped millions of Americans avoid preventable foreclosures and provided $2.2 billion to combat homelessness and stabilize the housing market. http://bit.ly/eEpLFnSigned an Executive Order creating jobs immediately by instructing them to reduce the time needed for review and permitting of infrastructure projects. http://1.usa.gov/GHxaYtThrough the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009, he and Congressional Democrats provided tax credits to first-time home buyers, which helped the U.S. housing market recovery. http://bit.ly/dZgXXw http://bit.ly/gORYfLPlayed a lead role in getting the G-20 Summit to commit to a $1.1 trillion deal to combat the global financial crisis. http://nyti.ms/gHlgp5Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, saved at least 300,000 education jobs, such as teachers, principals, librarians, and counselors that would have otherwise been lost. http://1.usa.gov/ez30DWith Congressional Democrats, provided funding to states and the Department of Homeland Security to save thousands of police and firefighter jobs from being cut during the recession. http://bit.ly/g0IKWRChina’s largest manufacturer, Foxconn, is building a large plant in Pennsylvaniahttp://cnnmon.ie/1k7LT4SWorked with Apple Computer to get them to build more product here, and thecompany is building two large plants to manufacture products here; one in Texashttp://zd.net/1nkpt2O and one in Arizona http://bit.ly/1mXY5VgCreated an institute to invest in more manufacturing jobs in the technology fields of the future. http://nyti.ms/1egyXrVOrdered all federal contractors to pay a minimum wage of $10.10 per hour, leading the way to a national increase. http://wapo.st/1iaU5kdOrdered the completion of the International Trade Data System, a digital trade record book, by 2016. This move will streamline and simplify the process through which small- and medium-sized businesses set up the export of US goods. http://bit.ly/1nwSRF4Specific Examples of Economic ImprovementAs of January 2016, a record 64 consecutive months of overall job growth.http://on.msnbc.com/1TKFCPQAs of January 2016, Unemployment drops below 5% for the first time in eight years and without a significant bubble. 4.9% http://on.msnbc.com/1TKFCPQAs of January 2016, there have been 71 consecutive months of private sector job growth. http://on.msnbc.com/1TKFCPQSince February 2010, when job numbers hit their lowest point, 13.7 non-farm jobs have been created. http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/C... (Republican budget cuts reduced public employment by about 700,000)Oversaw a reduction in the federal budget deficit by two-thirds since taking office.http://bit.ly/1xKMmjYReduced the federal budget deficit from 9.8% of GDP in Fiscal Year 2009 under Bush, to 2.9% of GDP in FY 2014. http://www.cbo.gov/publication/4...Scolds Congress and gets passed a $305 billion highways bill, which will have the added benefit of created hundreds of thousands of new jobs and creating incentives for green cars. http://bit.ly/1NsL2ZqAddressed Wrongdoing in the Financial SectorSigned the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act giving the federal government more tools to investigate and prosecute fraud in every corner of the financial system, and create a bipartisan Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission to investigate the financial fraud that led to the economic meltdown. http://abcn.ws/g18Fe7Ordered 65 executives who took bailout money to cut their own pay until they paid back all bailout money. http://huff.to/eAi9QqAlong with Congressional Democrats, pushed through and got passed Dodd-Frank, one of the largest and most comprehensive Wall Street reforms since the Great Depression.http://bit.ly/hWCPg0http://bit.ly/geHpcDCreated and implemented rules to reduce the influence of speculators in the oil market.http://bit.ly/MDnA1tCreated and implemented rules so banks can no longer use depositors’ money to invest in high-risk financial instruments that work against depositors’ interests. http://bit.ly/fnTayjSupported the concept of allowing stockholders to vote on executive compensation.http://bit.ly/fnTayjEndorsed and supported the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2009 that would close offshore tax avoidance loopholes. http://bit.ly/esOdfB http://bit.ly/eG4DPMNegotiated a deal with Swiss banks permitting the US government to gain access to bank records of criminals and tax evaders. http://bit.ly/htfDgwSigned the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act, closing many of the loopholes that allowed companies to send jobs overseas, and avoid paying US taxes by moving money offshore. http://1.usa.gov/bd1RTqThanks to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, inflation in the healthcare sector dropped to its lowest point in 50 years. http://on.wsj.com/1E6cYjFImproved Conditions for Consumers and Small BusinessesSigned the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act, to protect consumers from unfair and deceptive credit card practices.http://1.usa.gov/gIaNcSGuided the housing market all the way back from total collapse, which led to a rally for housing starts. http://reut.rs/1NTAOVU http://reut.rs/1NTAOVUBrought airline industry back to their highest profitability since before the recession. http://lat.ms/1O8H1iEBlocked a monopolistic merger of Staples and Office Depot, to preserve at least some competition. http://bit.ly/1kcY2KvStock market has reached record highs, restoring most of the economic losses felt during the Bush Recession. http://bit.ly/1z4FAtLCreated and Implemented the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau http://1.usa.gov/j5onG http://bit.ly/fnTayjConsumer confidence continues to inch up to its highest level more than a decade.http://bit.ly/1PZLRcKInitiated a $15 billion plan designed to encourage increased lending to small businesses. http://1.usa.gov/eu0u0bCreated BusinessUSA, to allow online collaboration between small businesses and experts re managing a business. (The program has since merged with U.S. Small Business Administration.) http://www.business.govTook steps to improve minority access to capital. http://bit.ly/f9xVE7Used recovered TARP money to fund programs at local housing finance agencies in California, Florida, Nevada, Arizona and Michigan. http://on.msnbc.com/i1i8eVCrafted and signed an executive order establishing the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability to assist in financial education for all Americans. http://bit.ly/eyqsNEOversaw the most sweeping food safety legislation since the Great Depression.http://thedc.com/gxkCtPThrough the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act, extended the False Claims Act to combat fraud by companies and individuals using money from TARP and Stimulus programs. http://bit.ly/SLTcSaSet up rules for banks in handling legal marijuana money. http://nyti.ms/1b80o2KAdded greater protections to consumer financial transactions to reduce identity theft.http://1.usa.gov/1pjfUFqTook steps to prevent pirate fishing and protect fish populations, and ordered stricter labeling requirements on labeling of seafood products in stores. http://1.usa.gov/1BYhTUnSigned the RAISE Act, which should encourage more people to open small businesses and help improve the economy. http://bit.ly/1QhTqkFSigned a bill that allows low-volume vehicle manufacturers that will increase entrepreneurship among small car manufacturers, who often build replicas of classics but who often build green vehicles. http://bit.ly/1QhTqkFStrengthened the Middle Class and Fought PovertyWorked to provide affordable, high-quality child care to working families.http://bit.ly/fNfidSThrough the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, cut taxes for 95% of America’s working families. http://bit.ly/eSEI4FTax rates for average working families are the lowest since 1950. http://bit.ly/f74pD8Extended and fully funded the patch for the Alternative Minimum Tax for 10 years.http://bit.ly/eFeSdPExtended discounted health coverage under the COBRA health insurance law for the unemployed from 9 months to 15 months, and he’s also extended unemployment benefits more than a few times. http://aol.it/evtVxDhttp://nyti.ms/emrqKJhttp://bit.ly/hOtIpg http://bit.ly/fTT7kzProvided a $20 billion increase for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Food Stamps). http://nyti.ms/gfLqyMSigned an Executive Order that established the White House Office of Urban Affairs.http://wapo.st/eWECA8Included the Buffet Rule in his 2014 budget proposal, in order to fulfill a campaign promise to make sure tax rates are fair between the rich and the middle class. http://1.usa.gov/19PkdQoUsed the fiscal cliff negotiations to extend for five additional years the American Opportunity Tax Credit, which provides tax credits to families for college-related expenses, thus saving those families up to $10,000. http://onforb.es/17zYg3uIncreased protections for the unemployed who are seeking a government job.http://1.usa.gov/1jgXATuUpdated and modernized overtime regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) http://1.usa.gov/1iGDO8eSigned and implemented the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, to improve nutrition in schools and make children healthier. http://1.usa.gov/GAXkSkTo make college more affordable and accountable, will begin rating colleges with regard to affordability and value. http://bit.ly/14Dn7ULInitiated a reform of federal job training programs, to make them more relevant to the current economy and the job market. http://1.usa.gov/1kZLQHGUnder Obama, the bottom 95% of taxpayers pay lower federal income taxes than at any time in the last 50 years, including under Reagan, or either Bush. http://bit.ly/1w1W8NsSigned a presidential memorandum authorizing six weeks paid leave for all federal employees with a new baby and encouraged Congress to do the same for all workers. http://bit.ly/18613XA2014 marked the first time since 1984 that unemployment dropped in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. 1.usa.gov/1E25u0CTook steps to improve workplace safety by creating an Advisory Board to study workers’ exposure to toxic substances. http://1.usa.gov/1M4s8IGChanged overtime rules to make it far more difficult for employers to avoid paying overtime to workers. http://politi.co/1KHfiBeChanged rules for federal contractors, guaranteeing that all workers earn paid leave; this should affect about 300,000 workers. http://1.usa.gov/1LcHZWlNegotiated a law to finally replace “No Child Left Behind” and remove much of the onerous government “oversight” that caused children to stagnate, not improve, academically. http://bit.ly/1Up9pMlAddressed Civil Rights and EqualityFormed a commission to examine and make recommendations for fixing the broken voting system. http://wapo.st/16K0DAt a press conference August 9, 2013, gave up a small measure of executive power, promising to create adversarial process in FISA regarding NSA surveillance.http://1.usa.gov/1dQmnyQProposed rules to enhance Fair Housing Laws, to give HUD and other enforcement agencies more enforcement power. http://bit.ly/1qkz4uQOrdered a review of capital punishment policies after several botched executions.http://nyti.ms/RDJp58Appointed Kareem Dale as the first ever Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy. http://1.usa.gov/fi5IY0Concentrated immigration enforcement on those who commit crimes, and vowed to stop breaking up families. http://1.usa.gov/1uTZ8gVStreamlined the visa process, to make it more responsive and humane for those who want to be here legally. http://1.usa.gov/1tgDRtiTook steps to tighten the reins when it comes to providing local law enforcement agencies with military-style equipment and exercising more control over the equipment they receive. http://1.usa.gov/1ATWV3KChanged fair housing rules to make more affordable housing available to more people. http://cnn.it/1JcR3qBHelped Democrats in Congress pass and signed the Civil Rights History Act.http://bit.ly/th0JC8Established the White House Council of Native American Affairs, to improve government-to-government relations with Native American nations. http://1.usa.gov/1cIEeEvLimited local police acquisitions of military-style equipment, to reduce the likelihood of overkill. http://n.pr/1NGkBjTSigned Blue Alert Law, which provides police officers with more information when they are threatened. http://bit.ly/1NGksgaImproved Workers’ RightsHe issued final rules that require all employers to prominently post employees’ rights where all employees or prospective employees can see it, including all websites and intranets.http://1.usa.gov/qu2EhQObama’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission clarified and strengthened rules prohibiting discrimination against pregnant workers. http://alj.am/1mo0kjVRequired companies who bid on federal contracts larger than $500,000 to publicly disclose all previous violations of labor law, including unpaid claims for back wages. http://1.usa.gov/V54qY3Made it illegal for federal contractors with more than $1 million in contracts to force employees into arbitration in workplace discrimination accusations. http://1.usa.gov/V54qY3Vetoed Republican bill that would have blocked new NLRB rules that were designed to speed up the time it takes workers to unionize. http://reut.rs/1agujMO He also added a Memorandum of Disagreement to make his reasons for the veto clear and made a major statement in support of unions. http://1.usa.gov/1NG7RuACracked down on companies that were previously denying sick pay, vacation and health insurance, and Social Security and Medicare tax payments through abuse of the employee classification of independent contractor. http://nyti.ms/fOGLcjProtected the Rights of Gay PeopleSigned and implemented the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which made it a federal crime to assault anyone based on his or her sexual orientation or gender identity. http://bit.ly/gsMSJ7Oversaw and implemented the repeal of the reprehensible “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy.http://bit.ly/fdahuHhttp://bit.ly/mZV4PzExtended benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. http://1.usa.gov/g2RLCjAppointed more openly gay officials than anyone in history. http://bit.ly/g1lA7DAppointed first openly transgender Cabinet Official in History. http://bit.ly/58zUp7Advocated that United Nations adopt a policy supporting gay rights worldwide.http://lat.ms/pQe1RSAs soon as the Supreme Court invalidated the Defense of Marriage Act, he moved to extend federal benefits to same-sex couples. http://wapo.st/1avDjueIssued an order requiring hospitals to allow visitation by same-sex couples.http://reut.rs/llNJekChanged HUD rules to prohibit gender and sexual orientation-based discrimination in housing bit.ly/9RxEnPChanged his mind and publicly expressed support for same-sex marriage.http://bit.ly/JsiFKpIssued a Presidential Memorandum reaffirming the rights of gay couples to make medical decisions for each other. http://1.usa.gov/aUueGTAppointed several prominent gay athletes and others, and plans to show US government’s commitment to gay rights to anti-gay Russia. http://on.cpsj.com/1fckN9hDepartment of Agriculture propagated new rules to better enforce non-discrimination when it comes to USDA investigations and to extend non-discrimination to gender identity. http://bit.ly/1yChJhiBanned all federal contractors from discriminating against gay workers. http://1.usa.gov/1ok1gfHPersevered with his campaign to turn “gay marriage” into “marriage” and won in the Supreme Court. http://cbsloc.al/1M4qLKbImproved Conditions for WomenEstablishing the White House Council on Women and Girls to ensure that all Cabinet and Cabinet-level agencies consider the effect of their policies and programs on women and families. http://bit.ly/e1puTk http://1.usa.gov/rFfqMMImplemented the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which restored basic protections against pay discrimination for women and other workers. http://bit.ly/fT3CxgEliminated federal funding for abstinence-only education, and rescinded the global gag rule. http://bit.ly/eCFAI1 http://bit.ly/f92drFImproved the Paycheck Fairness Act, making it possible for employees to talk about their salaries without retaliation, and ordering salary data collection, so as to make it harder for employers to pay women less. http://huff.to/1nwVOWfSigned an Executive Order pledging support for efforts to end the global problem of violence against women and girls. http://1.usa.gov/MHTRVUShattered another glass ceiling by naming Janet Yellen chair of the Federal Reserve beginning Feb. 1, 2014. http://usat.ly/1gqMBfkExpanded funding for the Violence Against Women Act. http://1.usa.gov/dSbI0xOrdered companies with 100 employees or more to disclose pay data based on race and gender, to address the pay gap. http://theatln.tc/1Q04XPLAddressed Criminal Justice Failings and the Gun CultureMade significant reductions in drug sentencing guidelines for current prisoners. http://n.pr/1mWBLkMOversaw the first drop in the federal prison population in 32 years. http://bit.ly/1B5h8rWIncreased his use of clemency to release thousands of non-violent drug offenders from prison. http://nyti.ms/1KE8DJGOrdered a ban on solitary confinement for juvenile offenders in federal prisons.http://bit.ly/20ObRzATook executive action to promote smart gun technology, to make them safer.http://1.usa.gov/1RhK1tUAfter a failure by Congress to act, proposed executive orders to create more background checks and to fully staff the background check system. http://cnn.it/1JXmUg6Relaxed HIPAA rules enough to allow for more information to be available to the background check system. http://on.wsj.com/SX9xaZOrdered the tracing of guns as part of criminal investigations to provide data to researchers. http://on.wsj.com/SX9xaZOrder the Justice Department to look at the categories of mental health problems prohibited from owning guns to make sure people aren’t falling through the cracks, getting guns. http://onforb.es/1nUAGw3Expanded the definitions of gun dealers and expanded the information available and required in background checks for firearm purchases. http://bit.ly/1K5aXeeSet up a task force to figure out what other measures can be taken to limit gun violence in the wake of Congressional inaction. http://1.usa.gov/1QjYMGJImproved Treatment of Soldiers and VeteransProvided active combat troops with better body armor. http://bit.ly/hzSv2hCreated a Joint Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record program for military personnel, in order http://abcn.ws/1ghLrEshttp://abcn.ws/1ghLrEs to improve the quality of their medical care. http://1.usa.gov/f4yaxWPut an end to the Bush-era stop-loss policy that kept soldiers in Iraq/Afghanistan beyond their enlistment date. http://nyti.ms/e2YQ7QSigned and implemented Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act, making more money available to enable better medical care for veterans.http://1.usa.gov/fN4ur1With Congressional Democrats, oversaw largest spending increase in 30 years for Department of Veterans Affairs, for improved medical and extended care facilities for veterans. http://1.usa.gov/gY8O3xImplemented the Green Vet Initiative, which provides special funding to provide veterans with training in green jobs. http://bit.ly/epwUQYInitiated and signed a recruitment and employment plan to get more veterans into government jobs. http://bit.ly/b48coiOversaw a $4.6 billion expansion of the Veterans Administration budget to pay for more mental health professionals. http://bit.ly/gjzTxXSigned the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act, which ensures that spouses of military personnel who are forced to move because their spouse is posted for military duty can avoid state taxes in their temporary residence. http://bit.ly/1Gh0NXOrdered improvements to access to mental health care for veterans, military personnel and their families. http://1.usa.gov/TP7PVZGot Syria to dismantle its chemical weapons without military firing a single shot or dropping a single bomb. http://nyti.ms/1lVEkU7Along with Congressional Democrats, not only reauthorized families of fallen soldiers to be able to visit when the body arrives at Dover AFB, but also provided funding for it. Ended the media blackout on coverage of the return of fallen soldiers. Pentagon Will Help Families Travel to Dover http://bbc.in/gWSSkAFunded Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) with an extra $1.4 billion to improve veterans’ services. http://1.usa.gov/huhqfoSigned into law a bill that provides support, counseling, and breastfeeding supplies to military moms who are covered under TRICARE, the health insurance provided to veterans. http://bit.ly/1yNxL8OSigned into law a bill that makes it easier for military dogs to retire at home with their handlers. http://bit.ly/1J78Y2UImproved America’s Reputation Around the WorldVisited more countries and met with more world leaders than any previous president during his first six months in office. http://bit.ly/hZycdaAs he promised, he gave a speech at a major Islamic forum in Cairo early in his administration. http://nyti.ms/dKvY4gMade a speech at a US mosque to demonstrate his commitment to religious rights and send a message to Muslims around the world. http://cnn.it/1PGU1uIRestored America’s reputation around the world as a global leader.http://bit.ly/h743y7http://bit.ly/ho4TCrRe-established and reinforced our partnership with NATO and other allies on strategic international issues. http://1.usa.gov/e7QuDjClosed a number of secret detention facilities. http://nyti.ms/rpUc9lImproved relations with Middle East countries by appointing special envoys.http://1.usa.gov/tiGAGePushed forward the first realistic Middle East peace strategy in more than a decade, without abandoning the two-state solution. http://wapo.st/1avystePushed for military to emphasize greater development of foreign language skills. http://bit.ly/AxUCLVOffered $400 million to the people living in Gaza, while calling on both Israel and the Palestinians to stop inciting violence. http://bit.ly/9axfWhRefused to give Israel the green light to attack Iran over their possible nuclear program.http://bit.ly/xVmSZKOrdered the closure of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, although blocked by Congress.http://bit.ly/eW6CVFOrdered a review of our detention and interrogation policy and prohibited the use of “enhanced interrogation.” http://bit.ly/g6MTuCOrdered all secret detention facilities in Eastern Europe and elsewhere to be closed.http://bbc.in/h6N9axReleased the Bush torture memos. http://bit.ly/hWJ5z0On his second day in office, banned torture, reversed all Bush torture policies and put the US in full compliance with the Geneva Convention.http://1.usa.gov/dL6Zvehttp://nyti.ms/hzWWysIn response to the emerging “Arab Spring,” he created a Rapid Response fund, to assist emerging democracies with foreign aid, debt relief, technical assistance and investment packages in order to show that the United States stands with them. http://bit.ly/zfmGv9Ended the F-22 program, saving $4 billion. Though the 187 aircraft cost $358 million each to build, it had never flown a combat mission. http://slate.me/PYzmzTPassed the Iran Sanctions Act, to prevent war and encourage the Iranian government to give up their nuclear program. http://1.usa.gov/wLtNjbEnded the Iraq War. http://tgr.ph/ru0tySWorked to keep our withdrawal from Afghanistan on track, despite GOP opposition.http://reut.rs/1cIOsF1 Reiterated that commitment in 2014.http://nyti.ms/1exnmRFConducted a secret mission by SEAL Team Six to rescue two hostages held by Somali pirates. http://bit.ly/y8c9FzThrough United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice, helped negotiate a peaceful split of Sudan into two countries, creating an independent South Sudan. http://reut.rs/qzE0TjHelped make donations to Haiti tax deductible in 2009. http://huff.to/6YkAVYEstablished a new U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue. http://1.usa.gov/eX28DPIssued Executive Order blocking interference and helping to stabilize Somalia.http://1.usa.gov/hxdf8UEstablished new, more reasonable policies in our relations with Cuba, such as allowing Cuban-Americans to visit their families and send money to support them.http://n.pr/hY3Kwa http://nyti.ms/emQBdeThe new policies in Cuba led to thawed relations and the first US Embassy in Cuba in more than 55 years. http://abcn.ws/1ghLrEsNegotiated a deal with Iran that will prevent them from getting a nuclear weapon anytime soon, without firing a shot or invading the country. http://cnn.it/1M3HpvvAs a result of the Iran agreement, Iran shipped pretty much all of it nuclear material to Russia. http://nyti.ms/1PrzLtyBecame the first US President to visit Jamaica in more than 30 years, worked to restore relations with the country and signed a natural gas distribution agreement with the country. http://bit.ly/1JtpFqiChanged US Approach to “Defense” and National SecurityCreated a comprehensive new strategy for dealing with the international nuclear threat.http://1.usa.gov/gDX1nEAuthorized a $1.4 billion reduction in Star Wars program in 2010. http://1.usa.gov/gLFZl2Restarted nuclear nonproliferation talks and built up the nuclear inspection infrastructure/protocols to where they had been before Bush. http://lat.ms/gkcl3iSigned and got ratification of a new SALT Treaty. http://bit.ly/f3JVtwNegotiated and signed a new START Treaty that will stay in force until at least 2021.http://1.usa.gov/cI1bC4Committed the US to no permanent military bases in Iraq. http://bit.ly/hk73OJDeveloped a comprehensive strategy with regard to Afghanistan and Pakistan designed to facilitate the defeat of al Qaeda, the withdrawal of most troops and the rebuilding of Afghanistan. http://wapo.st/ee4XcsRe-focused on Afghanistan, stabilized the country, and began the process of withdrawing troops from the country. http://bit.ly/lNXUnaNegotiated a deal with Afghan government, to withdraw troops and military support, while assisting in rebuilding and modernizing of the country. http://bit.ly/K362anTook steps to severely weaken al Qaeda and limited their ability to terrorize the world.http://yhoo.it/n5lXs6Negotiated and signed a nuclear nonproliferation treaty with India.http://1.usa.gov/aHp0CnWorked with NATO to limit the slaughter of innocents in Libya, so that Libyans could topple the despotic Khadaffy government and determine their own fate.http://aje.me/qAh4SjGot Egyptian President/dictator Mubarak to leave the Egyptian government to the people, to determine their own fate. http://f24.my/efvgNZIn 2011, reoriented American focus from the Middle East to the Asian-Pacific region by simultaneously engaging China and crafting new alliances with Asian countries uncomfortable with Chinese behavior. http://bit.ly/RGlMDiRestored federal agencies such as FEMA to the point that they have been able to manage a huge number of natural disasters successfully. http://bit.ly/h8Xj7zIncreased border security http://bit.ly/1JQDGz9Ordered and oversaw the Navy SEALS operation that killed Osama bin Laden.http://bit.ly/jChpgwEstablished the Homeland Security Partnership Council, to enhance the nation’s ability to “address homeland security priorities, from responding to natural disasters to preventing terrorism, by utilizing diverse perspectives, skills, tools, and resources.”http://1.usa.gov/VJjLXOSigned agreement with Afghanistan to end war, turn security over to Afghans.http://nyti.ms/1xSjgBdBreaking with recent presidential tradition, instead of just attacking Syria in the wake of chemical weapons attacks on Syrians, Obama ordered a full report on the decision-making process. http://cbsn.ws/184RFguInstead of holding hearings and creating a political football, he quietly captured a suspect who actually committed the Benghazi terrorist attack. http://wapo.st/1jFlmzv He is also getting a lot of useful information from the suspect. http://nyti.ms/UfE2KaInstituted rules to order sanctions against individuals and groups that threaten national cybersecurity. http://1.usa.gov/1HWcGMGImproved Education and Educational OpportunitiesThrough the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, invested heavily in elementary, secondary and post-secondary education. http://1.usa.gov/gGRIArCreated the Race to the Top program, which encouraged states to come up with effective school reforms and rewards the best of them. http://bit.ly/NHtZ7LOversaw major expansion of broadband availability in K-12 schools nationwide.http://bit.ly/fNDcj3Oversaw major expansion in school construction. http://bit.ly/fYwNrVThrough the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, put $5 billion into early education, including Head Start. http://1.usa.gov/tzT2RrSigned the Democratic-sponsored Post-9/11 GI Bill, also known as GI Bill 2.0, to improve veterans’ access to education. http://bit.ly/hPhG7JOversaw expansion of the Pell Grants program, to expand opportunity for low and middle income students to go to college. http://bit.ly/hI6tXzSigned and implemented the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which provided an extra $12.2 billion in funds. http://1.usa.gov/dQvtUeTook major new steps to protect students from ineffective for-profit colleges through “gainful employment” measures, whereby schools have to demonstrate that its students actually find work to get federal aid. http://1.usa.gov/jkzQe2Repeatedly increased funding for student financial aid, and at the same time cut the banks completely out of the process, thus us creating greater accountability.http://bit.ly/gYWd30 http://bit.ly/e9c7Dr http://bit.ly/eEzTNqReformed student loan program, to make it possible for students to refinance at a lower rate. http://nyti.ms/dMvHOtCreated a rating system for colleges, so that those applying for student financial aid know better what they’re paying for. http://bit.ly/14Dn7ULRestored the Adult View on Science and TechnologyCreated a Presidential Memorandum to restore scientific integrity in government decision-making. http://1.usa.gov/g2SDuwOpened up the process for fast-tracking patent approval for green energy projects.http://bit.ly/j0KV2UThrough the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, committed more federal funding, about $18 billion, to support non-defense science and research labs. http://nyti.ms/fTs9t7Obama EPA reversed research ethics standards which allowed humans to be used as “guinea pigs” in tests of the effects of chemicals, to comply with numerous codes of medical ethics. http://bit.ly/bKgqdSConducted a cyberspace policy review. http://1.usa.gov/gmbdvCProvided financial support for private sector space programs. http://bit.ly/fn8ucrOversaw enhanced earth mapping, to provide valuable data for agricultural, educational, scientific, and government use. http://bit.ly/dNTRyPThrough American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, provided $500 million for Health Professions Training Programs. http://bit.ly/ecQSgAIncreased funding for community-based prevention programs. http://bit.ly/frMPG3Expanded space exploration and discovery options to include more players.http://1.usa.gov/13qmZpmThrough the Connect America Fund, pushed through and received FCC approval for a move of $8 billion in subsidies away from telephone landlines to assist lower-income rural families in accessing broadband. http://lat.ms/vhRUEs http://bit.ly/129V3SYIn the wake of the West Fertilizer tragedy, formed the Chemical Safety and Security Working Group, to work on measures to prevent another such events.http://1.usa.gov/18kHSlAEstablished a Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center, a recommendation made by the 9/11 Commission, to coordinate efforts to fight cyber-crime and terrorism. http://1.usa.gov/1A0aEoSThe Obama FCC, with his leadership, adopted strong net neutrality rules, to keep the Internet open and equal for everyone. http://fcc.us/1MhTlIAOrdered rules to speed up deployment of a more comprehensive broadband infrastructure.http://1.usa.gov/M7rVpeSet up a National Strategic Computing Initiative, to “maximize benefits of high-performance computing (HPC) research, development, and deployment.” http://1.usa.gov/1IN3FZaOrdered a federal level change in national earthquake standards.http://1.usa.gov/1T5wGoRImproved Our HealthEliminated Bush-era restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, and provided increased federal support for biomedical and stem cell research. http://bit.ly/h36SSOhttp://ti.me/edezgeSigned Democratic-sponsored Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act, the first comprehensive attempt to improve the lives of Americans living with paralysis.http://bit.ly/fOi2rbExpanded the Nurse-Family Partnership program, which provides home visits by trained registered nurses to low-income expectant mothers and their families, to cover more first-time mothers. http://bit.ly/jRRRJc\Along with Democrats in Congress, ushered through and signed a bill authorizing FDA to regulate tobacco and order tobacco companies to disclose their ingredients and to ban cigarettes falsely labeled as “light.” http://on.msnbc.com/fiKViBHas overseen a 50% decrease in cost of prescription drugs for seniors.http://bit.ly/e5b1iq http://1.usa.gov/fVNkt9Eliminated the Bush-era practice of forbidding Medicare from negotiating with drug companies on price. http://bit.ly/fOkG5bTwo weeks after taking office, signed Democratic-sponsored Children’s Health Insurance Reauthorization Act, which increased the number of children covered by health insurance by 4 million. http://bit.ly/fDEzGvUrged Congress to investigate Anthem Blue Cross for raising premiums 39% without explanation. http://yhoo.it/e8Tj9CPushed through and signed Affordable Care Act, which expanded health insurance coverage greatly and ended many detrimental insurance company practices. He also established Get 2016 health coverage. Health Insurance Marketplace . http://www.healthcare.gov/Through ACA, allowed children to be covered under their parents’ policy until they turned 26. http://nyti.ms/fNB26VThrough the ACA, provided tax breaks to allow 3.5 million small businesses to provide health insurance to their employees. http://nyti.ms/fNB26VThrough the ACA, millions of people receive help in paying their health insurance company premiums. http://nyti.ms/fNB26VThrough the ACA, expanded Medicaid to those making up to 133% of the federal poverty level. http://nyti.ms/ekMWpo (Note: except for those states whose Republicans refused to take the extra money.)By 2014, the Affordable Care Act dropped the number of uninsured Americans by 22.3%, which amounts to more than 10.3 million people with insurance who didn’t have it before. Only 13.9% of Americans are uninsured, a drop from 18.9% in 2013. http://on.msnbc.com/1r4kjGnThe Affordable Care Act has increased the life expectancy of Medicare greatly.http://on.wsj.com/1yuNco6Through the ACA, health insurance companies now have to disclose how much of your premium actually goes to pay for patient care. http://nyti.ms/fNB26VMedicare costs actually declined slightly, for the first time in decades in 2011, according to the Congressional Budget Office. http://1.usa.gov/oMxpThSince passage of the ACA, health care inflation is at its lowest level since 1960.http://1.usa.gov/1vXR0LdCreated the HIV Care Continuum Initiative, to strengthen the government’s ability to respond to the continuing domestic HIV epidemic, after years of Republicans weakening the government’s ability to deal with the crisis. http://1.usa.gov/1iLED0tSigned bill that will provide health insurance premium support to workers who lose their health insurance due to foreign competition. http://bit.ly/1evvVDFIn response to the confusion triggered by the asinine Hobby Lobby decision, which essentially declared that corporations could have “religious rights” and lord them over employees, created new rules to give all women with insurance the right to free birth control. http://on.wsj.com/1O44a1tImplemented the National HIV/AIDS Strategy for 2015-2020, which is a follow-up to the first such strategy in US history, which he implemented in 2010. http://1.usa.gov/1IXknHmSigned and will implement new child safety standards for e-cigarettes.http://bit.ly/1XaFCISSet up a White House Cancer Moonshot Task Force, in order to implement ways to develop a cure for cancer. http://1.usa.gov/20AeKY4Addressed the Environment While Dealing with Energy NeedsDoubled federal spending on clean energy research. http://bit.ly/iN0sCEPushed through a tax credit to help people buy plug-in hybrid cars. http://bit.ly/j8UP5YCreated a program to develop renewable energy projects on the waters of our Outer Continental Shelf that will produce electricity from wind, wave, and ocean currents.http://1.usa.gov/fgfRWqReengaged in the climate change and greenhouse gas emissions agreements talks, and proposed one himself. He also addressed the U.N. Climate Change Conference, officially reversing the Bush era stance that climate change was a “hoax.” http://bit.ly/dX6Vj3 http://bit.ly/fE2PxK http://nyti.ms/hfeqvvFully supported the initial phase of the creation of a legally-binding treaty to reduce mercury emissions worldwide. http://bit.ly/eJ6QOORequired states to provide incentives to utilities to reduce their energy consumption. http://bit.ly/lBhk7PUnder Obama, our dependence on foreign oil has dropped to its lowest rate since 1985, and continues to drop. http://1.usa.gov/1p6kTUyMeanwhile, oil consumption is way down because of reduced driving and higher mileage standards. http://ti.me/1z4HFG8Improved siting, review and permitting stations for power plants, in an attempt to seriously improve the nation’s electric grid. http://1.usa.gov/1l8zNqnReengaged in a number of treaties and agreements designed to protect the Antarctic.http://bit.ly/fzQUFOCreated tax write-offs for purchases of hybrid and electric vehicles. http://bit.ly/glCukVEstablished a quadrennial review of our energy infrastructure, to encourage a modernization of the grid, and to encourage the transition away from fossil fuel use. http://1.usa.gov/1nx2oMoMandated that federal government fleet purchases be for fuel-efficient American vehicles, and encouraged that federal agencies support experimental, fuel-efficient vehicles.http://1.usa.gov/hmUSbk http://1.usa.gov/fLWq5chttp://bit.ly/h5KZqyEncouraged BP to pay $20 billion to establish Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, to reduce the need for taxpayer funds to be used for compensation and clean up.http://wapo.st/ds2BxT (Note: it took 20 years to get $1.3 billion for the Exxon Valdez spill. )Oversaw and pushed through an amendment to the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 authorizing advances from Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.http://1.usa.gov/yTRYVoActively tried to amend the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 to eliminate the liability limits for those companies responsible for large oil spills. http://nyti.ms/bxjDi3Became the first President to simply say “Climate Change is a fact,” and set up the first federal government protocols for dealing with the impacts of climate change. http://1.usa.gov/1b7V67BInitiated Criminal and Civil inquiries into the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.http://nyti.ms/bVuB7aAsserted federal legal supremacy to bar Texas from authorizing new refinery permits on its own.http://bit.ly/ww8eMdSet up new, stricter standards limiting power plant emissions. http://1.usa.gov/1mML2M3Strengthened the Endangered Species Act. http://bit.ly/hscjsHStrengthened protection for wildlife, and expanded enforcement of laws against wildlife trafficking. http://1.usa.gov/1fce1AiObama EPA improved boiler safety standards to improve air quality, and save 6500 lives per year. http://bit.ly/jYH7ntThrough the EPA, attemped to take steps to severely limit the use of antibiotics in livestock feed, to increase their efficacy in humans. http://bit.ly/fBuWd2Through new EPA regulations, he created a pretext for closing the dirtiest power plants in the country, by limiting emissions of mercury and other toxic gasses. http://bit.ly/rQCIgAIncreased funding for National Parks and Forests by 10% http://bit.ly/fbJPjYAnnounced greatly improved commercial fuel efficiency standards.http://1.usa.gov/oQiC1KAnnounced a huge increase in average fuel economy standards from 27.5mpg in 2010 to 35.5mpg starting in 2016 and 54.5 starting in 2025 http://1.usa.gov/qtghsWFacilitated investment in industrial energy efficiency to create jobs and strengthen US manufacturing while saving businesses $100 billion over a decade.http://1.usa.gov/WsIgbxSet up the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council to oversee Gulf Coast restoration efforts after the 2010 BP oil spill. The money to fund the restoration efforts comes from fines against BP. http://1.usa.gov/Rxjb29Engaged in the most comprehensive plan to combat climate change in a generation.http://bit.ly/13lXhETOrdered energy plants to prepare to produce at least 15% of all energy through renewable resources like wind and solar, by 2021. http://reut.rs/fV155pOversaw the creation of an initiative that converts old factories and manufacturing centers into new clean technology centers. http://bit.ly/mjnq2RGuided a 418% increase in solar power capacity between 2010 and 2014. http://bit.ly/1rHkWJCAs of May 2015, 74% of new electrical capacity was provided by solar and wind power. http://bit.ly/1T5r0LCBypassed Congress and ordered EPA to begin regulating and measuring carbon emissions.http://bit.ly/froaP5Oversaw a tripling in the use of wind power to generate electricity. The US now leads the world in increased wind power capacity. http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5448Ordered the federal government to incorporate climate resilience and climate science into all international development in which the United States engages. http://1.usa.gov/YV1EpWFast-tracked regulations to allow states to enact fuel efficiency standards that exceeded federal standards. http://nyti.ms/e8e94xFast-tracked increased fuel economy standards for vehicles beginning with the 2011 model year. It was the first time such standards had been increased in more than a decade.http://politi.co/hiaPKMOversaw establishment of an Energy Partnership for the Americas, to create more markets for American-made biofuels and green energy technologies. http://bit.ly/lZp73yObama EPA reversed a Bush-era decision to allow the largest mountaintop removal project in US history. http://bit.ly/lP3yELOrdered the Department of Energy to implement more aggressive efficiency standards for common household appliances. http://1.usa.gov/g3MTbuObama EPA ruled that excess CO2 is a pollutant. http://bit.ly/iQTSNNClosed a deal with China to limit carbon emissions to slow down climate change. http://nyti.ms/1xzyS8KBlocked all oil and gas drilling in Bristol Bay, Alaska, one of the most pristine environments in North America http://lat.ms/13xUVFDSigned an Executive Order to improve environmental efforts in the Arctic region and to combat climate change by better coordinating the efforts of the 23 federal agencies operating in the area. http://usat.ly/ZEzLzEVetoed a bill to fast track construction of the parallel Keystone XL pipeline.http://nbcnews.to/1DVDFo7Expanded clean water regulations to more stringently protect all of the nation’s waterways, even when states fail in their duty. http://bit.ly/1RdQpTcSigned an Executive Order committing the federal government to lead the way in building a sustainable economy. It’s his fifth doing just that. http://1.usa.gov/1EzO2neBanned the use of antibiotics in food served in US Government-run cafeterias and ordered agencies to only use antibiotic-free meat. http://bit.ly/1G1vUxi http://bit.ly/1KHkl4NDeveloped new rules to address climate change and to create a significant boost to clean energy. http://bit.ly/1UnQcuRNegotiated and signed a virtually Republican-Proof global agreement on climate change, with 190 countries signing on. http://bit.ly/1RkjVG8Became one of 196 countries that signed onto a UN Framework on Climate Change.http://unfccc.int/2860.phpOrdered a moratorium on new coal leasing on federal land, and they will examine the whole leasing process. http://wapo.st/23Q6en8There’s a Lot More!Nominated Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. Sotomayor is the first Hispanic Justice in the court’s history, and the women represent only the third and fourth women to serve on the court, out of a total of 112 justices.http://huff.to/eOChg6http://bit.ly/i02wgPAppointed the most diverse Cabinet in history, including more women than any other incoming president. http://bit.ly/dX6vNBLoosened the rules and allowed the 14 states that legalized medical marijuana to regulate themselves without federal interference. http://huff.to/eQfa7jSigned national service legislation, increasing funding for national service groups, including triple the size of the Americorps program. http://bit.ly/idgQH5Signed a bill that provided $4.3 billion in additional assistance to 9/11 first responders.http://bit.ly/o7cWYSSigned the Claims Resolution Act, which provided $4.6 billion in funding for a legal settlement with black and Native American farmers who had been cheated out of government loans and natural resource royalties in the past. http://1.usa.gov/dGppUaTo help those communities devastated by Hurricane Sandy, issued an executive order setting up the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, and asked Congress to approve $60 billion in supplemental assistance to aid in storm recovery. http://1.usa.gov/134L7hlProduced 23 Executive actions designed to make it easier for law enforcement to identify those who shouldn’t have guns, thus helping them enforce the law.http://on.wsj.com/SX9xaZExpanded trade agreements to include stricter labor and environmental agreements in trade pacts like NAFTA. http://bit.ly/etznpYOversaw funding of the design of a new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History, which is scheduled to open on the National Mall in 2015. He protected the funding during budget negotiations.http://on.fb.me/fD0EVO http://bit.ly/ff5LuvOversaw and passed increased funding for the National Endowment for the Arts.http://bit.ly/dFb8qF”And Did You Know?Despite the characterizations of some, Obama’s success rate in winning congressional votes on issues was an unprecedented 96.7% for his first year in office. Though he is often cited as superior to Obama, President Lyndon Johnson’s success rate in 1965 was only 93%.http://n.pr/i3d7cYAnd of course…Despite the odds, became the first black president, and then was reelected by a wide margin of the population.

The short version:The South set itself up as a new aristocracy after the revolution, with wealthy landowners profiting off of their property and the poor being fed lines about freedom while essentially just working to enrich the landowners.The North basically did the same with a factory economy.The agrarian economy of the South required more and more land, was built upon slave labor, and was hindered by not being able to process their own materials — essentially they needed to ship off their cotton to the North or to Europe, where it would be turned into cloth, and then cloth-based goods, which were then sent back for them to buy. Market fluctuations, dangers of shipping, tariffs, and advances in manufacturing made this a volatile situation, which worked well for them short-term but was not going to last.In contrast, the industrial economy of the North slowly moved from its exploitative form to a more egalitarian form, where factory jobs were paid a living wage and factory advancements made the North able to reach a sort of economic stability.The Southern politicians, working exclusively for the wealthy families, only cared about protecting shipping lanes. The North, needing to move around goods and materials needed to invest in infrastructure -- which benefits the people as a side-effect. Thus, the quality of life for the non-wealthy rose yet again.The South devalued education — first banning slaves from being educated, then later wanting to retain a dedicated workforce that would not leave to pursue other endeavors. Thus, opportunity and earnings and skills remained low. The North implemented more and more educational initiatives, at first aimed specifically at participation in an industrial economy (how to sit, how to learn repetitively, how to read instructions, etc).When the Civil war happened, it is notable that most of the damage done to the physical parts of the country were sustained in the South.Due to the victory of the Union in the Civil war, the South (or at least their wealthy landowners that created the rifts in the nation, and drove the war and the secession in the first place) seems to have opted on a long-game: continue to not invest in the infrastructure and needs of their people. Either the North would foot the bill and help them take care of their own out of sympathy and morality at their own expense, or their lack of concern for the people would make them look like conquerors and fuel a later insurrection.The South bought into this plan. In response, Northern industrialists and reformers took advantage of the new markets and profited heavily off of setting up infrastructure in the South... but between local resistance and other limitations, it was not enough to solve the problems brought on by the oligarchical control of the ex-plantationeers and their disinterest to benefit the society as a whole.The South also continued its oppression of the former slaves — who by then were citizens, but were restricted from certain careers and opportunities and actions. Many social structures in the South were set up explicitly to keep non-whites and non-protestants from prosperity, but those also hindered development and prosperity (and education) for the people who were emerging into what was slowly becoming an industrial society itself.The North got its share of people moving up from the South, particularly African-Americans looking for work and better futures during the diaspora that happened in the early 1900s. This also depopulated some areas of the South, and led to prosperity in the North being shared. The first Black Millionaires appeared, such as Madam CJ Walker, after moving to areas like New York and DC where there was more opportunity. Jazz and Blues came North, the Harlem renaissance happened, and the World Wars changed the nation.At the end of this time, we had oppression and poverty in the South virtually guaranteed for those who were not white protestants, and the likelihood of poverty and struggle for those who had not been able to shift up to the emerging Middle Class due to lack of education, lack of opportunity, hardship, or being out-competed for the resources available.In contrast, general prosperity had elevated the North to functionally deal with its poverty better, and have less likelihood that someone would end up poor. The available infrastructure meant that it was easier to find opportunities. The better education meant that the citizens were more likely to succeed at their endeavors. And the lack of having to continually placate the wealthy landowners with concessions (which was what led to the Civil War in the first place) frees up more resources for the average citizen.Even now, one of the biggest differences in mentality between the South and the North is taxes. The Northern states has higher average taxes, particularly in the Northeast and New York… but uses those taxes for the betterment of the society and the opportunity of all of their people. Thus, education is better — which correlates directly with lower incarceration rates, lower poverty rates, lower social issue rates (such as teen pregnancy, preventable health problems, divorce rates, and general drug abuse), and higher average earnings. Paradoxically, the only taxes that are high in many Southern states are property taxes — which prevents the poor from owning homes, in turn lowering their likelihood of escaping poverty.One of the most telling statistics is the state’s ratio of how much money do they pay into the federal budget, and how much do they get in return. Over the last decade, the face of that number has changed somewhat, with Texas sniping businesses from California, but in general the trend has been that Red States that aren’t anomalies such as Utah, and Blue States that aren’t anomalies such as New Mexico, can be predicted as suppliers of (or takers from) the Federal budget by their color alone, with Blue States paying most of the needed extras. Texas has altered that imbalance, but they are now closer than they’ve ever been to becoming a Swing State. But between military spending, farm subsidies, welfare programs (more protested by southern conservative politicians, more claimed by southern conservative citizens), infrastructure maintenance and expansion, disaster relief, and the like, it’s largely the North that pays so that the South can continue functioning.Much of the modern social divide is a product of this.For one, a brilliant Australian Libertarian, married to a Chinese National (and suspected government agent), founded a news channel that would have a strong bias in favor of a new American narrative — the Conservative narrative that painted a picture of the rural areas as idyllic unspoiled paradises that needed to remain exactly as is, and with Country Music (the modern pop-country, not the good stuff) telling people just how they are supposed to live. It rolled Nationalism, restrictive religious norms, exclusivism (it was explicitly geared toward those aforementioned white Protestant men, later expanding to the women as well), and small-government pro-business sentiments. It claimed that the “real America” (or “’Murica” as the internet loves to refer to it) is one of tractor pulls, not museums… of NASCAR, not multiculturalism. It claims that we need a “simpler life” free from interference, a return to the agrarian roots of the nation, and heavily implies a protected position of power for those white protestant men. It also would somehow create this AND guard our place as a superior economy, AND our place as a leader in science and technology (that we would somehow NOT use and still remain on the cutting edge of agribusiness).Now we even have the uninformed claiming that the Electoral College was created by the Founding Fathers to protect the rural from the Urban — creating an us-vs-them and a good-vs-evil matrix from a boldfaced lie, since at the time of the signing of the declaration, the population of most states was skewed dramatically toward the rural vote.The overall result of this split, and the demonization that the victims of this split have created against the other side, is that the problems of poverty and lack of access to resources and education in our nation continue to create hardship for the people of the south, but their politicians use that and the resentment that comes from that poverty in order to implement policies that benefit those politicians — who are the modern versions of those wealthy landowners in the South that have existed solely off of the exploitation and maintenance of the state of southern poverty over the last near-200 years.

What did China do and India could not, that brought a billion people out of poverty?India basically did everything that China did, they allocated funds to poverty reduction, they introduced market reforms, they initiated government schemes and programs, they sought to focus on agriculture, industry. Though there are many efforts the Indian government took from time to time to reduce poverty, there was a lack of consistency in terms of priority. Also, note some of the models used by China have been emulated in other developing countries, however, no one else has been able to achieve the results China achieved.So, two words to describe how China did things differently from India is by showing "Commitment" & "Consistency". The government of China has consistently made a political commitment to reducing poverty and reflected poverty reduction goals and plans in the national economic plans.To understand what China did differently for poverty reduction in particular, let us:1. focus on what China did right, despite the challenges it faced rather than focusing on what India lacked and the comparative advantages that China had over India (as most analyses attempt to do).2. focus on 'how' China did it rather than only 'what' China did that India did not.What most of us may be aware of is that both China and India were somewhat similar in terms of economic growth and poverty levels till the 1970s and 80s. In fact, till the early 1900s, India's GDP per capita (PPP) remained higher than that of China though China's rural income was rising rapidly during this period.It must also be noted that China’s poverty alleviation efforts entered the take-off stage only since 1978 when it started introducing market reforms alongside government projects to contain poverty. Here again, success was not defined by what they did, rather it was a result of how they did it.Many economists believe that it was the rural reforms of early 1980s that triggered China’s growth and alleviated a record number of people from poverty in just several years. To understand China's success story, let us just briefly study China's history.A short history of China before the rural reforms of 1978The China before late 1970s was not very different from India and many other developing countries. When the People’s Republic of China was just established, China lacked capital and faced international isolation. Influenced by the experience and ideology of the Soviet Union, China placed the development of heavy industry as the top priority if it was to catch up with the developed nations as soon as possible.Most industries in China were State-owned Enterprises (SOEs) that were established in the 1950s and 1960s, covering core industries like energy, aviation, telecom, construction, etc.Then came a reform period, when policymakers in many developing countries (including China and India) attempted to shift their economies away from capital‐intensive sectors towards more labor‐intensive activities, but many of these countries have experienced sluggish growth at best, stagnation at worst. The question is how did China manage its own process of reform so successfully?During 1949-52, a major change in landownership was carried out. Under a nationwide land reform program, titles to about 45 percent of the arable land were redistributed from landlords and more prosperous farmers to the 60 to 70 percent of farm families that previously owned little or no land.Then during the time of the first five-year plans, agricultural sector underwent extensive organizational changes, the authorities encouraged farmers to organize increasingly large and socialized collective units in which families still received some income on the basis of the amount of land or labor they contributed. The 'collectivization' process began slowly but accelerated in 1955 and 1956. In 1957 about 93.5 percent of all farm households had joined advanced producers' cooperatives where income shares were based only on the amount of labor contributed.Faced with economic collapse in the early 1960s, the government sharply revised the immediate goals of the economy and devised a new set of economic policies to replace those of the Great Leap Forward (The Great Leap Forward -- china.org.cn). Economic support for agriculture took several forms. Agricultural taxes were reduced, and the prices paid for agricultural products were raised relative to the prices of industrial supplies for agriculture. There were substantial increases in supplies of chemical fertilizer and various kinds of agricultural machinery, notably small electric pumps for irrigation. In industry, a few key enterprises were returned to central state control, but control over most enterprises remained in the hands of provincial-level and local governments.The general scenario during these times was farmers did not want to work hard because the fruits of their toil where shared among others, rather than just themselves. Likewise, in the state‐owned enterprises (SOEs), shirking was also reported to be a widespread problem, and many SOEs made significant losses.Then post-1978, came a period of different reforms, a major theme of which is government gave strong incentives for individuals ‐ including farmers, managers and local officials.What is important to understand here is that China's progress in alleviating it's poverty levels is a result of three main objectives:1. a sustainable economic growth (as opposed to high economic growth)2. a simultaneous series of social policies for equitable development and3. special programs for poverty alleviation taken by the Government.that led to this:It must however, be noted that China’s large-scale poverty reduction has been achieved largely due to rapid growth of per capita income. The social policy programs taken up by government, though they helped in achieving many developmental milestones, they alone could not have been successful in reducing the poverty numbers on a scale as large as was achieved. Nevertheless, there is statistical evidence showing improvements in poverty levels when government programs were carried out consistently.So, we will start by understanding the reforms introducing market principles in China, which began in 1978 and were carried out in two stages but before that let us learn about a small story that is said to have inspired the reforms of 1978.An inspiring story of what led the post-1978 rural reforms?A famous story in China, called the The Xiaogang village story -- china.org.cnexplains the root cause behind China's transformation. In 1978, the farmers in a small Chinese village called Xiaogang gathered in a mud hut to sign a secret contract. They thought it might get them executed.Instead, it wound up transforming China's economy in ways that are still reverberating today.According to Yen Jingchang, who was a farmer in Xiaogang in 1978, "Back then, even one straw belonged to the group. No one owned anything. Work hard, don't work hard — everyone gets the same, there was never enough food, and the farmers often had to go to other villages to beg. Their children were going hungry. They were desperate".So, in the winter of 1978, after another terrible harvest, they came up with an idea: Rather than farm as a collective, each family would get to farm its own plot of land. If a family grew a lot of food, that family could keep some of the harvest.Despite the risks, they decided they had to try this experiment — and to write it down as a formal contract, so everyone would be bound to it. By the light of an oil lamp, Yen Hongchang wrote out the contract.The farmers (a total of 18 villagers) agreed to divide up the land among the families. Each family agreed to turn over some of what they grew to the government, and to the collective. And, crucially, the farmers agreed that families that grew enough food would get to keep some for themselves.The contract also recognized the risks the farmers were taking. If any of the farmers were sent to prison or executed, it said, the others in the group would care for their children until age 18.The farmers tried to keep the contract secret — Yen Hongchang hid it inside a piece of bamboo in the roof of his house — but when they returned to the fields, everything was different.At the end of the season, they had an enormous harvest: more than in the previous five years combined. The per capita income of Xiaogang climbed to 400 yuan from 22 yuan.That huge harvest gave them away. Local officials figured out that the farmers had divided up the land, and word of what had happened in Xiaogang made its way up the Communist Party chain of command.At one point, Yen Hongchang was hauled in to the local Communist Party office. The officials swore at him, treated him like he was on death row.However, Fengyang Prefecture's Party Secretary, Wang Yuzhao, was open-minded. Yan had an audience with Wang, who had heard of Xiaogang's efforts and had been told that its harvests looked favorable. He promised to protect the village as long as their practice didn't spread.Later, Yan’s action received strong support from the then Party chief of Anhui Province, Wan Li, during a period of time when no official endorsement was given by the central government.And fortunately for Mr. Yen and the other farmers, at this moment in history, there were also powerful people in the Communist Party who wanted to change China's economy.Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese leader who would go on to create China's modern economy, was just coming to power. So instead of executing the Xiaogang farmers, the Chinese leaders ultimately decided to hold them up as a model.Within a few years, farms all over China adopted the principles in that secret document. People could own what they grew. The government launched other economic reforms, and China's economy started to grow like crazy.Today, the Chinese government is clearly proud of what happened in Xiaogang. That contract is now in a museum. And the village has become this origin story that kids in China learn about in school.How China did it?I've divided this section into four stages each speaking in detail of some crucial efforts introduced by the government during the period of the given stage.As can be observed from below chart, maximum drop in number of poverty-stricken people is observed in the first stage which is the most important of all.Poverty reduction in the second stage is inconsistent, this is when progress slowed down and stagnated in the period of 1986-92. The reasons were many: reduced commitment of the central government towards widespread public services, the shift to development strategies in favor of the coastal areas without enough compensation for poor western areas, combined with insufficient funds contributed to the stagnation of poverty reduction.During the third stage a comprehensive anti-poverty program was formally established and the Chinese government's renewed commitment to poverty reduction started to show some results.The last stage starts in 2001 when China joined the WTO.STAGE 1 (1978 to mid 1980s) DETAIL:In 1978, the poverty-stricken population numbered 250 million (per China's official poverty line), making up 30.7 percent of the total rural population, according to the poverty standard designated by the Chinese Government.There were many causes giving rise to such a large number of poverty-stricken people, of which the main one was that the operation system in agriculture did not suit the needs of the development of the productive forces, so that peasants lacked the enthusiasm for production. In this way, reform of the system became the main way to alleviate poverty.So, the first stage of China's reforms, in the late 1970s to early 1980s, involved the de-collectivization of agriculture, the opening up of the country to foreign investment, and permission for entrepreneurs to start businesses. However, most industry remained state-owned.Following the example of such stories as above, the government first initiated several major reforms, all of which had the spirit of empowering ordinary people or local governments to make their own economic choices and reap the rewards of those choices. Some of the important reforms were:Household Responsibility System (HRS)Launched in the early 1980s, the household responsibility system was an agriculture production system, which allowed households to contract land, machinery and other facilities from collective organizations. The principle of the HRS is that individual households can claim the residual of their own production after fulfilling the grain quota to both the state and collective units.In order to protect the benefits of the farmers, the government also adjusted agricultural policies to increase and loosen the price of agricultural products step by step.For example, between 1979 and 1983, price of grains was increased by 20%, oilseeds 25%, cotton 27%, etc while prices in selected agricultural inputs were reduced. The peasant families, now having better control over production and sales of agricultural surpluses, took full advantage of the price incentives thereby broadening the scope of free market and raising China's agricultural productivity.As a result, not only have the purchase prices of agricultural products (which determine the incomes of large parts of the population) increased, the volume of farm produce purchased by the state increased 85% during the period. China's success in this area was determined by the fact that they were able to achieve this while avoiding budget deficits.Dual-track Price System (DTS) and development of TVEsIn China prior to 1978, most prices were set by the government alongside quantity targets.When the need for reform was accepted, the question of how to move the economy from a planned one towards a market-oriented system arose.At first the state gradually ended the control on many agricultural prices and then by the mid-1980s introduced this dual track strategy for most industrial goods also.In 1981, the central government started allowing some enterprises which had fulfilled their planned production quotas, to sell their surplus output at market prices, while their planned quota production was sold at state-set prices.Dual track system was introduced here because Deng Xiaoping wanted to make use of pre-existing institutions. It is through this system thatChina had succeeded without any losersbecause the old suppliers did not leave the market; moreover, the new suppliers entered the market. Buyers with the highest willingness to pay were getting the planned output and the supplier with the lowest marginal costs was assigned to produce goods and services (Qian Yingyi, 2003).It is argued that if China adopted the market liberalization suddenly at that time, the economic reforms would have definitely failed because there was no law to protect the property right of the privatization. China lacked the legal, institutional and governance structures needed to support an economic system based on private ownership.There is also the question of domestic industries losing their protection once the economy is open to foreign investors while small-scale industries shutting down due to their inability to compete with large-scale industries. By protecting the domestic industries from forced shutdowns, China also avoided fluctuations in unemployment due to involuntary shifts in major employment sectors and ensured economic growth translated to additional employment opportunities. Between 1978 and 1994, employment in state-owned firms alone increased by 40 million.It must also be noted that the 'domestic industries' here refers to 'market-oriented public enterprises tied to local governments based in town-ships and villages'. They are called “township-village enterprises” (TVEs) and were mostly set up in the rural areas. Their existence was hence important not only due to their being a source of tax-revenue for local rural governments, but it also helped reduce the number of people migrating from rural to urban areas.Another advantage provided by the dual-track system is that growth in economic output during these initial years was mostly generated by TVEs. The term TVEs, post 1984, included enterprises sponsored by townships and villages, the alliance enterprises [private stock companies] formed by peasants, other alliance enterprises, and individual enterprises.The enterprises established during 1958-61 were called "Commune and Brigade Enterprises" earlier and were restricted to the production of iron, steel, cement, chemical fertilizer, hydroelectric power, and farm tools, they also however, came to be classified as TVEs since 1984. During 1978, when the reforms were initiated, there were 1.5 million of these industries but by 1985, the number jumped to 12 million TVEs. Output from TVEs increased from 49 billion yuan in 1978 to 1.8 trillion yuan by 1992 while total TVE employment grew from 28 million in 1978 to a peak of 135 million in 1996.So, in a way, the gradual dual-track system also helped China to avoid repeating the mistakes of 1949-1978 when it adopted a series of rapid reforms which showed economic improvement in the short-term but resulted in conflict, poverty, unfair distribution and high levels of corruption in the long run.Social policy programs for poverty alleviation taken by the GovernmentIn addition to the agricultural and industrial policy reforms, development of TVEs, etc during early 1980s, the government had also undertaken several initiatives with relief funds and development funds targeting of neglected areas where mass poverty existed.Development of poverty-stricken Areas in the Central and Western Regions was a priority. While the eastern coastal areas took the lead in economic development, taking full advantage of their own strengths, the central and western regions remained relatively backward. Economic growth per capita in these poor areas during 1978-89 was 30% less than that of the coastal provinces.Therefore, China's rural poor were mostly concentrated in the central and western regions, living in scattered areas in deserts, hills, mountains and plateaus. These regions are characterized by the largest number of poor people, and the deepest degree and most complicated structure of poverty.Of the 592 poverty-stricken counties named by the Chinese Government on its priority poverty relief list in 1994, 82 percent are situated in the central and western regions.Some individual projects that focused to eliminate poverty by developing poverty striken areas included:--Project for harnessing small watersheds in Danfeng County, Shaanxi Province;As early as 1987, Danfeng County was listed in the state program of poverty alleviation. At that time, it was one of the poorest counties in China, with a per capita income of 125 Yuan. The efforts of poverty alleviation over the past decade have been quite successful. More than 90 percent of poor farmers have been raised above the poverty line; 90 percent of the villages have road access; all villages have power supply, and 80 percent of the villages have clean drinking water supply. In 2001, the net income per capita in the rural areas of the county was 1,100 Yuan (compared with the national poverty line of 750 Yuan per capita), although it was only 44 percent of the net income per capita in rural China that year.--Project for improving the soil of farms in Mabian County, Sichuan Province;Mabian is not only a major target of poverty alleviation in Leshan City, but also one of China’s poor counties encountering most difficulties in poverty alleviation. It has received support from many sides for poverty alleviation—not only policy and funding support from the central government, but also key support from governments at the provincial and city levels. Each year, it receives funds in fiscal transfer payments up to 20 million Yuan for the normal operation of county and township governments. Annual loans at discounted interest rates for the purpose of poverty alleviation average at 10 million Yuan and food-for-work investments amount to 4.5 million Yuan. In addition, Mabian has also received financial assistance for poverty alleviation from international organizations and bilateral donors.As a result of development with poverty alleviation for nearly 20 years, rural poverty has been alleviated substantially in Mabian. In 2001, per capita possession of grains in rural areas reached 404 kg. Now that basic food supply is no longer a problem among poor people, the key point of future anti-poverty development should be to increase the cash incomes of farmers and generate more employment for them.--The Three Xis‟ Agricultural Development Project;Launched in 1982, targeted 3 regions 'Dingxi' and 'Hexi' in Gansu Province, and 'Xihaigu' in Ningxia Autonomous Region.Of these Dingxi Prefecture in Gansu Province and Xihaigu Prefecture in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, once known as the "poorest places on earth,". Agriculture and extractive industries are key to Dingxi's economy.The prefecture is known as the “home of potatoes” in northwest China. There are more than 300 different kinds of Chinese medicinal plants and herbs found in the area and Longxi County is also home to one of the largest Chinese medicine trading centers in the country.Despite rapid development and a construction boom in “Dingxi City” in recent years, the prefecture is still one of the poorest areas in China. All seven of its districts/counties are classified as national-level poverty-stricken counties. Today mining and extraction of rare earths are key drivers of economy in Gansu Province.The Food-for-Work Policy and Expansion of Rural Employment in Poor Areas in Western ChinaLaunched in 1984, the project was started for constructing infrastructures in poverty-stricken areas. 18 poverty-stricken zones as the key targets of national poverty alleviation priorities.The food-for-work policy is the most important policy relating to investment by the central government in infrastructure construction in poor areas. Prior to the mid-1990s, the food-for-work policy was implemented in the form of payment in kind. At that time, the central government mainly provided commodities such as grains, cotton, clothing and low- and medium-grade industrial products as payment in kind for the building of roads and projects for drinking water supply for people and animals. Once a project was finalized, the local government provided funds to purchase construction materials, such as cement, explosives and reinforcing bars, and construction tools. Then it organized poor farmers to participate in the construction and paid them, as their wages, the commodities provided by the central government.Prior to the mid-1990s, the government strategy mainly targeted poverty stricken areas but after the mid-1990s, the strategy shifted to poor rural households.STAGE 2 (Mid 1980s to early 1900s) DETAIL:The Second phase of China's Economic reformsTVEs thrived from 1978 to 1989, and were largely dismantled between 1989 and 1996.This is said to be the beginning of the second stage of reforms in China, in the late 1980s and 1990s, it involved the large-scale privatization and contracting out of much state-owned industry and the lifting of price controls, protectionist policies, and regulations, although state monopolies in sectors such as banking and petroleum remained. This is when China's market price and planned price converged while dual‐track was eventually unified into a single track, or market price.This is also the period (early 90s) during which China's GDP per capita started rising more rapidly as compared to India.Note: Large-scale government planning programs alongside market characteristics and participatory economic growth is what has helped raise China's per-capita income and reduced poverty in the beginning of the 1980s reform period. However, China's progress in poverty reduction was not sustained during the second half of the 1980s and early 1990s. Between 1988 & 1989 (one year), the number of poverty-stricken people in rural areas briefly increased from 96 million to 102 million.The shift in China's development strategy (towards export-led industrialization) thus affected the progress in poverty reduction. The industrial restructuring, transformation of employment, income distribution and social welfare systems, social differentiation deepened, the income disparity increased and urban poverty became a more prominent issue.It must be noted that prior to 1990s, the poverty issue in urban China was of less significance as the number of the urban poor was much smaller and they were well provided for under the urban social relief system. Besides, there are relatively few studies of urban poverty as China’s official poverty reduction strategy is based on the assumption that poverty is a rural problem.Since the 1990s, the process of labor and social security reform in both state-owned enterprises and urban private sector employment led to millions of workers becoming redundant and tens of thousands of urban families falling into poverty because of unemployment. Things began to worsen in the second half of the 1990s with concern over what was seen as a “new urban poverty” caused partly by a wave of rural-urban migration and partly by mass unemployment.But in the long term, the government of China has been able to control and bring down rural poverty through economic reforms as well as various rural development programs many of which were the continuation of works started in early 1980s.STAGE 3 (1994 to 2000) DETAIL:Before 1997, poverty alleviation funds were allocated only through the central government. After 1997, provincial and other local governments took a greater role, and provincial governments took more overall responsibility for poverty alleviation, especially in rural areas. Two most important plans that were introduced during this period were:The "8-7" Poverty Alleviation Plan (The third stage of Poverty alleviation)From 1994 to 2000, China developed and implemented the "8·7" Poverty Alleviation Plan, with the strategic goal of solving in seven years the food and clothing problem of the poorest 80 million people living in dire poverty. For this group living in absolute poverty, the Plan set forth the following standards for poverty alleviation:1. ensure the vast majority of poor households have over 500 Yuan of annual net income per capita (at 1990 constant prices); and2. assist poor households to create stable basic conditions for solving the food and clothing problem by developing 0.5-1-mu farmland with high, stable yields per capita; by developing 1-mu land of fruit trees or other kinds of trees per household, or 1-mu land of cash crops; by transferring one laborer per household to township enterprises or developed regions, and, by developing one branch of fish breeding and poultry raising, or other domestic sidelines, per household.Analysis indicates that the 8-7 Plan assisted China’s poverty reduction, and contributed to both the social and economic development of China’s poor areas. During 1994–2000, officially designated “poor” counties delivered higher than average growth in grain and agricultural production, and in household net income. The growth rate of agricultural GDP in the officially designated “poor” counties was 7.5 percent, compared to the national average of 7 percent. Household net income per capita increased from RMB 648 to RMB 1,337, growing at an annual rate of 12.8 percent, 2 percentage points higher than the national average.China claims that by the beginning of 1997 since the program was initiated, the proportion of the population living below the national poverty line fell to 58 million.However, a World Bank study--Poverty Reduction and the World Bank: Progress and Challenges in the 1990s (hereafter called Poverty Report) reported that 350 million people were poor in 1993. This report measured the number poor Chinese by international standards of poverty, used for cross-country comparisons of poverty levels. The international standard used by the World Bank takes $1 a person a day as the poverty threshold while the national poverty line used in the Strategy translates into roughly 60c a person a day.And using the World Bank’s $1/day income measure, and the total number of poor is estimated to have dropped from about 490 million in 1978 to 88 million in 2000.Micro FinanceIn the beginning, microfinance was introduced into China as an instrument and special credit technique of poverty reduction. The earliest microfinance project in China was North Grassland and Stockbreeding Development Project, implemented by IFAD in 1981.But the first real microfinance institution appeared at the end of 1993. It was carried out by the Rural Development Institute (RDI) of China Academy of Social Science (CASS) in Yixian County of Hebei Province, supported by the Ford Foundation and Grameen Trust. In this period, microfinance projects were mainly funded and supported technically by international grants, NGOs and soft loans from government.Then since 1996, to fulfil the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals) in China, a government-led ‘Strategic Microcredit Poverty Reduction Project’ along with Agricultural Development Bank of China came onto stage. Boosted by government, these projects expanded rapidly in some poor provinces like Shanxi, Sichuan, Yunan, Hebei, Guangxi and Guizhou. And many governmental institutions such as the Poverty Reduction Office system, the civil administration system, the social security system, Women Unions and the Handicapped Association got involved in it. Most of these projects began in rural areas, but microcredit to laid-off workers in urban areas also started at this stage.In 2000, the ‘3R Strategy’ (Rural industry, Rural areas and Rural residents) was brought forward by the Chinese government and emphasized as the most important task. This indicated that the formal rural financial institutions have entered into microfinance formally on a large scale, and the goal of microfinance has extended from poverty reduction to provision of financial services to rural households and micro companies. The scale of microcredit boomed dramatically in several years.Microcredit issued by rural cooperative financial institutions in this period was different from the previous mode and Grameen Bank mode. One innovation was the Credit Certificate system. A Credit Certificate was held individually by the household. All the credit history is recorded on the certificate, and a borrower can apply for a loan whenever he or she needs.STAGE 4 (2001 and beyond) DETAIL:In 2001 the central government also changed its method of allocating funds, moving from a system based on projects to one based on a series of poverty measurement indicators. These indicators include the number of poor people, the annual per capita net income of farmers, the local financial situation, and the need for policy adjustments.It must be remembered that poverty alleviation funds have been an important part of China's poverty alleviation efforts since the early 1980s.Poverty alleviation funds include funds allocated by the central government and by local governments at multiple levels, under different categories, and through various government agencies. Poverty alleviation funds from the central government include funds in the following five categories:(1) development funds,(2) food-for-work funds,(3) development funds for ethnic minorities,(4) funds for poverty-stricken state-owned farms and forestry farms, and(5) interest subsidies for discounted loans. These funds are managed by various relevant management authorities.2001 is also the year when the Chinese government converted its flagship anti-poverty program into a new poor village public investment program based on participatory village planning. The previous investment program had targeted poor counties since 1986, with no participatory component.The Chinese poor village investment program is distinctive for at least two reasons:First, in terms of sheer size, the Chinese program is without doubt one of the largest poverty alleviation programs in the world. About 140 million persons, or 15 percent of the rural population, live in officially designated poor villages.Second, the Chinese program is one of the few examples of community-based development initiated and administered by the government of a developing country rather than international donors.Sources & Further Reading:Quality of Life: India vs. China by Amartya Sen21 Major Poverty Alleviation Programmes Launched in IndiaEconomic history of China (1949–present)The Land Reform -- china.org.cnThe Xiaogang village storyThe Secret Document That Transformed ChinaHousehold Responsibility System -- china.org.cnAgricultural Price Policies: Issues and Proposal S (Economic & Social Development Papers)Jun 1987 by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United NationsDual-track Price System -- china.org.cnDual Track System Burst the Economic growth in China During 1978 to 1989Township and Village EnterprisesChinese economic reformPage on oecd.orgThe Development-oriented PovertyReduction Program for Rural ChinaPage on ilo.orgPage on worldbank.orgJiangxiPage on cornell.eduPage on undp.orgPage on iza.orgPage on ox.ac.ukPage on ifpri.orgPage on berkeley.eduThe population argument has been deliberately excluded in this answer (for reasons discussed in the comments section).A comparison of India's and China's population problem is discussed in a separate answer:Vanita Ashar's answer to How could China achieve population control so fast but India could not?