The economy of USA
USA GDP
figures
The US is currently the biggest economy in the world, its economy is worth a massive $15 trillion dollars today, this is very productive for a country that has 4 times less than the population of China and half the population of India. Only 50 years ago, the USA economy had $579 billion GDP comparing that to the $15 trillion dollars today the economy has become 26 times bigger than what it was back then. This is a huge rate of growth for the US's GDP however, China's economy valued at $7.2 trillion dollars was worth only 50 million 50 years ago. That means that there GDP has grown by a staggering 144 times the size of what it was 50 years ago. This shows that it roughly 5 to 6 years time China will surpass the US economy providing these rates of GDP growth remain the same.
Population
The
population of America currently stands at around 311 million people. Over the
last 50 years the country has grown slowly in comparison to rival countries
such as China. Fifty years ago the population of America stood at around 226
million people which means there was an increase of 85 million. Therefore the
country grew at a rate of 38% over the last 50 years. However, America still
has the third largest population in the world and roughly 1 in every 25 people
are American.
Imports
In the
first half of this year,United States imports
were worth 227.9 Billion dollars, the US is the second largest importer in the
world. Its main imports are non-auto consumer goods, fuels, production
machinery and equipment, non-fuel industrial supplies, motor vehicles and
parts, food and beverages.US gets its main imports from the European
Union, China, Canada, Mexico and Japan.
Exports
In the
first half of this year,United States were worth
185 billion dollars, which is $43 billion dollars lower than the amount of
imports to the country. However, the United States is the third largest
exporter in the world, selling machinery and equipment, industrial
supplies, non-auto consumer goods, motor vehicles and parts, aircraft and parts,
food, feed and beverages as its main exports. The US mainly exports
to Canada, European Union, Mexico, China and Japan.
50 facts about the American economy
1. A staggering 48
percent of all Americans are either considered to be “low income” or are
living in poverty.
2. Approximately 57
percent of all children in the United States are living in homes that are
either considered to be “low income” or impoverished.
3. If the number of Americans that
“wanted jobs” was the same today as it was back in 2007, the “official”
unemployment rate put out by the U.S. government would be up to 11
percent.
4. The average amount of time that
a worker stays unemployed in the United States is nowover 40 weeks.
5. One recent survey found
that 77 percent of all U.S. small businesses do not plan to hire any
more workers.
6. There are fewer payroll jobs in
the United States today than there were back in 2000 even though we
have added 30 million extra people to the population since then.
7. Since December 2007, median
household income in the United States has declined by a total of 6.8
percent once you account for inflation.
8. According to the Bureau of
Labor Statistics, 16.6 million Americans were self-employed back in December
2006. Today, that number has shrunk to 14.5 million.
9. A Gallup poll from earlier this
year found that approximately one out of every five Americans that do
have a job consider themselves to be underemployed.
10. According to author Paul
Osterman, about 20 percent of all U.S. adults are currently working
jobs that pay poverty-level wages.
11. Back in 1980, less than 30
percent of all jobs in the United States were low income jobs.
Today, more than 40 percent of all jobs in the United States are low
income jobs.
12. Back in 1969, 95 percent of
all men between the ages of 25 and 54 had a job. In July, only 81.2
percent of men in that age group had a job.
13. One recent survey found
that one out of every three Americans would not be able to make a
mortgage or rent payment next month if they suddenly lost their current job.
14. The Federal Reserve recently
announced that the total net worth of U.S. households declined by 4.1
percent in the 3rd quarter of 2011 alone.
15. According to a recent study
conducted by the BlackRock Investment Institute, the ratio of household debt to
personal income in the United States is now 154 percent.
16. As the economy has slowed down,
so has the number of marriages. According to a Pew Research Center analysis,
only 51 percent of all Americans that are at least 18 years old are
currently married. Back in 1960, 72 percent of all U.S. adults were
married.
17. The U.S. Postal Service has
lost more than 5 billion dollars over the past year.
18. In Stockton, California home
prices have declined 64 percent from where they were at when the
housing market peaked.
19. Nevada has had the highest
foreclosure rate in the nation for 59 months in a row.
20. If you can believe it, the
median price of a home in Detroit is now just $6000.
21. According to the U.S. Census
Bureau, 18 percent of all homes in the state of Florida are sitting
vacant. That figure is 63 percent larger than it was just ten years ago.
22. New home construction in the
United States is on pace to set a brand new all-time record low in
2011.
23. 19 percent of all
American men between the ages of 25 and 34 are now living with their parents.
24. Electricity bills in the United
States have risen faster than the overall rate of inflation for five years
in a row.
25. According to the Bureau of
Economic Analysis, health care costs accounted for just 9.5 percent of all
personal consumption back in 1980. Today they account for
approximately 16.3 percent.
26. One study found
that approximately 41 percent of all working age Americans either
have medical bill problems or are currently paying off medical debt.
27. If you can believe it, one out
of every seven Americans has at least 10 credit cards.
28. The United States
spends about 4 dollars on goods and services from China for every one
dollar that China spends on goods and services from the United States.
29. It is being projected that the
U.S. trade deficit for 2011 will be 558.2 billion dollars.
30. The retirement
crisis in the United States just continues to get worse. According to the
Employee Benefit Research Institute, 46 percent of all American
workers have less than $10,000 saved for retirement, and 29
percent of all American workers have less than $1,000 saved for retirement.
31. Today, one out of every
six elderly Americans lives below the federal poverty line.
32. According to a study that
was just released, CEO pay at America’s biggest companies rose by 36.5
percent in just one recent 12 month period.
33. Today, the “too big to fail”
banks are larger than ever. The total assets of the six largest U.S.
banks increased by 39 percent between September 30, 2006 and
September 30, 2011.
34. The six heirs of Wal-Mart
founder Sam Walton have a net worth that is roughly equal to the bottom 30
percent of all Americans combined.
35. According to an analysis of
Census Bureau data done by the Pew Research Center, the median net worth for
households led by someone 65 years of age or older is 47 times greaterthan
the median net worth for households led by someone under the age of 35.
36. If you can believe it, 37
percent of all U.S. households that are led by someone under the age of 35
have a net worth of zero or less than zero.
37. A higher percentage of
Americans is living in extreme poverty (6.7 percent) than has ever
been measured before.
38. Child homelessness in the
United States is now 33 percent higher than it was back in 2007.
39. Since 2007, the number of
children living in poverty in the state of California has increased by 30
percent.
40. Sadly, child
poverty is absolutely exploding all over America. According to the
National Center for Children in Poverty, 36.4 percent of all children
that live in Philadelphia are living in poverty, 40.1 percent of all
children that live in Atlanta are living in poverty, 52.6 percent of
all children that live in Cleveland are living in poverty and 53.6
percent of all children that live in Detroit are living in poverty.
41. Today, one out of every seven
Americans is on food stamps and one out of every four American
children is on food stamps.
42. In 1980, government
transfer payments accounted for just 11.7 percent of all income.
Today, government transfer payments account for more than 18
percent of all income.
43. A staggering 48.5
percent of all Americans live in a household that receives some form of
government benefits. Back in 1983, that number was below 30 percent.
44. Right now, spending by the
federal government accounts for about 24 percent of GDP. Back in
2001, it accounted for just 18 percent.
45. For fiscal year 2011, the
U.S. federal government had a budget deficit of nearly 1.3 trillion
dollars. That was the third year in a row that our budget deficit has topped
one trillion dollars.
46. If Bill Gates gave every single
penny of his fortune to the U.S. government, it would only cover the U.S.
budget deficit for about 15 days.
47. Amazingly, the U.S. government
has now accumulated a total debt of 15 trillion dollars. When Barack Obama
first took office the national debt was just 10.6 trillion dollars.
48. If the federal government began
right at this moment to repay the U.S. national debt at a rate of one dollar
per second, it would take over 440,000 years to pay off the national
debt.
49. The U.S. national debt has been
increasing by an average of more than 4 billion dollars per day since
the beginning of the Obama administration.
50. During the Obama
administration, the U.S. government has accumulated more debt than it did from
the time that George Washington took office to the time that Bill Clinton
took office.
Type of
economy
America is considered to be a mixed economy, this is where the country is run by a consistency of both public and private companies. Public companies in America have their fair dominance of different markets around the world. For example, Apple dominates a large proportion of the music player market, Microsoft dominating a lot of the software market and Nike dominates the sports wear market. America also has many private companies such as Mars a large food company and there are also many other private companies such as the US health service which is private all around the country.
Joint Venture
Economic factors
Exchange rates
US Dollar
|
1.00 USD
|
inv. 1.00 USD
|
Euro
|
0.794850
|
1.258099
|
British
Pound
|
0.630298
|
1.586550
|
Indian
Rupee
|
55.527500
|
0.018009
|
Australian
Dollar
|
0.968523
|
1.032500
|
Canadian
Dollar
|
0.986250
|
1.013942
|
Emirati
Dirham
|
3.673300
|
0.272235
|
Swiss
Franc
|
0.954500
|
1.047669
|
Chinese
Yuan Renminbi
|
6.349800
|
0.157485
|
Malaysian
Ringgit
|
3.124850
|
0.320015
|
New
Zealand Dollar
|
1.244555
|
0.803500
|
This
table shows some of the current exchange rates for the US dollar. As the table
shows the currency is very weak against the pound however against the rate of
India and China the US dollar is very strong. This would be good for America to
import goods from these countries as importers will benefit from produce being
cheaper than other countries. America is likely to lose out on business with
other countries because of China and India's low exchange rate values importers
will more likely buy from these countries.
Interest
rates
Since the
recession of 2008, interest rates in America have fell from around 6% to record
lows of around 0.25% today. This indicates that banks are desperate for people
to take loans by making the interest rate so low. If a person took a loan of
$1000 they would have to pay back only $1002.50, which is hardly any gain of
profit for most banks. However, this is more likely to stimulate the economy
because if more people take loans they have more disposable income therefore
they will spend more on consumer goods which helps raise the levels of GDP.
