because it affects just about everyone

Depending on what you read

the US economy is well on the way to recovery

after the crisis caused by COVID-19.

The whole world is trying to get back on track.

But how long that will take

depends a lot on the Americans.

So who really created the strong US economy

before the pandemic hit?

Is the recovery starting to slow?

And is inequality getting worse — not better?

By some measures China these days

is considered the biggest economy in the world.

But when you look at the value

of all its goods and services

the United States is still No. 1.

So what is the American economy?

It's Silicon Valley

Hollywood

oil

manufacturing

finance.

It's pretty mixed.

The US is also the most important export destination

for a fifth of all countries.

That's because Americans consume a lot.

So much that they're the engine of the US economy.

And it all ripples throughout the fabric

of the global economy.

Another reason the US economy matters to all of us

is that the US dollar is the undisputed king of currencies.

Most global transactions and trading in things

like oil and gold are done in US dollars.

It wasn't always that way.

Countries used to settle international transactions

in gold.

But after World War Two

countries needed more flexibility

to rebuild their economies

and chose to peg their currencies to the dollar.

That's because the US had the most gold at the time.

A strong dollar can be good or bad

depending on who you are.

Japan needs the dollar to be stronger against the yen

so American consumers can afford

more Japanese products.

But a country like Turkey would rather a weaker

US currency because banks and businesses there

hold a lot of debt in dollars.

In other countries a strong dollar can fuel inflation.

In Argentina that pushes up prices for basic things

like food.

And in the US a strong greenback

makes imported goods cheaper

but it can harm US manufacturers by making

their goods more expensive abroad.

Overall, though, the dollar is largely seen

as a safe currency.

During the pandemic it actually rose.

Lately the US dollar has gone up and down.

That has to do with all sorts of things.

Even a tweet from President Trump

can help or hurt the exchange rate.

But a lot rides on how the US economy performs.

So how is it doing?

Economies are measured using GDP

which is the total value of goods and services

produced in that country over a period of time.

And you can see that over the last 10 years

the US economy has been growing.

Last year GDP rose by just over 2%.

But it took a while to get there.

Like the rest of the world the US economy was devastated

by the financial crisis in 2008.

President George W Bush started the clean-up

shoring up banks and rescuing US companies.

The Federal Reserve also played a massive role

buying bonds and keeping interest rates low.

And all that continued under President Barack Obama.

Congress spent hundreds of billions of dollars

on things like social security and tax relief.

By 2009 the US had started

its longest economic expansion on record.

Then President Donald Trump stepped in.

The economy did keep growing.

But the 4-to-6% boost he promised

well, that didn't happen.

Trump added his own touch.

He cut regulations to make doing business easier

and got Congress to pass tax cuts

for American workers and corporations.

The promise, there, was to help businesses

reinvest money to create jobs.

But it didn't always work that way.

A lot of those companies used those tax savings

to buy back stocks and boost their value instead.

Then there's Trump's trade policy of putting America first.

He ripped up international trade deals

saying they were unfair and hurt American manufacturing.

And that led to a trade war.

The US slapped penalties on hundreds of billions

of dollars' worth of Chinese goods.

China responded with their own.

China also found ways around some of those tariffs.

The main thing about Trump's tenure was

that the American public started to feel

a whole lot better about the economy.

And that had an important effect.

So the economy was in good shape

and the US jobs market was on fire.

Then COVID-19 came along and pushed the economy

off a cliff.

The US economy slid 5% in the first quarter.

when it officially fell into recession.

then in the second quarter it nosedived

at a record annual rate of more than 30%.

The pandemic still isn't over.

But the focus now is on the economic recovery.

In the third quarter of 2020

the economy bounced back a record 33%.

The Federal Reserve helped by unleashing a range of

measures to keep credit flowing to

businesses and households.

Like cutting interest rates to make borrowing cheaper.

Congress also allocated trillions of dollars in aid

to keep workers and businesses afloat

and jumpstart growth.

That's a lot of money.

The stock market also came roaring back.

One reason was that tech companies benefited from

the shift to people working and learning

from home.

You know what else is up?

House prices.

Mortgage rates are at a record low

so people who own shares or homes — they're doing OK

But what about the rest?

Well, some economists are saying this is the most

unequal recovery in American history.

We also know that economic recovery

is starting to slow down.

COVID-19 is still spreading

some of that financial help we talked about has expired

and Republicans and Democrats in Congress

can't agree on the next aid package.

Getting the US economy back to its

pre-pandemic strength could take years.

And how long the virus sticks around

will make a difference.

will make a difference.

It's like an ecosystem.

And on that basis the US needs to do well

for all of us to turn the corner.

If you want to get a better understanding of the

stories in the news

you can find all of our episodes on YouTube.

Just look for Start Here.

You can also find us on Al Jazeera's Facebook page

and on our website aljazeera.com.

Make sure to subscribe wherever you're watching

and we'll see you next week.