Latest news with #Gapminder
Washington Post
30-04-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Do you know where your tax dollars are going? Take our quiz.
Keith Moore is head of editorial at Gapminder Foundation, a Swedish group that promotes access to reliable facts and data. Federal government spending each year is a 13-digit number: about $6.8 trillion in the 2024 fiscal year. For many of us, that is unfathomably large. When every part of the budget is big, featuring hundreds of individual agencies, programs and departments with outlays of millions, billions, and even trillions of dollars, it can be difficult to know what represents the lion's share. And so it is little wonder the public has some major misconceptions about government spending. Take our quiz and test your own understanding of the trends and proportions behind the U.S. federal budget. ✓ Check Yourself The Post partnered with Gapminder, a Swedish nonprofit, to survey 600 people ages 18 to 65. The sample was balanced to reflect U.S. demography. 1 of 5 In the 1980s, federal government spending was around 21 percent of the entire U.S. economy (GDP). What was it in 2024? Around 23 percent Around 41 percent Around 53 percent Story continues below advertisement Advertisement 2 of 5 What is the biggest single item of U.S. federal government spending each year? Buying and maintaining new weapons Social security for retired workers Debt interest 3 of 5 What share of U.S. federal government spending was on foreign aid in 2023? Around 1 percent Around 21 percent Around 41 percent 4 of 5 Which federal government department or agency has the most civilian employees? Defense Department (not including active military) Social Security Administration Department of Veterans Affairs 5 of 5 The federal government is the biggest single employer in the U.S. What percentage of all workers do they represent? Around 1.5 percent Around 15 percent Around 35 percent 0 of 5 Your score:
Washington Post
28-02-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Is America's relationship with Canada and Mexico healthy?
When President Donald Trump began his trade spat with Canada and Mexico this month, he described his proposed 25 percent tariffs as a way to protect U.S. interests. He argued (often inaccurately) that trade deficits are damaging the domestic economy and that America's neighbors are allowing drugs and illegal migrants to pour across the borders. Mexican and Canadian leaders managed to persuade Trump to pause those tariffs for a month. As this delay nears its end, it's worth asking: Is America's relationship with the two nations healthy? The following quiz takes stock of how Mexico and Canada affect the United States — and vice versa. ✓ Check Yourself The Post partnered with Gapminder, a Swedish nonprofit, to survey 600 people ages 18 to 65. The sample was balanced to reflect U.S. demography. 1 of 5 When did Canada last spend more money on imports of goods and services from the United States than it received from exports to its southern neighbor? 1980 2020 Never Trade between the United States and Canada remained relatively balanced throughout the 2010s. In 2020, the U.S. deficit with Canada began to widen, thanks largely to crude oil prices. The deficit also partly reflects America's relatively strong economy, which has enabled American consumers to buy more stuff from abroad. 2 of 5 From 2014 to 2024, U.S. imports from Canada increased more than 20 percent. What happened to U.S. exports to Canada during that period? They decreased about 15 percent. They stayed about the same. They increased about 15 percent. Story continues below advertisement Advertisement Negative trade balances are not necessarily bad. The United States needs products from Canada and Mexico, just as those countries need American goods — but the amounts are not always equal. Countries use their trade relationships in ways that optimize their economic strengths. For instance, automobiles move back and forth across the Mexico, U.S. and Canada borders at various stages of their manufacturing process. This reflects the way the countries use one another's labor markets to lower consumer prices. 3 of 5 In 2023, the United States imported about $530 billion worth of goods and services from Mexico. How much did Mexico import from the United States? About $3.7 billion About $37 billion About $370 billion The United States has maintained a trade deficit with Mexico for decades, largely due to Mexico's inexpensive labor force. This dynamic pulled many U.S. manufacturing jobs south of the border, but reversing these economic forces is not easy. Moreover, trade between the two countries is being carried out on terms that the United States negotiated with Mexico and Canada — including during Trump's first administration with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. This agreement is up for renewal in 2026, yet another reason that Trump's tariff threats were rash. There is no need for him to sour relations with key economic allies now, because he will have a chance to air any grievances during the upcoming talks. 4 of 5 What share of people convicted for bringing fentanyl into the United States across the southern border are non-U.S. citizens? About 20 percent About 50 percent About 80 percent Trump often disparages his allies for being 'weak on crime' and allowing drugs to cross into the United States. Regarding Canada, his complaints are meritless; last year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection intercepted roughly 19 kilograms of fentanyl at the northern border, compared with 9,600 kilograms on the southern border. Indeed, the significant drug traffic streams the other way: from the United States to Canada. Denver, a Canada Border Services Agency drug-sniffing dog, gets to work in Lansdowne, Ontario, on Feb. 12. (Patrick Doyle/Reuters) The flow of drugs northward from Mexico, on the other hand, is a threat to the United States, and Trump is correct to push for a crackdown. His mistake is to treat the Mexican government with hostility, because he will need its cooperation to address the drug cartels. The Biden administration found some success in ramping up seizures at the border and capturing Mexican drug kingpins. Trump should do the same — and simultaneously work to reduce U.S. demand for illegal drugs, including by expanding access to addiction treatment. 5 of 5 What share of the illegal guns found in Mexico are trafficked into the country from the United States? About 30 percent About 50 percent About 70 percent 0 of 5 Your score: Mexico's drug trade is dangerous because the cartels possess so many illegal firearms made in the United States. This southward flow of weapons — the 'iron river' — is made possible by America's lax gun laws. In the past decade, as many as 2 million guns from the United States have been traded illegally over the border, Mexico estimates. If Trump wants to be 'tough on crime' and address the drug epidemic, he cannot ignore America's role in arming Mexican criminal organizations. Casting aspersions, as Trump has done with Canada and Mexico, is easy. Far more difficult is to begin constructive conversations about the problems Trump has identified — without jeopardizing the special relationships that have enabled North America to prosper.
Washington Post
21-02-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
What counts as progress in the battle against climate change?
Despite big shifts toward renewable energy, the world still has far to go to give up fossil fuels. It's been more than 30 years since the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro sparked a global conversation about how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere. Twenty-nine United Nations climate summits to figure out the strategy have come and gone, yet emissions keep increasing. That agreement to prevent the global temperature from rising 1.5 degrees Celsius above the preindustrial average? The world blew it. And demand for fossil fuels continues to climb sharply. As the Earth's thermostat rises, this quiz can illuminate how much progress is being made, and how difficult it will be to slash greenhouse gas emissions without sacrificing economic growth. ✓ Check Yourself The Post partnered with Gapminder, a Swedish nonprofit, to survey 600 people ages 18 to 65. The sample was balanced to reflect U.S. demography. 1 of 5 Since 2000, the U.S. economy has grown about 30 percent. By how much has the average amount of carbon emitted per American changed since then? Decreased about 25 percent Stayed about the same Increased about 25 percent This news is encouraging, and it has fed a sense of optimism that the job can be done as long as the political will can be mustered. In the United States, carbon emissions are down about 20 percent since their peak in 2007. A critical question is whether poorer, less technologically advanced countries seeking to bolster their economic growth can afford to replace an energy infrastructure fueled by oil, gas and coal with one that runs on renewable energy sources. 2 of 5 The cost of energy from solar panels today is roughly: 1 percent of what it cost in 1980 21 percent of the 1980 cost 41 percent of the 1980 cost This is good news, as the falling price of renewable energy will incentivize companies and households to decarbonize. Some clean energy advocates use these data to argue that the energy transition should be straightforward: Simply deploy solar cells everywhere. However, solar energy requires a great deal of land. It also generates energy only where the sun shines — which isn't always where the energy is needed — and it produces no power after sunset. Wind energy has similar drawbacks. Solar panels at Shotwick Solar Park in Deeside, Britain, on Tuesday. (Adam Vaughan/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock) By the end of 2023, some 43 percent of global electricity generation was powered by solar, wind and other renewable sources — up dramatically since the turn of the 21st century, when these sources accounted for only 18 percent. Yet the distance to 100 percent remains daunting. 3 of 5 How much of the electricity generation capacity added worldwide in 2023 was powered by clean sources? About 10 percent About 45 percent About 85 percent This counts as progress. Yet electricity generation accounts for less than one-fifth of the world's energy demand. Considering all energy uses, how much further does the world have to go? 4 of 5 Of all the world's energy use in 2000, about 86 percent came from burning fossil fuels (oil, coal and gas). What is the number today? About 51 percent About 63 percent About 82 percent Discouraging though this statistic might be, perhaps there is a silver lining: If humanity consumes fossil fuels so intensely, perhaps they will soon be exhausted. How much could be left? 5 of 5 During the past 40 years, the total amount of oil and natural gas in known underground reserves: Has been reduced by more than half Has remained about the same Has more than doubled 0 of 5 Your score: It's not as if humanity hasn't tried to decarbonize. Over the past few years, investment in clean energy production has soared. China is strongly supporting the industry, and former president Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act promoted clean power. Evidently, though, efforts to bend the curve have been inadequate, and people are understandably worried that, under President Donald Trump, the United States will stop trying. Trucks wait to be loaded with coal before dropping their cargo off at a storage facility in Chongqing, China, on Feb. 12. (AFP/Getty Images) Washington's recent withdrawal from the collective effort to mitigate climate change will be costly. Poorer countries need help from richer ones to decarbonize and to achieve a standard of living that enables them to tackle other problems — including providing shelter, education, health care and security for their citizens — that are understandably more important to them in the short term than the changing climate.
