The United States military remains the largest force on the planet. The superpower’s 2016 military expenditure of $611 billion was equivalent to approximately 36% of all global military spending. U.S. military spending was also…
Climate change is widely viewed as one of the long-term events most threatening to the Earth and human life. Research shows that since the Industrial Revolution in the 1700s, changes in the Earth’s climate…
Approximately 125 million Americans live in areas where they are exposed to dangerously high levels of air pollution, a considerable decline from the year before. This has been the trend since the Clean Air…
Already making hundreds of times what most Americans earn in a year, CEOs at top U.S. corporations received a pay raise in 2016. The average executive officer at one of the nation’s 100 largest…
The U.S. economic system encourages cost-cutting at every stage of business. While taxes are a yearly expense for small businesses, working families, and individuals, large U.S. companies avoid billions in taxes each year on…
Financial insecurity, health problems, strenuous work hours, and long commute times can all contribute to stress. In the United States, none of these stressors are especially rare. And while some level of stress can…
The vast majority of people have experienced, are dealing with, or will someday likely endure any number of medical problems. Serious diseases, chronic conditions, and grave injuries or accidents often mean a trip to…
There were an estimated 550,000 homeless people across the United States in January 2016, nearly 15,000 fewer than there were in the first month of 2015, a 3% decline. The U.S. Department of Housing and…
Over the Great Recession, an estimated 7 million Americans lost their homes, 7.6 million lost their jobs, and nearly every American experienced lower economic security. Along with economic hardship and insecurity, Americans’ drug use…
For 83 straight months, nearly seven years, the U.S. private sector has added jobs. Unemployment has steadily declined and remains close to a 10-year low. And with investors confident about the economy, the Dow…
In an executive order signed Friday, President Donald Trump enacted a 120-day suspension of all refugee admissions to the United States, and a 90-day suspension of all visas for nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries:…
Property taxes are different from income and sales taxes. They do not depend on how much money you earn or on how much you spend. Property taxes are based entirely on how much the…
The nation’s elderly population is growing. The 2010 decennial census recorded the greatest number and proportion of Americans age 65 and older ever recorded, at 40.3 million people, or 13% of the U.S. population.…
The U.S. housing market improved over the course of 2016. Home purchases are up, foreclosure activity is down, and in a vote of confidence for the U.S. economy, the Federal Reserve announced last year…
After a decline in 2015, U.S. patenting activity rose to a record high in 2016. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted 304,126 patents last year, up from 298,407 in 2015. The increase was…
Donald Trump will officially become president on January 20. His election has prompted a wide range of reactions, from supporters believing he is a populist leader to opponents fearing his rise to power threatens…
The U.S. housing market improved over the course of 2016. Home purchases are up, foreclosure activity is down, and interest rates are on the rise after the Federal Reserve hiked rates recently in response…
Many factors influence a company’s performance — some within the control of corporate leadership and some outside out of it. Anything from government regulations, economic conditions, the price of oil, and unpredictable events can…
President-elect Donald Trump this month tweeted, “The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability.” Whether or not U.S. nuclear strategy meaningfully changes in coming years, the United States and Russia will…
The FBI reported Monday that 1,197,704 violent crimes were committed in 2015, up 3.9% from 2014. While the increase is discouraging, it is by no means a crime wave. Some areas have serious crime…
