That collapsed a decade ago, its herds and land split up among families.

ECONOMIST: Misguided mercantilism, or self-help

In the United States, the three national networks, once watched by almost every sentient being in the land, now split fewer than half the audience between them each night.

ECONOMIST: As the audience gets smaller, it will also get more powerful

In the land of low yields the split-rated bond is king.

FORBES: One Rating Agency's Junk Bond Could Be Your High-Yield Treasure

But whereas the Texan economy diversified into high-tech, Louisiana turned to gambling, with disastrous results: politicians were bought off by companies looking for licences for land and riverboat casinos, and the state became split between the pro-gambling populism of Mr Edwards and the anti-gambling sentiments of the good government crowd, most of them Republicans.

ECONOMIST: American politics

Ms Gillard's first stop on land was in Bundaberg, which has seen its worst flooding for four decades and has been split in two by the swollen Burnett River.

BBC: Australia: Queensland floods spur more evacuations