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Right Now America Has The Strongest Economy in The World-From Obama Himself
Right Now America Has The Strongest Economy in The World-From Obama Himself
Right Now America Has The Strongest Economy in The World-From Obama Himself
Jacobson, 16 (Louis Jacobson, January 14th, 2016, Barack Obama says U.S.
has 'strongest, most durable economy in the world' during State of the
Union, Politifact, http://www.politifact.com/truth-ometer/statements/2016/jan/14/barack-obama/barack-obama-says-us-hasstrongest-most-durable-ec/ )
President Barack Obama presented a range of statistics designed to show his
economic record in a positive light during his 2016 State of the Union
address. He kicked it off with this assertion: "The United States of
America, right now, has the strongest, most durable economy in the
world ." A reader asked us to fact-check this after hearing a similar claim by Obama in an interview with Matt Lauer in the run-up to
the State of the Union. So we took a closer look. We should note up front that many of the experts we checked with considered Obamas
claim to be vague and difficult to prove. "This is the type of braggadocio statement that is hard to interpret in a rigorous way," said Barry
Bosworth, an economist at the Brookings Institution. However, many of the same experts agreed that if you had to choose one country for
the title of "strongest, most durable economy in the world," it would be the United States. White House evidence: GDP and jobs When we
asked the White House for their evidence, a spokeswoman said the
order by projected GDP growth in 2016). For starters, many of the countries with higher projected growth rates have significantly smaller
economies, making a comparison with the United States apples-to-oranges. These countries include Ireland, Iceland, the Slovak Republic,
Poland, Israel, Latvia, Luxembourg, Lithuania and Estonia. In addition, a few countries have much higher projected growth rates, but they are
generally considered emerging economies, making for a different but equally questionable type of apples-to-oranges comparison. These
include the top three countries on the projected-growth list: India, China and Indonesia. "Many developing and emerging market countries will
surpass the United States in terms of GDP growth, but that's not really a fair comparison," said Jon Hoddenbagh, an assistant professor of
international economics at Johns Hopkins University. "It's easier to catch up in productivity when you are well below the technological frontier,
and more difficult to grow at the technological frontier itself, which is where the United States and other advanced economies find
Russia. The United States vs. its G7 rivals The most direct comparisons to the United States are probably the other six members of the elite
Group of 7 economies the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan. And all of them rank below the United States when
unemployment rate than the United States current 5 percent. Japans unemployment rate is 3.3 percent. "There are small countries like
Singapore and Denmark that have even lower unemployment rates, but an unemployment rate of 5 percent is considered near the full
employment level," Hoddenbagh said. "Relative to other large advanced economies, the U.S. economy is in a good position." Hoddenbagh
the strength of the U.S. dollar against most other major currencies
indicates the relative strength of the U.S. economy compared to other
advanced, industrialized nations. He noted that the Trade-Weighted U.S. Dollar Index is at its highest level since
added that the
2003. Germany has been an economic bulwark for Europe. But while Germany has a lower debt-to-GDP ratio than the United States does, its
also grappling with a higher unemployment rate, greater risks from the economic weakness of its European neighbors, and a larger-scale
challenge than the United States in integrating refugees into its population, Hoddenbagh said. "I find it a stretch to argue Germany is leaps
and bounds ahead of the United States economically," he said. "Relative to the weak performance of many other countries, the U.S. economy
doesn't look so bad." Other
said Simon Johnson, a professor of entrepreneurship at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Our ruling Obama said that "the United States of America, right now, has the strongest, most durable economy in the world." Its a claim
thats vague and hard to assess, but when comparing the United States to the most advanced economies in the world, one can make a
credible case that the United States is in the strongest position, at least "right now." We rate the claim Mostly True.