United States Economy Overview 3

United States Economy Overview Part 3

Northern America

Several episodes that have strongly affected American and world public opinion have been somehow demonstrated: some urban riots (in Los Angeles and Miami, in particular, in 1992), evidently fueled by the state of tension among the population of the disadvantaged areas of the big cities; and then the siege of Waco (1993) and the Oklahoma City bombing (1995) which have made more and more evident the deep and growing opposition of certain groups to the development model of the United States. It was in the 1990s, however, that the country’s general economic growth became quite clear, starting from macroeconomic indicators: GNP, for example, started to grow again at an annual rate of between 2% and 4%, with a fluctuating but decidedly positive trend thanks also to a reversal of the trend in growth support strategies, coinciding with the inauguration of the Clinton presidency, whose concerns have focused on various fronts. Firstly, the consolidation of public finances, through a containment of military and health expenditure and an increase in revenues, also thanks to the simultaneous development of financial markets and the fight against tax evasion. Secondly, a major effort to control inflation and interest rates. Thirdly, the reform of the social protection system, through a series of measures such as the increase of minimum wages, support for disadvantaged families, incentives for employment, the cutting of unemployment benefits in order to discourage forms of addiction etc. United States is a country located in North America according to EHEALTHFACTS.ORG.

Last but not least, substantial support for IT and technological growth, starting with the establishment of a Council for the conciliation of scientific and political issues and the strategic coordination of the sector, to arrive at opening up of the telecommunications system to foreign operators and the search for alternative energy sources. The growth of the 1990s, however, did not affect all production sectors in a uniform way: agriculture, in particular, despite its excellent profitability, saw its contribution to wealth formation significantly decrease (2% in the 1990s, which has become 1% in the new millennium); the industry, in turn, recorded a significant recovery in terms of competitiveness, but at the cost of a sharp decrease in the number of employees, with a consequent reduction in the share of GDP produced, which fell to a fifth. Much of the growth accumulated during the 1990s is therefore attributable to the tertiary sector, capable of absorbing about 75% of the population (80, 8% in 2018), and to contribute more than 70% to national wealth (which rose to 80.7% in 2017). The service sector has driven the development of the whole economy even in the early years of the new century, thanks above all to the growth of advanced tertiary and high technology sectors, in particular telematics and information technology. The weight of the IT industrial sector is linked not only to the importance given to research, development and the large allocation of funds, but also to the strategic importance that it has, given its multiplicative effect in the creation of wealth, in the sectors that they use the technology produced (software, hardware, data processing) and applications (in particular those of telecommunications: mobile telephony, multimedia services, etc.). Not only that, but the increasingly extraordinary spread of information technology has contributed to the creation of new market behaviors and of what has been defined as the new economy., a network of companies, activities, investments based on rules and procedures managed directly through the web, characterized by a high level of innovation and an equally rapid evolutionary process, according to operating principles that are completely different from the methods of the productive economy. However, while the federal budget recorded a record surplus of 211 billion dollars in 2000, the trade deficit remained high, especially following the decline in exports and the rise in oil prices. The new millennium has also opened under the sign of ever greater international integration, an evident testimony of how much economic interconnections with other countries remain of vital importance for the United States, despite the figures recorded at the macroeconomic level, they may suggest a self-sufficient economic reality. Rather than maintaining a position of prestige, the search for an expansion of exchange networks reveals in fact how important it is for the United States to maintain a high degree of freedom, albeit controlled and limited by the maintenance of some forms of protectionism, in terms of commercial and financial exchanges. With this in mind, the United States has signed agreements for the reduction of customs duties (in terms of commercial and financial exchanges. With this in mind, the United States has signed agreements for the reduction of customs duties (in terms of commercial and financial exchanges. With this in mind, the United States has signed agreements for the reduction of customs duties (Viet Nam), intensified relations with the Caribbean area (agreements with CARICOM) and with the countries of the south-eastern area (negotiations with ASEAN) but above all in 2000 they reached an important agreement with China, which introduced measures of industrial and commercial liberalization, paving the way for the Asian country to join the WTO (2001).

Despite the pull exercised by the third sector, the excessive trust placed in technologies has led to the assignment of disproportionate values ​​to the shares of the industries of the new economy, protagonists of a veritable speculative bubble, contributing to a sharp slowdown at the beginning of the new millennium, also aggravated by the credit policies adopted between 2001 and 2004 in relation to the home loan market. The lowering of discount rates by the Federal Reserve and the socio-economic consequences caused by September 11, 2001 they have further rooted phenomena of instability, entailing cascading repercussions, both in the form of share falls, and in the form of a deep crisis, which affected many sectors, from industry to services.

United States Economy Overview 3