Economy
Quick Facts
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) = $19.41 trillion (highest in the world)
GDP per capita = $57,300
Unemployment rate = 5%
Poverty rate = 15%
Resources
The United States is very rich in natural resources. It is an oil producing country with the capacity to both drill and refine petroleum. It has the world's largest coal reserves. It has an abundance of many other natural resources as well including copper, rare earth minerals, natural gas, uranium, and more. Perhaps the US's most valuable resources are its vast tracts of arable land and massive freshwater reserves in the form of groundwater. These resources spurred America's rapid rise to being a world power over a hundred years ago.
Influence
The US economy is the most closely watched in the world. Because if its size and the purchasing power of American consumers, changes in the US economy tend to be felt all over the world. Many of the global recessions that have happened in the past 100 years can be traces to fluctuations in the US economy. America's stock exchanges are also the most influential where all of the world's largest and most powerful companies are traded.
The general good health of the US economy serves as a magnet for the world's economic migrants. People from all over the world move to the US for high-paying jobs that they can't be found in their home countries.
Aside from being large, the US economy is the most technological advanced as well. Most of the world's most innovative companies are American, and the US remains the home of the most sate-of-the-art tech.
