*Total U.S. retirement assets rose to $17.5 trillion in 2010, the most since the end of 2007*During the early 1960s, the five-year survival rate from cancer for Americans was one in three. Today it is two in three…continuing to climb…and the highest in the world
*The U.S. accounted for 34% of the funds spent globally on research & development (R&D) during 2010
*The country’s net petroleum imports peaked at 60.3% in 2005 and dropped to 49.3% in 2010. Within a year, North Dakota is expected to supply more oil for domestic use than the 1.1 million barrels a day that Saudi Arabia now exports to the U.S.
*The number of violent crimes fell by a surprisingly large 12% last year versus the prior year
*America produces more steel today than 30 years ago, despite the shuttered plants and slimmed-down work force
*When comparing economic size and population, the average U.S. worker is 10-12 times more productive than the average worker in China. Americans won 30 Nobel prizes in science and economics during the past five years. China?…Just one
*The value of a university education for American men and women in terms of future earnings power is nearly twice that of those in the average rich nation
*Even as U.S. economic output (GDP) has climbed by more than 210% since 1970, aggregate emission of six principal air pollutants has plunged by 60%
*Productivity of U.S. workers rose an average of 2.5% annually during the past 10 years, some of the strongest gains in 40 years
*U.S. economic growth has now been positive for eight consecutive quarters
*U.S. exports to China have risen roughly 24% per year since 2001, making China the fastest growing market for U.S. goods
*For every dollar of U.S. economic output generated today, we burn less than half as much oil as 30 years ago
*The U.S. role of dominance in the global economy during the past decade was as clear-cut as at any time since the 1950s.
