{"id":9814,"date":"2019-12-23T10:00:12","date_gmt":"2019-12-23T16:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/?p=9814"},"modified":"2020-01-30T14:29:12","modified_gmt":"2020-01-30T20:29:12","slug":"the-economy-5-things-you-should-know-for-2020-and-beyond-part-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/2019\/12\/23\/the-economy-5-things-you-should-know-for-2020-and-beyond-part-6\/","title":{"rendered":"The Economy: 5 Things You Should Know for 2020 (and beyond) \u2013 Part 6"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Summary and Future\nChallenges<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The United States has enjoyed a prolonged period of\neconomic growth; a record period of economic growth. Since 2010 economic growth\nhas continued, the unemployment rate decreased to a 50-year low, and the stock\nmarket has generally increased reflecting the strong economy. The economic\ngrowth has largely been driven by factors favorable for increased consumer\nspending, including 1) increasing consumer income resulting from\nthe continued decrease in the unemployment rate, 2) an environment of extremely\nlow interest rates, 3) a generally increasing stock market generating capital\ngains, 4) tax cuts; including a temporarily reduction in social security taxes\nin 2011 and 2012, and the corporate and individual tax cuts of 2018, and 5)\nrelatively low inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What could go wrong? There are some concerns. Despite the ten years of economic\ngrowth and a 50-year low for unemployment, budget deficits and federal debt\nhave increased significantly. Spending now has created concerns for later. The\ngrowing deficit is of particular concern due to the relatively low unemployment\nrate; it will be hard to lower the rate\nand significantly increase individual and corporate tax revenues. Any blip in\nthe economy could significantly increase an already growing deficit and record\namount of debt. Eventually, a looming shortfall in social security funding will\nhave to be dealt with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stock market has enjoyed a rebound in 2019 following a decline in 2018, buoyed by optimism over resolving, or at least mitigating, trade issues with particularly China. Growth in corporate earnings, stock buybacks, and Federal Reserve interest rate cuts have all helped fuel the market. However, interest rate cuts may have bottomed out and any retreat from resolving trade issues (particularly with China) will likely hurt the market. Corporate earnings have benefited from the tax cuts and growth in consumer spending. As the economy bumps up to near full employment, continued growth in consumer spending becomes challenging. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite\nthe robust economy, health care, including the coverage and the cost of that\ncoverage, remains a major economic concern. From the Kaiser Family Foundation\nbased on data collected from surveys:<\/p>\n\n\n\n