Question  Go to the internet and find a news article(s) published within the last month that discusses U.S. short-term and long-term economic growth, summarize key points of the article using macroeconomic terminology, and post your response in the Discussions area.

USA Short-Term and Long-Term Economic Growth Discussion

Summary of a News Article

According to Kimberly Amadeo (2022), a writer for The Balance, the US economy is doing well. Kimberly employs six facts to give a glimpse of how the US economy is doing. Economists refer to the aforementioned facts as the leading economic indicators since they measure the initial influencers on development.

Reports indicate that following increased job losses in 2020, the unemployment rates have decreased from 4.1% in November 2021 to 3.8% in December 2021. According to the gross domestic product (GDP) measurement, the economy grew by 2.4% in the last quarter of 2021 (Amadeo, 2022). In the third quarter of 2021, orders for durable products such as equipment and machinery were -24.5%, while non-durable products such as pharmaceuticals and foods were 2.1%. Although lawmakers are striving to stimulate the demand, interest rates remain at constant record lows. The country had inflation at 7.1% in December 2021 from 6.7% in November. The above is the Consumer Price Index for all products in the past year, prior to seasonal adjustments (Amadeo, 2022). Lastly, the stock market is footing steady, with Nasdaq and S&P lowering in January but generally maintaining growth in the last 12 months.

Reflection

When I started the above discussion assignment, I had little knowledge about economics, our country’s GDP, and how it is derived. However, I have learned some extra knowledge to comprehend how our country’s financial systems function while incorporating my understanding of the impacts of unemployment, stock markets, GDP, durable goods, interest rates, and inflation. In the future, I can apply the knowledge I gained to determine the health of the economy, hence making informed decisions such as when to invest in the business of selling durable goods such as machinery.

References

Amadeo, K. (2022, January 14). How is the US economy doing? The Balance. https://www.thebalance.com/how-is-the-economy-doing-3306046#toc-stock-market