Economy of Pennsylvania

Bethlehem Steel's closed manufacturing facility in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. This site later became a new multi-million dollar Sands Casino Resort in 2009.

Pennsylvania's 2008 total gross state product (GSP) of $553.3 billion ranks the state 6th in the nation. If Pennsylvania were an independent country, its economy would rank as the 18th largest in the world. On a per-capita basis, Pennsylvania's per-capita GSP of $35,641 ranks 26th among the 50 states.Philadelphia in the southeast corner, Pittsburgh in the southwest corner, Erie in the northwest corner, Scranton-Wilkes-Barre in the northeast corner, and Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton in the east central region are urban manufacturing centers. Much of the Commonwealth is rural; this dichotomy affects state politics as well as the state economy. Philadelphia is home to six Fortune 500 companies, with more located in suburbs like King of Prussia; it's a leader in the financial and insurance industry.

Pittsburgh is home to eight Fortune 500 companies, including U.S. Steel, PPG Industries, and H.J. Heinz. In all, Pennsylvania is home to fifty Fortune 500 companies.Erie is also home to GE Transportation Systems, which is the largest producer of train locomotives in the United States.

As in the US as a whole and in most states, the largest private employer in the Commonwealth is Wal-Mart, followed by the University of Pennsylvania.

As of January 2010, the state's unemployment rate is 8.8%.

Banking

The world-famous Crayola crayon company is based in Easton.

The first nationally chartered bank in the United States, the Bank of North America, was founded in 1781 in Philadelphia. After a series of mergers, the Bank of North America is part of Wachovia, which uses national charter 1. It is not known if the Bank of North America's charter will be retained after March 2010 when Wells Fargo, which acquired Wachovia in 2008, consolidates its own charter and Wachovia's under the name Wells Fargo, N.A.

Pennsylvania is also the home to the first nationally-chartered bank under the 1863 National Banking Act. That year, the Pittsburgh Savings & Trust Company received a national charter and renamed itself the First National Bank of Pittsburgh as part of the National Banking Act. That bank is still in existence today as PNC Financial Services, and remains based in Pittsburgh. PNC is the state's largest bank, and the fifth-largest in the United States.

Agriculture

Pennsylvania ranks 19th overall in agricultural production, but 1st in mushrooms, 3rd in Christmas trees and layer chickens, 4th in nursery and sod, milk, corn for silage, grapes grown (including juice grapes), and horses production. It also ranks 8th in the nation in Winemaking.

Gambling

Casino gambling was legalized in Pennsylvania in 2004. Currently, there are nine casinos across the state with three under construction or in planning. Only horse racing, slot machines, and electronic table games were legal in Pennsylvania, although a bill to legalize table games was being negotiated in the fall of 2009. Tables games such as poker, roulette, black jack and dice were finally approved by the state legislature in January 2010, being signed into law by the Governor on January 7. Sports betting is illegal.

Governor Ed Rendell has considered legalizing video poker machines in bars and private clubs, since an estimated 17,000 operate illegally across the state.Under this plan, any establishment with a liquor license would be allowed up to 5 machines. All machines would be connected to the state's computer system, like commercial casinos. The state would impose a 50% tax on net gambling revenues, after winning players have been paid, with the remaining 50% going to the establishment owners.

(source:wikipedia)

Economy of California

California compared to other countries GDP is in the same range as Spain and Italy (corresponding with the Department of Finance figures)

California's economy is the largest of any state in the US, and is the eighth largest economy in the world. As of 2008, the gross state product (GSP) is about $1.85 trillion, which is 13% of the United States gross domestic product (GDP). The state's GDP growth rate slowed to 0.4% in 2008 after having grown 3.1% in 2006 and 1.8% in 2007. As of 2010 California along with Texas leads all other states in the number of Fortune 500 headquarters at 57 companies each.

Sectors

Gross Domestic Product of California by sector for 2008^[3]

In 2002, the U.S. government adopted the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) system of classifying economic activities, to better reflect today's economy.

International trade and tourism

California has historically derived significant revenue from international trade and tourism. However, the state's share of America's merchandise export trade has been steadily shrinking since 2000, from 15.4% to 11.1% in 2008.The exports of goods made in California totaled $134 billion in 2007. $48 billion of that total was computers and electronics, followed by transportation, non-electrical machinery, agriculture, and chemicals. California trade and exports translate into high-paying jobs for over one million Californians. According to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), in 2005, foreign-controlled companies employed 542,600 California workers, the most of any state. Major sources of foreign investment in California in 2005 were Japan, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, France, and Germany. Foreign investment in California was responsible for 4.2 percent of the state's total private-industry employment in 2005. Total direct travel spending in California reached $96.7 billion in 2008, a 0.8% increase over the preceding year. Los Angeles County receives the most tourism in the state.

Agriculture (including fruit, vegetables, dairy, and wine production) is a major California industry. In fact, California is the world's fifth largest supplier of food and agriculture commodities. Agriculture accounts for just slightly over 2% of California's $1.85 trillion gross state product. Airborne exports of perishable fruits and vegetables amounted to approximately $685 million in 2007. By way of comparison, California exported more agricultural products by air that year than 23 other states did by all modes of transport.

According to the California Department of Food and Agriculture, "California agriculture is nearly a $36.6 billion dollar industry that generates $100 billion in related economic activity." The state’s agricultural sales first exceeded $30 billion in 2004,[13] making it more than twice the size of any other state's agriculture industry.

California is the leading dairy state.[14] Milk is California's number one farm commodity.[13] California's dairy industry generated $47 billion "in economic activity" in 2004 and employed over 400,000 people."

Oil and electricity

Oil drilling has played a significant role in the development of the state. There have been major strikes in the Bakersfield, Long Beach, Los Angeles areas and off the California coast.

Personal income

Per capita income was $38,956 as of 2006, ranking 11th in the nation, but varies widely by geographic region and profession. Some coastal cities include some of the wealthiest per-capita areas in the U.S., notably La Jolla in San Diego, Beverly Hills, in Los Angeles County, Newport Beach in Orange County in Southern California, San Francisco and Marin County. The most expensive and largest housing markets in the U.S. are in the state of California, so there are a number of communities where average housing prices hover between US$1–2 million. Generally, the Central Valley in northern California is the least expensive area, as is the Inland Empire in Southern California, though prices in the Inland Empire, though falling, are still much higher than the Central Valley, to the point that there are also communities in this area where housing prices average around the $1 million mark. The agricultural central counties have some of the highest poverty rates in the U.S. The high-technology sectors in Northern California, specifically Silicon Valley, in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, are currently emerging from the economic downturn caused by the dot-com bust, which caused the loss of over 250,000 jobs in Northern California alone. As of spring 2005, data from UCLA Anderson indicates that economic growth has resumed in California, although still slightly below the national annualized forecast of 3.9%.

Tax burden

In 2006 California's overall state-level tax burden of $10.66 per $100 of personal income was slightly above the $10.43 average for the United States. In 2008, when measured as a percentage of GDP, California had the 6th highest tax burden of the fifty states and has contributed on average well over 3.65 billion dollars per year for the last twenty years into the federal treasury than it has received in Federal services in return.

Housing

The international boom in housing prices has been most pronounced in California, with the median property price in the state rising to about the half-million dollar mark in April 2005. Orange County, Ventura County and the San Francisco Bay Area have the highest median prices, each approaching $650,000. The least expensive region is the Central Valley, with a median price of $290,000.

Various real estate markets in California experienced sharp increases in value in the early 2000s, followed by declines in 2007 and 2008, as a housing bubble burst.

However, beginning in 2007 with the Credit Crunch in the banking system, thousands of homes have been foreclosed statewide, thereby leading to plummeting home prices.

See also

Library of Congress

Lobbying in the United States

United States

United States Congress

(source:wikipedia)