Wednesday, July 1, 2009

The Strength of America, continued

We mentioned the other day that despite the downturn in the stock market, the New York Stock Exchange remains, by far, the most highly valued exchange in the world. But that doesn't begin to capture the size and strength of the American economy. With just 4.5 percent of the world’s population, the United States accounts for nearly a quarter of global GDP, and is roughly twice as large as the next largest economy, China. According to the International Monetary Fund, we produced more goods and services in 2007 than the next four largest economies combined.

Even if you look just at manufactured goods, the U.S. still leads the world. Despite the tremendous growth in China’s manufacturing output, the IMF reported that the U.S. was still the leader in 2006, the last year for which we have numbers, manufacturing 20.5 percent of the world’s goods. China was second with 13 percent. The U.S. produced more manufactured goods than Japan and Germany combined. Our manufacturing base may be losing some of its muscle, but it's still robust.

Unsurprisingly, America is also the largest exporter of goods and services in the world. We exported $1.84 trillion worth of goods and services in 2008, up 12 percent from 2007.

That's a powerful economy. In good times and bad, America continues to lead the world.

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