How Will America Be A Year From Today - 965 Words

Joani Mitre Mrs. Girard AP Economics November 23, 2014 How Will America be a Year From Today? Five years after the end of the Great Recession, there is finally some cause for optimism. GDP and employment growth are modestly increasing and manufacturing is bouncing back, in large part due to growing exports. According to economists surveyed by Bloomberg, consumer spending drives about two-thirds of the GDP, and economists expect that spending in the third quarter has been brisk, given relatively high consumer confidence levels. Home-grown demand won’t insulate the U.S. economy from a global slowdown, but it can push the U.S. toward a year of decent growth. By Patrick Gillespie @CNNMoney October 30, 2014: 10:36 AM ET Real gross†¦show more content†¦While it provides an indication of how far the economy has come on the long road it is not a direct measure of the nation s welfare or well-being. GDP measures only output and makes no claims on the quality of that output. GDP lets alone subjective concepts such as social progress or human happiness. It only offers a value of marketed goods and services produced in a country in a given time frame but from the perspective of a citizen living with the day-to-day realities of life, GDP can be rather misleading. Based on that, optimism about national economy remains still limited. Even though public’s assessment of job availability has improved modestly it has done nothing to boost overall economic optimism. A national survey by the Pew Research Center, conducted August 20-24, 2014 among 1,501 adults finds that 33% say there are plenty of jobs available where they live, while 58% say that jobs are difficult to find. 56% say their family’s incomes are falling behind the cost of living. 45% say they have experienced one or more serious financial hardships (job layoff), an inability to pay for health care or trouble with a collection agency over the past year. Among those with low family incomes (less than $30,000 a year), fully 66% have confronted at least one serious financial problem. A positive outlook is the drop of unemployment rate in October as a result of the increase in labor force. Many laid-off workers found jobs. The consumers