The United States economy has experienced many ups and downs for the past 42 years. There are many changing factors that influence the economy which includes the Gross Domestic Product, the government deficit, inflation, unemployment, and employment. Each of these factors give an indication to some degree of the current state of the United States economy. However, the strength of the economy has done anything but stay constant since 1970. Since 1970, each of the previous stated factors have changed year to year. By looking at each of the factors individually, one can get a general sense of the current state of the economy and possibly make future predictions as to where the economy is headed.
Since 1970, GDP has steadily grown linearly. There has only been a few years where the real GDP has dropped but only by an insginificant amount. However, there was one year where the GDP dropped by $126 billion in the year 1982. During this year, the United States experienced a recession. However, the following year, the GDP was able to grow more than the amount it decreased the previous year; it increased $300 billion, thus, offsetting the loss of the prior year. After this minor recession, there was little to no decrease in GDP in the subsequent years.
From 1997-2000, GDP experienced a huge amount of growth each year for four consecuvtive years. This growth was during the internet stock bubble. There were many new internet startups during these years and many people investing into them. Also, because of such high GDP these years, there was a government surplus, but only for this four year period. However, when the internet stock bubble burst in 2001, the GDP did not increase nearly as much as it had the four prior years. However, throughout the rest of the early 2000s, the GDP continued to increase without any major hazards.
Nonetheless, this growth in GDP was only