The US economy grew by 2.211 percent in 2012, compared to 1.808 percent in 2011 and 2.391 percent in 2010. Three consecutive years of growth has since reversed the recession experienced from 2008-2009, but the economy is still recovering too slowly from the devastating impact of the financial crisis – its weakest rebound since World War II.
More than half of the biggest U.S. tax breaks will benefit wealthier households significantly more than lower income ones, a new study from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office revealed.
The 10 largest U.S. tax breaks will save taxpayers more than $900 billion this year, with a little more than half the benefits flowing to the richest 20 percent of households, congressional budget analysts said on Wednesday.
Credit ratings agency Moody’s on Tuesday raised the U.S. banking sector outlook from negative to stable, a move that reflects continued improvement in the operating environment and reduced downside risks to banks from a faltering economy.
Moody’s is becoming more optimistic about U.S. lenders a year after it downgraded 15 banks in a review of the global financial system.
Even as America looks towards an energy-independent future, debate continues to stir over the importance of green energy and natural gas exports. And although some have argued that government intervention is hindering industry growth, the threat of significant market failures can also hurt long-term economic and environmental sustainability.
The U.S. budget deficit will fall to $642 billion this year from $1.1 trillion in 2012 as higher tax revenues and spending cuts take effect, said the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday.
With no further congressional action, the CBO added that the deficit will fall to $378 billion by 2015, a sharp contrast to the $1 trillion budget deficits in each of President Barack Obama’s first four years in office.
The U.S. military will spend close to $7 billion on logistical issues when it finally pulls out its troops and equipment from Afghanistan by the end of next year, estimated defense experts to Bloomberg on Sunday.
During the last three years, the mantra in the U.S. for shale has been, “Drill, baby, drill.” But the reality is there is only one true gas formation in the U.S. that is increasing production – Marcellus – while every other single shale gas play is now in decline.
Since injecting more than $2 trillion into the financial system through three rounds of quantitative easing, the U.S. Federal Reserve is gradually realising that their experiment to kick-start the economy with near-zero interest rates has failed. Contemplating an exit strategy however may prove to be far more difficult; as loose monetary policy over the last five years has boosted leverage and risk-taking in financial markets; increasing the risk of a credit and asset bubble as large, if not larger, than the previous one.
Income inequality surged during the first two years of the economic recovery as the top 7 percent of Americans saw their average net worth increase by 28 percent between 2009 and 2011, while the wealth of the remaining 93 percent of the population steadily declined during the same period, according to a study by the Pew Research Centre.
America’s burdensome system of immigration laws is costing the economy $30 billion a year, according to a new study by centre-right think-tank American Action Forum (AAF) on Thursday, noting a hypothetical skilled immigrant would spend roughly 18 hours and $2,500 filling out at least 16 forms on his or her path to naturalization.
