EXTRAORDINARY VIEWS OF UNITED STATES

Pictures can say so much more than words. Rarely do words add to pictures. But The Economist magazine recently published two maps that epitomise the financial strengths and financial burdens of the world’s biggest economy. One map renames all the states with tongue firmly in cheek. The other changes the names to the countries of equivalent economic size. Thus :

• Texas becomes Taxes or Russia.
• Michigan becomes Muchgone or Taiwan.
• New Jersey becomes No Jersey or Switzerland.

Here are the full maps.