Page 54 - Lighting Magazine November 2018

ALA
Be Prepared for the Next Economic Ride
Over the next few years, the U.S. economy will continue to grow, but watch out for a hard hit by 2030.
“All of the stories about the U.S.’s imminent demise aren’t true; we’re going to remain number one [in global GDP].”
During the recent ALA Conference in Asheville, N.C., a endees were privy to a long-range economic forecast by renowned
economist Brian Bealieu, CEO of ITR Economics. While his overall message was one of growth for the near future, he did warn of trouble down the road.
In a tumultuous year for Americans on both a political and cultural level, it can be di cult to maintain optimism in viewing “the big picture.” In his keynote session “Prosperity in the Age of Decline,” Bealieu presented a balanced approach that can best summarized by the original Boy Scout mo o of “Be Prepared.”
Part of that big picture-thinking was showing the audience statistics on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on a global level. “People sometimes don’t realize how big of a country we are,” Bealieu said in speaking of economic in uence. The U.S. is respon- sible for 24.3 percent of the world’s GDP, followed by China at 15 percent, and Japan at 6.1 percent.
“The U.S. population is growing by 1 person every 13 seconds, and that’s not counting legal im- migration,” he remarked. “All of the stories about the U.S.’s imminent demise aren’t true; we’re going to remain number one [in global GDP], but what we go through, the whole world will go through [a erwards].”
52 enLIGHTenment Magazine | noveMber 2018
www.enlightenmentmag.com