Long Term Trends In The US Economy

The largest cause of unemployment can be attributed to recession. The term recession refers to the backward movement of the economy for a long period. People spend only when they have to. (Nagle 2009). With people spending less there would be less money in circulation therefore, enterprises would suffer financially and people would suffer too. This is so because recession reduces the fiscal bases of enterprises, forcing these enterprises to reduce their workforce through layoffs. These enterprises lay off their workers in order to cut the costs they incur in terms of wage and salary payments.

The interest rates are expected to reach 7.0% by June, the most severally effected by these constant raises are shareholders. Because of these immediate effects market economists are largely against the interest rate hikes. Their position is that the average inflation rate over the past three years has been at around 2% close to the markets expected inflation rate of 1.9%. The economy is on a sixteen year run, continually moving forward. The historical data is there however; the consumer price index was at 1.6% over the past twelve months and the March year over year rate was at 3.7%

Max: Hi I’m Max Lessins. This is Crash Course for economics and today we’ll be discussing the Great Recession, focusing on the fiscal and monetary policies used to recover from the 2008 economic meltdown.

The health of the current U.S. economy appears to be growing gradually. The second quarter real GDP growth was 3.7% and the unemployment rate declined to 5.3%. The U.S Federal Reserve (Fed) is expected to raise interest rates in the near future when it sees clear signs of strong economic growth and improvements in the job market.

The discussion of whether the Federal Reserve should raise the federal funds rate is a highly contentious one. Members of the Federal Reserve (“Fed”) and academic economists disagree about what constitutes appropriate future macroeconomic policy for the Unites States. In the past, the Fed had been able to raise rates when the unemployment rate was under 5% and inflation was at a target of 2%. Enigmatically, since the Great Recession and despite a strengthening economy, year-over-year total inflation since 2008 has averaged only 1.4%—as measured by the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index (“PCE”). Today, PCE inflation is at 1-1.5% and has continuously undershot the Fed’s inflation target of 2% three years in a row. (Evan 2015) In the six years since the bottom of the Great Recession the U.S. economy has made great strides in lowering the published unemployment rate from about 10% back down to about 5.5%. In light of this data, certain individuals believe that the Federal Reserve should move to increase the federal funds rate in 2015 because unemployment is near 5% and inflation should bounce back on its own (Derby 2015). However, this recommendation is misguided.

The news mediums, television, radio, print, or social media give information 24-hours a day regarding the economy. Individuals are not so sure about the reports issued on almost an hourly basis that are stating the economy of United States is improving. Many Americans are still without jobs, and do not believe their income can continue to support their families. The cost of purchasing a home is going up in many areas across the country, which is good for the market, but can be bad for the first time homebuyer. Unemployment, expectations, consumer income, interest rates are economic factors that influence individuals behavior and the United States fiscal policy.

The United States of America has always been known as just that, which is united. However, lately everyone (i.e.: news media,) has been referring to our country as just plain ol’ America. Could it be because they know information about the United States that most of its own citizens are unaware of? The answer is yes because most Americans fail to realize that for years the United States of America has turn out to be everything but united, and this has been a result due to its ever growing wealth gap. However, in this current period of time, minorities have been the ones to predominantly endure the vast amounts of injustices that the gap has bestowed upon the U.S., but the wealth gap will not stay biased towards minorities any longer. In the article “Speaker Addresses Race-Wealth Gap” author Larry Mitchell, quotes speaker Tim wise stating “We have inherited legacies of racial injustice and inequality… It’s not our fault, but it is our burden” (n. pg.) Although this problem might not affect us directly; it does exist causing all sorts of destruction to our economy. The wealth gap is an issue that has continuously remained a severe threat to the stability of U.S. economy. Nonetheless, the wealth gap crisis can be reduced if not eliminated completely by the great efforts of government enforced policies, financial resources, (funds) and job creation.

The Great Recession of the 2000’s is something many of us have been affected by in some way or form. From the real estate bubble to the acts of major firms on Wall Street-there were numerous factors that lead to this recession. The United States Government is to blame in large for what happened to the economy in the early part of the 2000’s. Major firms such as Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, and AIG tried to used the failing economy as a huge paycheck to their CEO’s, payouts made partially by the US Government’s bailouts. The government should have allocated money to the people who were struggling, not continue to feed the “hand that bit them.”

The United States is the leading economy across the globe and experienced several tribulations in the recent past following the 2008 global recession. Despite these recent challenges, there are expectations among policymakers and financial experts that the country will experience solid economic growth. Actually, financial analysts have stated that the U.S. economy will be characterized by increased consumer spending, increased investments by businesses, reduced rate of unemployment, and reduction in government cut. Some analysts have also stated that the country’s economy will strengthen in 2014 with an average of 2.7 percent or more. However, these predictions can only be understood through an analysis of the current macroeconomic

George Santayana, a Spanish poet and philosopher said, "Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it." This quote applies to the Great Depression of 1929 and the Great Recession of 2008. There are many similarities between the two, like the causes, the actual events, and the aftermaths. Several factors led to the Great Depression, which were the following: overproduction by business and agriculture, unequal distribution of wealth, Americans buying less, and finally, the stock market crash of 1929. The Great Recession also had similar factors leading to it, like the housing “bubble” burst and less consumer spending. In both events, the Presidents enacted programs that they believed would help the American people.

Everybody in the United Stated was affected by the recession that began in December of 2007 and spanned all the way to June 2009. Even though the recession is over, many people are still being affected by it and have still not been able to recover from the great recession. “The recent recession features the largest decline in output, consumption, and investment, and the largest increase in unemployment, of any post-war recession”. Many people lost their jobs due to the recession and some of them are still having a hard time finding jobs and getting back on their feet. Businesses

The Great Depression and Great Recession were two unique events that had monumental impact on the economy. Both had similarities, and differences that made them unique. The Great Depression was caused by people living on credit, and when it was time to pay they didn’t have the money, this happened on a wide spread scale. The crashing of the stock market was what officially started the Great Depression in 1929. The great recession was caused by subprime mortgages as well, as risk taking by financial institutions. Much like the depression people were living over their heads, and when it was time to pay their bills they were unable to. Both the Great Depression and Great Recession were brought on by bubbles, for the Great Depression it was the stock market bubble, for the Great Recession it was the housing bubble.

Ever since the Recession of 2008, the process of acquiring employment has become extremely challenging and exhausting. After months of searching, a significant amount of job seekers are willing to accept any job offers that will allow them to put food on the tables. If you follow the United States’ economic recovery, you probably know that there are about 10.5 million unemployed Americans and constant debates about how to create more jobs. What you may not know is that there are actually four million open jobs waiting to be filled. So how is it possible and who is there to blame?

On the 26th of November 2001, the National Bureau of Economic Research, declared that after ten years of economic expansion, the United States was in a recession as of March 2001 (Coplan 9). During the last quarter of 2001, the United States experienced a terrible tragedy; the 9/11 terrorist attack. However, economists believe that even if the terrorist attack had not taken place, the recession would have still been present, but it did in fact delay recovery. The recession of 2001 was by far different than all the other recessions. It was in fact, better than other recessions because the 2001 only lasted a quarter. Real GDP barley changed and the unemployment rates slightly rose (Nordhaus 2). It was found that banks have improved their performance during the recession, they were prepared for the worst this time around. During the 1990s, risk management became an important factor for banking discipline. Using risk managements, it gives the economy a potential to increase the stability. Thereby, banks benefited from an environment that rapidly declined short term interest rates, which enabled them to borrow at a lower cost (Schuermann 2). These risk managements played an important factor during the recession while impacting the United States economy in a positive manner.

This recession has been the biggest economic struggle in my lifetime. Everything that could go wrong went wrong. The event that led to this recession is the housing crisis, where banks were giving out loans, almost without any restrictions. People were getting involved in one of the best economic times in our history. Confidence was everywhere and the ideal mindset hit everyone. When the economy hit all new highs, people thought the supply and demand chain would continuously rise. The business cycle seemed to be a lie to many Americans. However, the business cycle is real and the world lives a part of it everyday. When deregulation became extreme and private companies, especially banks, got all the power, nothing could stop them