Market Research
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between 2005 and the first half of 2008 threatened inflation and unemployment, as higher gasoline
prices ate into consumers' budgets. Imported oil accounts for about 60% of US consumption.
Long-term problems include inadequate investment in economic infrastructure, rapidly rising
medical and pension costs of an aging population, sizable trade and budget deficits, and stagnation
of family income in the lower economic groups. The merchandise trade deficit reached a record
$840 billion in 2008 before shrinking to $506 billion in 2009, and ramping back up to $630 billion in
2010. The global economic downturn, the sub-prime mortgage crisis, investment bank failures,
falling home prices, and tight credit pushed the United States into a recession by mid-2008. GDP
contracted until the third quarter of 2009, making this the deepest and longest downturn since the
Great Depression.
