A presentation · 2026 edition

The United States, beyond the basics

No capitals, no flags, no fast food. Only the things most people have never heard about the world's largest economy.

ABDULLOXONOV ISMOILXON · MR-950

In this presentation
01SWOT analysisstrengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats
02The economy in numbersthe figures that surprise even Americans
03Hidden historyeight turning points rarely taught
04Facts few people knowfrom a $100,000 bill to a plan to bomb the Moon
Before we start

How this presentation works

One idea at a time

Each slide shows one idea. I explain it first, then the numbers or the story appear step by step, so nothing is rushed.

Nothing you already know

We skip the famous things. Every point was chosen because most people — even many Americans — have never heard it.

Every number has a source

Figures come from official sources: the US Treasury, BEA, Federal Reserve, IMF, BIS, EIA, CDC and the Congressional Research Service.

Latest data

Most numbers are for 2024–2025. Where a figure is preliminary or only a forecast, the slide says so.

First, the tool

What a SWOT analysis is

A simple four-box method to judge a company — or a country. Two boxes look inside and at today, two look outside and at tomorrow.

Inside
today
S

Strengths

What the country does better than others right now.

W

Weaknesses

Problems inside the country that hold it back.

Outside
tomorrow
O

Opportunities

Trends in the world it can use to grow.

T

Threats

Dangers coming from outside or from the future.

S

Strengths

Advantages that almost no other country has — and that are rarely explained.

89%of all FX trades

The world runs on dollars

The dollar is on one side of 89% of currency trades — $9.6 trillion a day — and 56.8% of central-bank reserves. So the US borrows in its own money.

BIS Triennial Survey, Apr 2025 · IMF COFER, Q4 2025
64%of the world stock index

A magnet for capital

US companies are about 64% of the global stock index, although the US makes only about 26% of world GDP.

MSCI ACWI weight, June 2025 · IMF
13.6 mb/dcrude oil, 2025

The biggest oil producer in history

A record 13.6 million barrels a day in 2025. In 2019 the US exported more energy than it imported for the first time since 1952.

EIA, 2026 · EIA Today in Energy, Apr 2020
$700Bplanned AI spending, 2026

The AI build-out

Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta spent about $410B on capital investment in 2025 and told investors about $700B for 2026.

Goldman Sachs estimate · company guidance, 2026
W

Weaknesses

Problems inside the country — most of them are about money and politics.

$970Binterest, FY2025

Interest now costs more than the army

Interest on federal debt ($970B) was bigger than all defense spending ($917B). Debt held by the public: $30.3T, about 98% of GDP.

US Treasury via American Action Forum, FY2025
$15,474health spending per person

The most expensive health care

$5.3 trillion in 2024 — 18% of GDP. Yet life expectancy is 79.0 years, a US record but still below most rich countries.

CMS, Jan 2026 · CDC NCHS Data Brief 548
Cinfrastructure grade

Old roads, pipes and grids

Engineers gave US infrastructure a C in 2025 — the best grade since 1998 — but 9 of 18 areas are still in the D range. Funding gap: $3.7 trillion.

ASCE Report Card, 2025
43 daysgovernment shutdown

Political gridlock

From 1 Oct to 12 Nov 2025 the federal government was shut — the longest shutdown ever. Over 900,000 workers were sent home without pay.

Reuters · CBO, Nov 2025
O

Opportunities

Trends in the world that the US is in a good position to use.

≈ 2/3of global venture capital

Leading the AI wave

About two-thirds of all venture-capital money in the world went to US start-ups in 2025, most of it into AI. If AI raises productivity, the US gains first.

PitchBook-based estimates, 2025 (64–70%)
2015crude export ban lifted

Selling energy to the world

Exporting crude oil was banned from 1975 to 2015. Now the US is the largest crude producer and, since 2023, the largest exporter of liquefied gas (LNG).

EIA
$873BUS–Mexico goods trade, 2025

Factories moving next door

Mexico is now the US's largest trading partner (15.6% of trade). China's share fell to 7.5%. Supply chains are moving closer to home.

CRS, 2026 · Brookings
T

Threats

Dangers from outside — or from the country's own future.

91%rare earths refined in China

Dependence on China's minerals

China refines about 91% of rare earths and makes 94% of the magnets used in electric cars, wind turbines and missiles.

IEA, 2024 data
Aa1Moody's, May 2025

Lost the last AAA rating

Moody's downgraded the US on 16 May 2025 — the last top rating it had (S&P 2011, Fitch 2023). Interest could reach $2.1T a year by 2036.

Moody's · CBO projections
1.6children per woman, 2024

Fewer children, older people

A record-low fertility rate (2.1 keeps a population stable). The Social Security trust funds are projected to run out in 2034.

CDC, 2025 · Social Security Trustees, 2025
71% → 57%dollar share of reserves

A slowly weaker dollar role

Around 2000, about 71% of world reserves were in dollars. Today: 56.8%. Still number one — but falling.

IMF COFER
The whole picture

SWOT in one slide

SStrengths

  • Dollar: 89% of FX trades
  • Capital: 64% of world stock index
  • Energy: record oil output
  • AI: ~$700B investment planned

WWeaknesses

  • Interest > defense spending
  • Health: 18% of GDP
  • Infrastructure grade C
  • 43-day shutdown

OOpportunities

  • ~2/3 of world venture capital
  • Energy and LNG exports
  • Nearshoring with Mexico

TThreats

  • China's rare earths
  • Lost AAA, rising interest
  • Low fertility, 2034 pensions
  • Dollar share slowly falling
02

The economy in numbers

Six slides, three numbers each: size, money, the government's books, trade, energy and land, health and people.

Size

How big is the US economy, really?

GDP, 2025
$30.8T

A quarter of the world

About 26% of world GDP — produced by only about 4% of the world's people.

BEA · IMF
California alone
$4.1T

Bigger than Japan

If California were a country, it would be the 4th largest economy in the world, after the US, China and Germany.

BEA / IMF via Governor's office, 2024 data
Who spends
≈ 68%

Shoppers drive the economy

About two-thirds of US GDP is spending by households. That is why consumer confidence moves world markets.

BEA, personal consumption expenditures
Money and markets

Where the world's money goes

Currency trading per day
$9.6T

The dollar is in 89% of it

Even a trade between two non-American companies usually goes through dollars.

BIS, April 2025
Share of the world stock index
64%

Investors buy America

Almost two of every three dollars in a "global" stock fund are invested in US companies.

MSCI ACWI, June 2025
Top 1% of households
31.7%

Owns a third of all wealth

…and about half of all stocks and mutual funds owned by households.

Federal Reserve DFA, Q3 2025
The government's books

A country that borrows every day

Deficit, fiscal year 2025
$1.8T

Spent more than it earned

About $5 billion more spent than collected — every single day of the year.

US Treasury, FY2025
Total national debt
$38T+

Over $110,000 per person

Of this, $30.3T is held by the public — about 98% of GDP. Moody's expects 134% by 2035.

Joint Economic Committee · Moody's
Interest per year
$970B

More than the military

Net interest beat defense spending ($917B). By 2036 it may reach $2.1 trillion a year.

Treasury via AAF · CBO
Trade

Who the US really trades with

Number one partner, 2025
Mexico

$873B in goods trade

15.6% of all US trade. Mexico has been the largest source of US imports since 2023.

CRS · Brookings, 2026
China's share of US trade
7.5%

Down to third place

Behind Mexico and Canada (12.8%). Still, the US had a $295.5B goods deficit with China in 2025.

Brookings · CRS
Tariff revenue, FY2025
$195B

Customs money jumped 150%

$118B more than the year before — but courts were still deciding whether some tariffs were legal.

Treasury via CRFB
Energy and land

Resources: oil and the land itself

Crude oil, 2025
13.6mb/d

A world record

More than any country has ever produced. Most of the growth came from the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico.

EIA, 2026
Net energy exporter since
2019

First time since 1952

For 67 years the US bought more energy than it sold. Shale oil and gas reversed that.

EIA, April 2020
Land owned by Washington
28%

640 million acres

The federal government owns more than a quarter of the country — and 79.8% of Nevada.

Congressional Research Service, 2026
Health and people

The human side of the economy

Health spending, 2024
18%

Of the whole economy

$5.3 trillion, or $15,474 per person — the highest in the world.

CMS, Jan 2026
Life expectancy, 2024
79.0

A record — but low for its wealth

Women 81.4, men 76.5. Most other rich countries live longer while spending much less.

CDC NCHS Data Brief 548
Children per woman, 2024
1.6

The lowest ever recorded

In the early 1960s it was about 3.5. Below 2.1, a population shrinks without immigration.

CDC, July 2025
03

Hidden history

Not 1776 or the Civil War. Eight turning points that school books skip — and why each one still matters today.

1803The Louisiana Purchase

America doubled its size — with borrowed money

The US paid $15 million to France for Louisiana. But it did not have the cash. Two banks — Barings in London and Hope & Co. in Amsterdam — paid Napoleon and took US bonds in return. Their own countries were at war with France at the time.

Why it matters today

From the very start, America grew by borrowing from foreign investors. Today foreigners still hold trillions of dollars of US government debt.

1835Andrew Jackson

The only year the US owed nobody anything

In January 1835 President Andrew Jackson paid off the entire national debt. He sold huge areas of western land and vetoed spending bills. It lasted about one year: land speculation turned into the Panic of 1837, and borrowing started again.

Why it matters today

It is the only time in history the debt was zero. Today it is over $38 trillion — and paying it off fast also caused a crisis.

1862The Homestead Act

The government gave away 10% of the country

Anyone who lived on a plot and farmed it for five years could get 160 acres for free. About 270 million acres — 10% of all US land — were handed out through around 4 million claims.

Why it matters today

It built the farming Midwest and a huge class of small landowners. But much of that land had been taken from Native American nations.

1883The day of two noons

Railroads, not the government, invented time zones

Before 1883 every town set its clocks by the sun, so there were hundreds of local times. On 18 November 1883 the railroad companies switched to four standard zones — many towns saw noon twice that day. Congress made it law only in 1918.

Why it matters today

Private business set a national rule 35 years before the state did — a pattern you still see in US technology and finance.

1907The Panic of 1907

One banker saved the system — so America built a central bank

The US had no central bank. When banks started failing in 1907, the financier J.P. Morgan gathered the top bankers in his private library, locked the doors and kept them there until they promised $25 million to stop the panic.

Why it matters today

Congress decided one private man should never have that role again. The result: the Federal Reserve, created in December 1913.

1933Executive Order 6102

For 41 years, Americans could not own gold

During the Great Depression, President Roosevelt ordered people to hand in gold coins, bars and gold certificates worth more than $100. The punishment: up to $10,000 fine or 10 years in prison. Owning gold became legal again only on 31 December 1974.

Why it matters today

It shows how far the US state will go in a crisis to control money — something investors still remember.

1971The "Nixon shock"

The night the dollar stopped being gold

Under the Bretton Woods system, set up in 1944, foreign governments could swap dollars for US gold at $35 an ounce. On 15 August 1971, in a Sunday-evening TV speech, President Nixon "temporarily" stopped it. It was never restored.

Why it matters today

Since then the dollar is backed only by trust in the US — which is why debt, ratings and politics matter so much for it.

1975to 2015

The 40 years America was not allowed to sell its oil

After the Arab oil embargo, Congress banned almost all exports of US crude oil to protect the country's own supply. The ban was lifted only in December 2015, inside a budget bill.

Why it matters today

Exports rose from about 0.6 million barrels a day in 2016 to millions. The country that feared running out became the largest producer on Earth.

04

Facts few people know

Eight short questions. Think for a moment before each answer appears.

1

Which US state is both the furthest west and the furthest east?

Alaska. Its Aleutian Islands cross the 180° meridian, so the last islands are in the Eastern Hemisphere. By longitude, Alaska holds both records.

2

Since when has English been the official language of the United States?

Only since 1 March 2025. For more than 230 years the country had no official language at the national level. Executive Order 14224 formally designated English — the first time a president did so.

Federal Register, 6 March 2025
3

What is the largest banknote the US has ever printed?

A $100,000 bill — the 1934 gold certificate with President Woodrow Wilson. It never reached ordinary people: it was used only for transfers between Federal Reserve banks.

Bureau of Engraving and Printing
4

How did a student's C-grade essay change the US Constitution?

In 1982 Gregory Watson wrote that an amendment proposed in 1789 had no deadline and could still be passed. He got a C — then spent 10 years writing to state lawmakers. In 1992 it became the 27th Amendment, about 203 years after it was proposed. His grade was changed to an A in 2017.

National Constitution Center
5

How did NASA lose a $125 million spacecraft in 1999?

Pounds versus newtons. One team sent thrust data in American units, the other read it as metric. The Mars Climate Orbiter flew too low into Mars's atmosphere and was destroyed.

NASA investigation, 1999
6

What did the US Air Force secretly plan to do to the Moon in 1958?

Explode a nuclear bomb on it — "Project A119", a show of strength after Sputnik. A young Carl Sagan worked on the study. It was cancelled in 1959 and became public only in 2000.

Leonard Reiffel, project leader
7

Do Americans have a national ID card?

No. There is no national ID card. People use a driver's licence or a Social Security number instead — although until 1972 the Social Security card itself said "Not for identification".

Social Security Administration
8

Which state runs its own electricity grid, separate from the rest of the country?

Texas. Its ERCOT grid serves about 90% of the state and is not synchronised with the other US grids — so most of it escapes federal power regulation. During the 2021 winter blackout it could bring in only a little power from outside.

FERC
To remember

Three things to take away

1The US's real superpower is money: the dollar, its markets and its investors — not only its army.
2Its biggest risk is inside: debt, interest above defense spending, and political gridlock.
3Much of today's America was shaped by events few people know — from 1803 borrowing to the 1971 end of gold.

Thank you — questions?

Sources

Where the numbers come from

BIS Triennial Central Bank Survey, April 2025 — FX turnover, dollar 89%

IMF COFER, Q4 2025 — dollar 56.8% of reserves

MSCI ACWI factsheet, June 2025 — US weight 64%

EIA — crude output 13.6 mb/d (2025); net energy exporter 2019; export ban 1975–2015

US Treasury / American Action Forum — FY2025 deficit, interest $970B, defense $917B

Joint Economic Committee — total debt $38T+; CBO — interest projections

Moody's — downgrade to Aa1, 16 May 2025

CMS National Health Expenditures, Jan 2026 — $5.3T, 18% of GDP

CDC NCHS — life expectancy 79.0 (2024); fertility 1.599 (2024)

ASCE Report Card 2025 — grade C, $3.7T gap

Reuters / CBO — 2025 shutdown, 43 days

Social Security Trustees Report 2025 — depletion 2034

IEA — rare earth refining 91%, magnets 94% (China, 2024)

CRS / Brookings — US–Mexico trade 2025; CRFB — tariff revenue FY2025

Federal Reserve Distributional Financial Accounts, Q3 2025 — top 1% wealth share

BEA — GDP 2025; California GDP 2024 (Governor's office, IMF)

CRS Federal Land Ownership, 2026 — 28%, Nevada 79.8%

National Park Service — Homestead Act; NPR / History.com — 1835 debt

Morgan Library / NPR — Panic of 1907; EO 6102, Public Law 93-373 — gold

Federal Register — EO 14224; BEP — $100,000 note; National Constitution Center — 27th Amendment

NASA / CNN — Mars Climate Orbiter; FERC — ERCOT; SSA — card history