Economy
The current state of the U.S. economy is that the unemployment rate as of April 2012 is 8.1% and the consumer price index was flat for that month (BLS, 2012). The first quarter improvement in the GDP saw an increase of 2.2% (BEA, 2012). The current interest rates are rock bottom, at 0.15% for six months, 0.19% for one year, 0.84% for five years and 1.98% for ten years.
Five years ago, in spring of 2007, the U.S. economy was generally performing better. The housing market was starting to slump but the economy overall was not yet struggling. The yield curve was inverted, however. The six-month rates were 4.99%, the one year rate was 4.94%, the five-year rate was 4.78% and the ten-year rate was 4.86%. In the first quarter of 2007, GDP only grew 0.5%, but this was not the start of the recession as GDP grew in Q2 and Q3 of that year before sliding. Unemployment is usually a lagging indicator, so had not been a major problem that that point, as it was 4.4% in May of 2007. Inflation was 0.4%, slightly higher than current levels but still not very high.
Compared with spring of 2007, the unemployment rate today is much higher. GDP growth is higher, but low in both instances. The inflation rate is lower today than it was five years ago, and interest rates are lower. Thus, unemployment is the biggest problem in the economy today, and the inflation rate is below the Fed's target as well. The economy is underperforming today, whereas five years ago it was starting to show signs that an expansionary...
Current Events U.S. Diplomacy Summarize events between the U.S. And at least one of the Countries you wrote about in first paper since the end of the Cold War Since the end of the Cold War, the relationship between U.S. And the former Soviet Union (Russia) has changed dramatically. What happened was that there was a shift in the philosophy and strategy within the government of Russia. This is because it became
U.S. National Strategy What three United States national interests do you think will be at great risk over the next five years? Describe those interests and identify which instruments of national power can be leveraged to protect or advance those national interests and how those instruments can be used. As President Obama stated in his addresses to Congress in February 2009, the most important problem that the country faced was the economy,
4 trillion to about $5 trillion dollars at the end of 2008 to support a rise in U.S. net external debt from $3.3 trillion to $7.4 trillion. (Ibid. 6) Continued financing of the U.S. trade deficits by the rest of the world is also not without its long-term problems: the U.S. would accumulate so much debt over time that the ultimate cost of adjustment would become too high for the
S. dollar is still weak (Triplett, 2003). This study will seek to determine how the weakening U.S. dollar will affect European markets and competitiveness with China, a main exporter to Western Europe at this time. The conditions within the steel market in particular have been reported as declining for several years, but there is some evidence which suggests a change is occurring within the industry (Triplett, 2003). There is some evidence
S. income inequality has a significant effect on U.S. demand for imports. They chose vertically differentiated products to study trade and income. They found that U.S. income disparities do have a significant effect on U.S. imports using their trade model but also could offer alternative explanations for the finding. Their main argument surrounds around the assumption that the country can domestically produce very high quality of the differentiated product while it
Table 1. Japan -- Knowledge Economy Index. Index Japan (most recent) Group: All Japan (1995) Group: All USA (most recent) Group: All USA (1995) Group: All Knowledge Economy Index Index Japan (most recent) Group: All Japan (1995) Group: All USA (most recent) Group: All USA (1995) Group: All Knowledge Index Index Japan (most recent) Group: All Japan (1995) Group: All USA (most recent) Group: All USA (1995) Group: All Econ. Incentive Regime Index Japan (most recent) Group: All Japan (1995) Group: All USA (most recent) Group: All USA (1995) Group: All
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