A competitive and productive economy, the US Economy is apparently largest in the world. It is a capitalist economy, which registered a 2.1% GDP growth rate in the 2nd quarter of 2008. Services form the major sectors of the US Economy.
Gas prices are on the rise in the US, land of cheap gas. President Obama and the Republicans have been going head to head over the energy policy – the president wants to repeal oil tax subsidies, House Speaker John Boehner issued a statement that oil companies should “pay their fair share”.
Citing concerns about the national debt, a handful of right-wing Missouri state legislators
have blocked a vote to accept federal money to extend unemployment benefits,
effectively cutting financial assistance for more than 10,000 out-of-work residents.
The move, which came despite widespread REPUBLICAN support for extending the benefits,
puts Missouri at the center of a growing national discussion about reining in unemployment benefits
at a time when both the job market and government coffers are in a severely weakened state.
Resale and consignment shops, emboldened by the Great Recession, are expanding as Americans cling to their bargain-hunting ways.
No longer relegated to back alleys, these secondhand stores are moving into prime locations,
taking over spaces once occupied by mainstream retailers Linens ‘N Things and Circuit City, now bankrupt, and teen clothier Abercrombie & Fitch.
And they’re going national.
Bellevue, Wash.-based thrift-store chain Savers Inc. is taking on its biggest expansion in decades,
NBC’s Tom Brokaw visited Silicon Valley last winter to meet immigrant entrepreneurs.
At Microsoft’s Mountain View campus, he met with a dozen of them.
More than half said that they might be forced to return to their home countries.
That’s because they have the same visa issues that Kunal Bahl had.
Unable to get a visa that would allow him to start a company after he graduated from Wharton in 2007, Kunal returned home to India.
In February 2010, he started SnapDeal—India’s Groupon.
Two and a half years ago, Congress passed the legislation that bailed out America’s banks, especially its largest, the infamous “Too-Big-To-Fail”
The Obama regime typically declared its mission accomplished, calling the program remarkably effective “by any objective measure.”
On his last day as the Special Inspector General of the bailout program,
Neil Barofsky wrote in the New York Times:
“I regret to say that I strongly disagree.
The state budget squeeze is fast becoming a city budget squeeze,
as struggling states around the nation plan deep cuts in aid to cities and local governments
that will almost certainly result in more diminution in services, layoffs and local tax increases.
The reductions are widespread.
Ohio plans to slash aid to Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and other cities and local governments
by more than a half-billion dollars over the next two years
Even as ordinary investors look forward to the prospect of larger dividend payouts by the big banks,
another group is poised for a rich payday:
bank chief executives.
On Friday, the Federal Reserve gave a handful of institutions, including JPMorgan Chase and Capital One,
permission to pay higher dividends, another sign of the predictable success of banks since the depths of the financial crisis they created.
Producer prices surged in February at their fastest pace in about 18 months,
lifted by high food and energy prices,
according to a government report on Wednesday that pointed to a buildup in inflation pressures.
In a second report, the government said housing starts declined the most in 27 years in February,
while building permits dropped to their lowest level on record,
a sign that the beleaguered real estate sector has yet to rebound from its deep slump.
The US is the world’s largest economy and home to dynamic and innovative technology companies and entrepreneurs ahead of our time. However, global competition is heating up in these areas, especially in China. In his thought-provoking article on Time, Fareed Zakaria asks is America still number one?
