United States

Country Project

Political System

The United States is a democratic republic. More specifically, it is a federal republic and a constitutional representative democracy. Its federal branch is branched in three organizations of power: legislative, executive, and judicial. The modern political system in the US consists of a two-party system dominated by the Democratic Party and Republican Party. These two parties have won every single US election since 1852.

Freedoms

The First Ammendment of the US Constitution prevents Congress from creating laws that inhibit the establishment of religion, the exercise of religion, free speech, freedom of press, and the right to peaceful assembly. Furthermore, citizens are given the freedom to petition to the government, freedom from want, freedom from fear, and freedom to expression. Citizens are given the right to vote, apply for federal employment, run for office, and pursue "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

GDP

The GDP of the United States is $18.57 trillion, making it rank 1 on the GDP nominal rank. Their GDP per capita rank is $57,466.79, ranking it at 20th. With a free-market economy, inclination for entrepreneurship, world-class research universities, and high skilled immigrants, United States is the richest company in the world. The US currency is the main fiat currency used around the world.

Debt

US national debt has reached 21.3 billion, which is 114% of the GDP. The economy benefits from this deficit spending. An increase of spending will boost economies by paying for defense equipment, health care, and building construction. Since the risk for US Treasury Bonds are so low, interest payments remain low, allowing the US to have the money to grow the economy.

Taxation

US income tax is calculated by brackets. The brackets varied between $12,700 to $483,400 and would charge tax rates between 10% to 39.6%. Capital gains are taxed from 10-20% depending on the income tax bracket it falls in. Federal corporate tax is now a flat 21% due to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

Exports and Imports

US exports amounted to $1.32 trillion, ranking it 2nd in the world. Its imports were at $2.12 trillion, ranking it 1st in the world. The number one export is in Planes, Helicopters, and/or Spacecrafts at 4.5% of total exports. The number one import is Cars at 8.2%. The US's largest trade partner is China, with $636 billion going both ways. Canada comes next at $582.4 billion going both ways.

Health

The life expectancy in the US is 78.74 years, ranking it at 31th in the world. The obesity rate in the US is 35% and heart disease is the number one cause of death (23.4%). The infant mortality rate is 5.8 per 1000, ranking the US at 170 out of 223 countries.

Wealth

The Gini Coefficient of the US is 80.56, making it the country with the highest wealth inequality. The richest 20% of Americans hold 84% of the nation's wealth, while the bottom 40% have less than 1%. The top 1% own half the country's stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, while the bottom half of the country own only half a percent of these investments.

Social Programs

The United States as a whole does not have universal health care, but 92% of citizens have health insurance coverage. The US has child care assistance benefits, social security, unemployment benefits, public school education, and food stamps.

Current Events

2018 China-US Trade War

The current China-US trade war is one where President Trump promises to fix China's abuse of the international economic system. The two countries are continually introducing more trade tariffs. Currently, the Trump administration is proposing a 10% tariff on over $200 billion worth of Chinese products. Trump has declared that these tariffs were "necessary to protect national security and the intellectual property of US businesses".

The Apple Money Problem

Apple does not pay US taxes. They move their patents to a subsidiary in Ireland. Then, they license these patents to Apple USA. Apple USA in turn writes off their entire annual profits as an expense and sends all the money to their Irish subsidiary. In this way, Apple avoids paying any corporate tax to the United States. In an effort to bring back companies in the US, corporate taxes have been considerably lowered.

American EB-5 Investment

The US offers 10,000 applicants to the American EB-5 visa scheme, where applicants can invest $500,000 to get a green card. Trump approved the renewal of the EB-5 Visa when he was elected into office. However, the program is set to expire at the end of September, 2018.

Companies

Apple

Apple is the largest company in the United States and the world. On August 2nd, Apple reached a $1 trillion market cap, making it the first publicly traded US company to reach $1 trillion. In total, there are 700 million iPhones in use worldwide, accounting to 33.3% of smartphone usage. In the 2017 fiscal year, Apple sold a total of 216.76 million iPhones.

Amazon

Amazon is the second largest company in the United States, valued at $960 billion USD at the moment. It also crossed the one billion mark on September 6th. Amazon is currently ranked second on the list. It delivers most of consumer goods solutions in the continental US and is also responsible for an array of data services under their Amazon Web Services unit.

Alphabet

Alphabet is a conglomerate that reached a market cap of $775 billion. This makes it rank 3 in US company values. Alphabet owns a multitude of companies, including Google, Nest, Youtube, Deepmind, and X. Google also offers data services over Google Drive and is the company with the most data on consumers in the United States.

Major Industries

Energy

Technological advancements in drilling and fracking of shale formations has allowed for an increase in oil and gas production. The United States has ousted both UAE and Russia as the world's largest oil producer and the latter as the largest natural gas producer. Currently, the US invests $200 billion in oil and gas.

Manufacturing

Manufacturing contributes $2 trillion to the economy, or 12% and supports 17.6 million US jobs. The energy industry impacts this sector directly. Fracking has created a boom in manufacturing by making gas prices cheaper. Car and airplane manufacturing is the largest exports of the United States.

Transportation

Private transportation, especially in the general-freight trucking sector is a major industry in the United States. Logistics and transportation, which includes air, freight, martime, and trucking services, totals to $1.33 billion, or 8.5% of the total GDP.

Healthcare

The healthcare industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the US. This is attributed to an aging population and the rise of chronic diseases. The healthcare industry makes up $3.3 trillion or 17.4% of the total GDP.

Agriculture

Agriculture has been surging as global demands for agricultural exports grow. Exports for agriculture have scaled 41% in the past five years. 16.9 million jobs in the US are in the farm, forestry, and fishing sectors. This accounts to 9.2% of total US employment.

Citations

List of countries by income equality. (2018, July 06). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_equality

List of countries with universal health care. (2018, September 13). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_universal_health_care#United_States

National debt of the United States. (2018, September 06). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_of_the_United_States

Projected GDP Ranking (2018-2023). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://statisticstimes.com/economy/projected-world-gdp-ranking.php

Citations

Simplified accounts for general government: United States. (2017). doi:10.1787/na_ma_dt-v2017-2-table305-en

Taxation in the United States. (2018, September 14). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_the_United_States

The United States Bill of Rights: First 10 Amendments to the Constitution. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.aclu.org/united-states-bill-rights-first-10-amendments-constitution

United States. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/profile/country/usa/

Citations

United States. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/profile/country/usa/

Bhatia, G. (2018, August 08). Investors worry US 'visas to millionaires' program may soon be overhauled. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/30/eb-5-investors-worry-us-visas-to-millionaires-may-soon-be-overhauled.html

List of public corporations by market capitalization. (2018, September 11). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_public_corporations_by_market_capitalization

Citations

Apple's Money Problem (& Why It Won't Buy Netflix). (2018, February 23). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yloJi635Ya8