1、 https:/crsreports.congress.gov December 23, 2016U.S. Economy in a Global ContextCongress faces difficult challenges in formulating policies to foster economic growth. In the long run, the continuing and growing imbalance between federal spending and revenues would be a major challenge if current po
2、licies are continued. This imbalance will lead to unsustainable growth in the federal debt, which crowds out investment. The economy appears to have largely recovered from the 2007-2009 recession. Nevertheless, deficit reduction that is too large in the near term could damage what is still an incomp
3、lete recovery. Addressing this tension in policy prescriptions for the short term and the long term is also taking place in an increasingly global environment that interacts with these policies. Short-Run Challenges Unemployment The 2007-2009 recession was severe, and the recovery has been relativel
4、y slow. The unemployment rate rose from nearly 4.7% in November 2007 to 10% in 2009, before declining to pre-recession levels over the next seven years. As of November 2016, the unemployment rate stands at 4.6% and has remained equal to 5.0% or lower since October 2015. According to the Congressiona
