АBAI KAZAKH NATIONAL PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY

PROJECT

The economy of the United

Student: Alibekova A.D

Student: Alibekova A.D

Almaty 2021

The economy of the United States of America

1.1 The modern American economy traces its roots to the quest of European settlers for economic gain in
the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. The New World then progressed from a marginally successful colonial
economy to a small, independent farming economy and, eventually, to a highly complex industrial economy.
During this evolution, the United States developed ever more complex institutions to match its growth. And
while government involvement in the economy has been a consistent theme, the extent of that involvement
generally has increased.
North America's first inhabitants were Native Americans -- indigenous peoples who are believed to
have traveled to America about 20,000 years earlier across a land bridge from Asia, where the Bering Strait
is today. (They were mistakenly called "Indians" by European explorers, who thought they had reached
India when first landing in the Americas.) These native peoples were organized in tribes and, in some cases,
confederations of tribes. While they traded among themselves, they had little contact with peoples on other
continents, even with other native peoples in South America, before European settlers began arriving. What
economic systems they did develop were destroyed by the Europeans who settled their lands.In 1492,
Christopher Columbus, an Italian sailing under the Spanish flag, set out to find a southwest passage to Asia
and discovered a "New World." For the next 100 years, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and French
explorers sailed from Europe for the New World, looking for gold, riches, honor, and glory.
Colonization
Early settlers had a variety of reasons for seeking a new homeland. The Pilgrims of Massachusetts were
pious, self-disciplined English people who wanted to escape religious persecution. Other colonies, such as
Virginia, were founded principally as business ventures. Often, though, piety and profits went hand-in-
hand.England's success at colonizing what would become the United States was due in large part to its use
of charter companies. Charter companies were groups of stockholders (usually merchants and wealthy
landowners) who sought personal economic gain and, perhaps, wanted also to advance England's national
goals. While the private sector financed the companies, the King provided each project with a charter or
grant conferring economic rights as well as political and judicial authority. The colonies generally did not
show quick profits, however, and the English investors often turned over their colonial charters to the
settlers. The political implications, although not realized at the time, were enormous. The colonists were left
to build their own lives, their own communities, and their own economy -- in effect, to start constructing the
rudiments of a new nation.What early colonial prosperity there was resulted from trapping and trading in
furs. In addition, fishing was a primary source of wealth in Massachusetts. But throughout the colonies,
people lived primarily on small farms and were self-sufficient. In the few small cities and among the larger
plantations of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, some necessities and virtually all luxuries were
imported in return for tobacco, rice, and indigo (blue dye) exports.
    Supportive industries developed as the colonies grew. A variety of specialized sawmills and gristmills
appeared. Colonists established shipyards to build fishing fleets and, in time, trading vessels. The also built
small iron forges. By the 18th century, regional patterns of development had become clear: the New England
colonies relied on ship-building and sailing to generate wealth; plantations (many using slave labor) in
Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas grew tobacco, rice, and indigo; and the middle colonies of New York,
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware shipped general crops and furs. Except for slaves, standards of
living were generally high -- higher, in fact, than in England itself. Because English investors had
withdrawn, the field was open to entrepreneurs among the colonists.
     By 1770, the North American colonies were ready, both economically and politically, to become part of
the emerging self-government movement that had dominated English politics since the time of James I
(1603-1625). Disputes developed with England over taxation and other matters; Americans hoped for a
modification of English taxes and regulations that would satisfy their demand for more self-government.
Few thought the mounting quarrel with the English government would lead to all-out war against the British
and to independence for the colonies.
The New Nation's Economy.The U.S. Constitution, adopted in 1787 and in effect to this day, was in many
ways a work of creative genius. As an economic charter, it established that the entire nation -- stretching
then from Maine to Georgia, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi Valley -- was a unified, or
"common," market. There were to be no tariffs or taxes on interstate commerce. The Constitution provided
that the federal government could regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the states, establish
uniform bankruptcy laws, create money and regulate its value, fix standards of weights and measures,
establish post offices and roads, and fix rules governing patents and copyrights. The last-mentioned clause
was an early recognition of the importance of "intellectual property," a matter that would assume great
importance in trade negotiations in the late 20th century.
     Alexander Hamilton, one of the nation's Founding Fathers and its first secretary of the treasury,
advocated an economic development strategy in which the federal government would nurture infant
industries by providing overt subsidies and imposing protective tariffs on imports. He also urged the federal
government to create a national bank and to assume the public debts that the colonies had incurred during
the Revolutionary War. The new government dallied over some of Hamilton's proposals, but ultimately it
did make tariffs an essential part of American foreign policy -- a position that lasted until almost the middle
of the 20th century.Although early American farmers feared that a national bank would serve the rich at the
expense of the poor, the first National Bank of the United States was chartered in 1791; it lasted until 1811,
after which a successor bank was chartered.
     Hamilton believed the United States should pursue economic growth through diversified shipping,
manufacturing, and banking. Hamilton's political rival, Thomas Jefferson, based his philosophy on
protecting the common man from political and economic tyranny. He particularly praised small farmers as
"the most valuable citizens." In 1801, Jefferson became president (1801-1809) and turned to promoting a
more decentralized, agrarian democracy.
Movement South and Westwar.Cotton, at first a small-scale crop in the South, boomed following Eli
Whitney's invention in 1793 of the cotton gin, a machine that separated raw cotton from seeds and other
waste. Planters in the South bought land from small farmers who frequently moved farther west. Soon, large
plantations, supported by slave labor, made some families very wealthy.
     It wasn't just southerners who were moving west, however. Whole villages in the East sometimes
uprooted and established new settlements in the more fertile farmland of the Midwest. While western settlers
are often depicted as fiercely independent and strongly opposed to any kind of government control or
interference, they actually received a lot of government help, directly and indirectly. Government-created
national roads and waterways, such as the Cumberland Pike (1818) and the Erie Canal (1825), helped new
settlers migrate west and later helped move western farm produce to market.
     Many Americans, both poor and rich, idealized Andrew Jackson, who became president in 1829, because
he had started life in a log cabin in frontier territory. President Jackson (1829-1837) opposed the successor
to Hamilton's National Bank, which he believed favored the entrenched interests of the East against the
West. When he was elected for a second term, Jackson opposed renewing the bank's charter, and Congress
supported him. Their actions shook confidence in the nation's financial system, and business panics occurred
in both 1834 and 1837.
The Postwar Economy: 1945-1960.Many Americans feared that the end of World War II and the subsequent
drop in military spending might bring back the hard times of the Great Depression. But instead, pent-up
consumer demand fueled exceptionally strong economic growth in the postwar period. The automobile
industry successfully converted back to producing cars, and new industries such as aviation and electronics
grew by leaps and bounds. A housing boom, stimulated in part by easily affordable mortgages for returning
members of the military, added to the expansion. The nation's gross national product rose from about
$200,000 million in 1940 to $300,000 million in 1950 and to more than $500,000 million in 1960. At the
same time, the jump in postwar births, known as the "baby boom," increased the number of consumers.
More and more Americans joined the middle class.The United States also recognized during the postwar
period the need to restructure international monetary arrangements, spearheading the creation of the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank -- institutions designed to ensure an open, capitalist
international economy.
     Business, meanwhile, entered a period marked by consolidation. Firms merged to create huge, diversified
conglomerates. International Telephone and Telegraph, for instance, bought Sheraton Hotels, Continental
Banking, Hartford Fire Insurance, Avis Rent-a-Car, and other companies.
Years of Change: The 1960s and 1970s.The 1950s in America are often described as a time of complacency.
By contrast, the 1960s and 1970s were a time of great change. New nations emerged around the world,
insurgent movements sought to overthrow existing governments, established countries grew to become
economic powerhouses that rivaled the United States, and economic relationships came to predominate in a
world that increasingly recognized military might could not be the only means of growth and expansion.
     President John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) ushered in a more activist approach to governing. During his
1960 presidential campaign, Kennedy said he would ask Americans to meet the challenges of the "New
Frontier." As president, he sought to accelerate economic growth by increasing government spending and
cutting taxes, and he pressed for medical help for the elderly, aid for inner cities, and increased funds for
education. Many of these proposals were not enacted, although Kennedy's vision of sending Americans
abroad to help developing nations did materialize with the creation of the Peace Corps. Kennedy also
stepped up American space exploration. After his death, the American space program surpassed Soviet
achievements and culminated in the landing of American astronauts on the moon in July 1969.
          Military spending also increased as American's presence in Vietnam grew. What had started as a small
military action under Kennedy mushroomed into a major military initiative during Johnson's presidency.
Ironically, spending on both wars -- the war on poverty and the fighting war in Vietnam -- contributed to
prosperity in the short term. But by the end of the 1960s, the government's failure to raise taxes to pay for
these efforts led to accelerating inflation, which eroded this prosperity. The 1973-1974 oil embargo by
members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) pushed energy prices rapidly higher
and created shortages. Even after the embargo ended, energy prices stayed high, adding to inflation and
eventually causing rising rates of unemployment. Federal budget deficits grew, foreign competition
intensified, and the stock market sagged.
     The Vietnam War dragged on until 1975, President Richard Nixon (1969-1973) resigned under a cloud of
impeachment charges, and a group of Americans were taken hostage at the U.S. embassy in Teheran and
held for more than a year. The nation seemed unable to control events, including economic affairs.
America's trade deficit swelled as low-priced and frequently high-quality imports of everything from
automobiles to steel to semiconductors flooded into the United States.
The Economy in the 1980s.The nation endured a deep recession throughout 1982. Business bankruptcies
rose 50 percent over the previous year. Farmers were especially hard hit, as agricultural exports declined,
crop prices fell, and interest rates rose. But while the medicine of a sharp slowdown was hard to swallow, it
did break the destructive cycle in which the economy had been caught. By 1983, inflation had eased, the
economy had rebounded, and the United States began a sustained period of economic growth. The annual
inflation rate remained under 5 percent throughout most of the 1980s and into the 1990s.
     The economic upheaval of the 1970s had important political consequences. The American people
expressed their discontent with federal policies by turning out Carter in 1980 and electing former Hollywood
actor and California governor Ronald Reagan as president. Reagan (1981-1989) based his economic
program on the theory of supply-side economics, which advocated reducing tax rates so people could keep
more of what they earned. The theory was that lower tax rates would induce people to work harder and
longer, and that this in turn would lead to more saving and investment, resulting in more production and
stimulating overall economic growth. While the Reagan-inspired tax cuts served mainly to benefit wealthier
Americans, the economic theory behind the cuts argued that benefits would extend to lower-income people
as well because higher investment would lead new job opportunities and higher wages.
          The recovery that first built up steam in the early 1980s was not without its problems. Farmers,
especially those operating small family farms, continued to face challenges in making a living, especially in
1986 and 1988, when the nation's mid-section was hit by serious droughts, and several years later when it
suffered extensive flooding. Some banks faltered from a combination of tight money and unwise lending
practices, particularly those known as savings and loan associations, which went on a spree of unwise
lending after they were partially deregulated. The federal government had to close many of these institutions
and pay off their depositors, at enormous cost to taxpayers.
     While Reagan and his successor, George Bush (1989-1992), presided as communist regimes collapsed in
the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the 1980s did not entirely erase the economic malaise that had gripped
the country during the 1970s. The United States posted trade deficits in seven of the 10 years of the 1970s,
and the trade deficit swelled throughout the 1980s. Rapidly growing economies in Asia appeared to be
challenging America as economic powerhouses; Japan, in particular, with its emphasis on long-term
planning and close coordination among corporations, banks, and government, seemed to offer an alternative
model for economic growth.
The 1990s and Beyond.The 1990s brought a new president, Bill Clinton (1993-2000). A cautious, moderate
Democrat, Clinton sounded some of the same themes as his predecessors. After unsuccessfully urging
Congress to enact an ambitious proposal to expand health-insurance coverage, Clinton declared that the era
of "big government" was over in America. He pushed to strengthen market forces in some sectors, working
with Congress to open local telephone service to competition. He also joined Republicans to reduce welfare
benefits. Still, although Clinton reduced the size of the federal work force, the government continued to play
a crucial role in the nation's economy. Most of the major innovations of the New Deal, and a good many of
the Great Society, remained in place. And the Federal Reserve system continued to regulate the overall pace
of economic activity, with a watchful eye for any signs of renewed inflation.
               After peaking at $290,000 million in 1992, the federal budget steadily shrank as economic growth
increased tax revenues. In 1998, the government posted its first surplus in 30 years, although a huge debt --
mainly in the form of promised future Social Security payments to the baby boomers -- remained.
Economists, surprised at the combination of rapid growth and continued low inflation, debated whether the
United States had a "new economy" capable of sustaining a faster growth rate than seemed possible based on
the experiences of the previous 40 years.
          While many Americans remained convinced that global economic integration benefited all nations,
the growing interdependence created some dislocations as well. Workers in high-technology industries -- at
which the United States excelled -- fared rather well, but competition from many foreign countries that
generally had lower labor costs tended to dampen wages in traditional manufacturing industries. Then, when
the economies of Japan and other newly industrialized countries in Asia faltered in the late 1990s, shock
waves rippled throughout the global financial system. American economic policy-makers found they
increasingly had to weigh global economic conditions in charting a course for the domestic economy.
     Still, Americans ended the 1990s with a restored sense of confidence. By the end of 1999, the economy
had grown continuously since March 1991, the longest peacetime economic expansion in history.
Unemployment totaled just 4.1 percent of the labor force in November 1999, the lowest rate in nearly 30
years. And consumer prices, which rose just 1.6 percent in 1998 (the smallest increase except for one year
since 1964), climbed only somewhat faster in 1999 (2.4 percent through October). Many challenges lay
ahead, but the nation had weathered the 20th century -- and the enormous changes it brought -- in goo
1.2 The origin of the American dollar is closely related to the history of Europe. The first modern
dollar sign was used by a wealthy trader and planter, Irish by origin, Oliver Pollock.In 1778, New Orleans
businessman Oliver Pollock invented the dollar sign.The origin of the American dollar is closely related to
the history of Europe. At the beginning of the 16th century, a coin with the image of St. Joachim was minted
for the Roman Empire in northwestern Bohemia. The coin was named "Joachimstaler". Over time, they
began to call her simply thaler. Thaler was probably the first world currency. In Spain, it was called Dalero,
in the Southern Netherlands, Daller, in the Scandinavian countries, Daler, in England, the dollar. Other hard
currencies in those centuries were Spanish silver reals and gold doubloons. They were also called dollars.
Such a huge number were kept in the Bank of England that the English king George III ordered the use of
Spanish reals in circulation. Each real was worth 1/8 of a British pound and therefore became known as a
piece of eight. Over time, piece of eight became "peso". The pesos ended up in the North American
colonies, where, like other large silver coins, they also began to be called dollars. After gaining
independence, at the suggestion of Thomas Jefferson, on June 6, 1785, the Continental Congress of the
United States decided that the country's currency is the dollar.The dollar sign also has its own, no less
impressive, history, and although it appeared in print only 211 years ago, in 1797, in the book "American
Accountant" by C. Lee, it was already used in accounting books much earlier. There is no consensus on the
origin of the mark. The face
of the paper dollar was constantly changing. It got its modern look in 1928. The design was done by the
artist, an emigrant from Russia, Sergei Makronovsky. The banknotes depict portraits of US statesmen.
Makronovsky placed on one side of the dollar bill elements of the Great Seal (state emblem) of the United
States, an eagle with an olive branch and arrows, as well as an image of an unfinished pyramid, above which
the "All-Seeing Eye" of the "Great Architect of the Universe" is placed in a luminous triangle. The eagle is
still widely used as the official logo, and the pyramid can only be found on one-dollar bills. There is still no
official explanation why the most common US banknote has such strange symbols. It is believed that
Nicholas Roerich, the great Russian artist and spiritual teacher, had a hand in the design of the American
currency. But it was not possible to find documents or evidence confirming this.Initially, dollars were
printed in black and white. They acquired a green color only in 1929. Probably due to the fact that green is
relatively resistant to external influences and, moreover, this color psychologically evoked confidence in
money and a sense of optimism. In recent years, dollar bills have again taken on new colors - shades of
yellow and pink. The US government intends to change the design of the banknotes every 7-10 years in
order to protect against the same counterfeits. Currently, more than two-thirds of the total banknotes (worth
nearly $ 700 billion) are in circulation outside the United States.d shape.
1.3 Foreign trade of the United States comprises the international imports and exports of the United
States. The country is among the top three global importers and exporters.The regulation of trade is
constitutionally vested in the United States Congress. After the Great Depression, the country emerged as
among the most significant global trade policy-makers, and it is now a partner to a number of international
trade agreements, including the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade
Organization (WTO). Gross U.S. assets held by foreigners were $16.3 trillion as of the end of 2006 (over
100% of GDP).
Trade policy. United States trade policy has varied widely through various American historical and
industrial periods. As a major developed nation, the U.S. has relied heavily on the import of raw materials
and the export of finished goods. Because of the significance for American economy and industry, much
weight has been placed on trade policy by elected officials and business leaders.International trade also
influences the U.S. presidential election since voters’ exposure to trade influences who wins the US
presidency, according to US Census data covering nearly all economic activity in the United States.
Moreover, employees in high-wage tradable goods and services sectors are more likely to support incumbent
presidents and their parties, whereas those in low-wage manufacturing jobs will be more likely to support
the opposition.The 1920s marked a decade of economic growth in the United States following a Classical
supply side policy.U.S. President Warren Harding signed the Emergency Tariff of 1921 and the Fordney–
McCumber Tariff of 1922. Harding's policies reduced taxes and protected U.S. business and agriculture.
Following the Great Depression and World War II, the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference
brought the Bretton Woods currency agreement followed by the economy of the 1950s and 1960s. In 1971,
President Richard Nixon ended U.S. ties to Bretton Woods, leaving the U.S. with a floating fiat currency.
The stagflation of the 1970s saw a U.S. economy characterized by slower GDP growth. In 1988, the United
States ranked first in the world in the Economist Intelligence Unit "quality of life index" and third in the
Economic Freedom of the World Index.In 2006, the primary economic concerns focused on: high national
debt ($9 trillion), high non-bank corporate debt ($9 trillion), high mortgage debt ($9 trillion), high financial
institution debt ($12 trillion), high unfunded Medicare liability ($30 trillion), high unfunded Social Security
liability ($12 trillion), high external debt (amount owed to foreign lenders) and a serious deterioration in the
United States net international investment position (NIIP) (−24% of GDP),[1] high trade deficits, and a rise
in illegal immigration.These issues have raised concerns among economists and unfunded liabilities were
mentioned as a serious problem facing the United States in the President's 2006 State of the Union address.
On June 26, 2009, Jeff Immelt, the CEO of General Electric, called for the U.S. to increase its
manufacturing base employment to 20% of the workforce, commenting that the U.S. has outsourced too
much in some areas and can no longer rely on the financial sector and consumer spending to drive demand.
In 1985, the U.S. had just begun a growing trade deficit with China. During the 1990s, the U.S. trade
deficit became a more excessive long-run trade deficit, mostly with Asia. By 2012, the U.S. trade deficit,
fiscal budget deficit, and federal debt increased to record or near-record levels following the implementation
of broad unconditional or unilateral U.S. free trade policies and formal trade agreements in the preceding
decades.The US last had a trade surplus in 1975. However, recessions may cause short-run anomalies to
rising trade deficits.The balance of trade in the United States has been a concern among economists and
business people. Warren Buffett, founder of Berkshire Hathaway, was quoted in the Associated Press
(January 20, 2006) as saying "The U.S. trade deficit is a bigger threat to the domestic economy than either
the federal budget deficit or consumer debt and could lead to political
1.4 In terms of agricultural production, the United States is far superior to other countries.
Agriculture in the United States not only meets the needs of the population for basic food products and raw
materials, with the exception of some crops grown in the tropical zone (such as coffee, cocoa, bananas), but
also provides large export surpluses. In terms of the export of agricultural products, the United States ranks
first in the world, giving over 15% of it (in value). Their share is especially large in world trade in the most
important food and feed crops - wheat, corn, soybeans, and also fruits. The export of agricultural products
from the USA is several times higher than their import. At the same time, the share of agriculture in the
country's GNP is small and, moreover, is gradually decreasing; at present it is not even 3%. Agriculture
employs less than 4% of the economically active population. However, these figures do not give a complete
and objective picture of the importance of US agriculture both for the country itself and for the whole world.
 Agriculture in the United States is characterized by a certain predominance of animal husbandry,
which provides more than 55% of all marketable output, over agriculture. However, the ratio between these
industries is not the same in different parts of the country. The role of animal husbandry is especially great
in the dairy belt - in the Northeast and in the Lakeside states, which specializes in the production of dairy
products, in the corn belt - in the Midwest, south and southeast of the Great Lakes, where cattle and pigs are
fed , and in a number of Mountain States, where young growth is raised on pastures. Agriculture in these
areas is mainly focused on fodder production.
Almost 65% of the harvested area in the United States is occupied by cereals and legumes. The
harvest of coarse grains is 4 times that of wheat. The main fodder crop is corn, which occupies 30 million
hectares. The average corn yield in recent years has increased and reached 55 c / ha, while the average wheat
yield is about 20 c / ha. More than 75% of the total corn harvest comes from the states of the corn belt of
Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and neighboring states.
Soybeans are increasingly competing with corn and wheat in terms of the size of crops, harvests and
prices. This culture appeared in the United States in the early 30s of the 20th century. The United States now
accounts for almost 60% of the world's soybeans. Soybean oil covers over 65% of US edible vegetable oil
needs.The United States also ranks first in the world in the collection of tobacco, the main cultivation area of
which is the foothills of the Appalachians within the southeastern states. The area occupied by tobacco is
relatively small, but this culture is laborious and requires a lot of manual labor. It is grown mainly on small
farms that supply their products to large monopolies that own tobacco factories.
The production of sugar, both beetroot and cane sugar, is large. Sugar beets are grown primarily in
the irrigated lands of the western states, and without irrigation in the Lakeside states (especially Michigan).
Reed is grown on the Gulf Coast
1.5Electricity in the United States is a collection of companies that provide electricity generation,
transmission and distribution between industrial, public and private consumers. The industry also includes
many regulators.Volumes of electricity generated in the United States by type of fuel: natural gas, renewable
sources, nuclear fuel, coal.In 1996, there were 3.2 thousand organizations in the United States engaged in
the electric power industry, of which slightly less than a thousand are involved in generation. Many small
companies operate electrical networks and distribute electricity. Among all organizations, there are two
thousand public and 10 federal . Transmission grids are controlled by the Independent System Operator and
Regional Transmission Organization, which are required to provide indiscriminate access to any electricity
supplier in order to maintain competition.Several public institutions act as regulators in the electric power
industry. General rules are set by the federal government represented by the US Department of Energy
(DoE), environmental policy is set by the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Federal Trade
Commission is responsible for consumer protection. The safety of nuclear power plants is monitored by the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The economic rules in the distribution segment are set by the states,
usually through the creation of Public Utilities Commissions, the transmission of electricity between the
states is regulated by the federal authorities through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.Sources of
electricity in the USA for 2012.In 2013, the USA produced 4058 billion kWh of electricity . As of 2012, the
United States produces 18.8% and ranks second in the world in electricity production, second only to China .
In 2013, 67% of electricity was generated by thermal power plants operating on fossil fuels: 39% on
coal, 27% on natural gas, 1% on oil. 19% of electricity is generated by nuclear power plants, 7% - by
hydroelectric power plants, 6% - renewable energy: 1.5% - generated by power plants using biofuel, 0.4% -
geothermal energy, 0.2% - solar energy, 4.1% - energy wind . The share of renewable sources is gradually
increasing. Electricity imports in the United States in 2012 amounted to 47 billion kWh .
In 2008, the average electricity tariff was about 10 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) [4]. In 2006-2007,
electricity tariffs in the United States were higher than in Australia, Canada, France, Sweden, and Finland,
but lower than in Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom . Tariffs for households vary widely
across states, ranging from 6.7 cents per kWh in West Virginia to 24.1 cents per kWh in Hawaii. The
average household bill in 2007 was roughly $ 100 a month.
Most investments in the US electricity sector are financed by private companies with debt and equity.
However, some investments are indirectly funded by taxpayers through subsidies ranging from tax breaks to
research and development subsidies, feed-in tariffs for renewable energy, and support for low-income
families.