The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission was created by the United States Congress in October 2000 with the legislative mandate to monitor and report to Congress on the national security implications of the bilateral trade and economic relationship between the United States and China. In 2019 the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission held a hearing […]
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The stock market is not the economy. However, the stock market reflects what is expected to happen to the economy. Although some political leaders doubted the impact of the coronavirus on the United States, a growing uncertainty was becoming evident in U.S. financial markets. As the coronavirus worked its way through China, South Korea, and […]
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If there was any doubt about the severity of the coronavirus impact on the U.S. economy, those doubts came to an abrupt halt in March. The Department of Labor announced initial jobless claims soared to a seasonally adjusted 3.28 million in the week ended March 21, up from the prior week claims of only 282,000. […]
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Another week that began with stock market turmoil. 7%, 13% and 20% – those are the magic drops in the S&P 500 that trigger “circuit breakers” for the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Circuit breakers are when stock market trading is halted to give investors and traders a breather to assess what is going on […]
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Summary and Future Challenges The United States has enjoyed a prolonged period of economic growth; a record period of economic growth. Since 2010 economic growth has continued, the unemployment rate decreased to a 50-year low, and the stock market has generally increased reflecting the strong economy. The economic growth has largely been driven by factors […]
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Number 5: Drivers of The Stock Market The S&P 500 index is a benchmark index for measuring the performance of the U.S. stock market. It is a diversified index that contains the stocks of 500 relatively large companies (large cap) in an array of industries. Stock prices reflect expectations of future corporate profitability – more […]
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Number 4: The Yet to be Paid Increasing Costs of the Federal Deficit and Debt The Federal Deficit The federal budget deficit refers to U.S. federal government spending exceeding government income. According to the Congressional Budget Office, Government spending totaled $4.1 trillion in 2018; government revenues were $3.3 trillion, contributing to a deficit of roughly […]
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Number 3: The Timing of Those Tax Cuts Part of what made the recent tax cuts unique is that they occurred in a growing economy with near historic lows in unemployment. Prior to 2018, recent tax cuts occurred when the economy was struggling and unemployment was relatively high. In the current economic recovery, the payroll […]
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Number 2: What’s Been Driving Economic Growth A country’s economic growth is measured by the change in real gross domestic product (GDP). GDP measures the value of goods and services by a country over a given timeframe (typically quarterly or annually). GDP includes four components: 1) Consumer spending, 2) Investment spending, 3) Government Expenditures, and […]
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Our last blog looked at how taxes changed in 2018, specifically the tax cuts for individuals and corporations. This blog will take a look at the economy – including how those tax cuts and other factors impacted the economy, and what is likely to impact the economy going forward. The blog is split into six […]
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