This fictional economy has recently come out of a recession and has seen a decrease in the unemployment rate from 7.8% last year to 6.7% this year. Although the unemployment rate has declined over the past year, it is still above the natural rate of unemployment in our economy is about 5%. GDP growth was 2.0% last year and 1.9% the year prior. This particular economy has been importing more than exporting to other countries. The housing market has started to rebound with less foreclosures but consumers are still be a bit skeptical about the economy so consumption growth has been only about 1% in the past year. Investment by firms has remained stagnate with very little growth. The consumer price index has shown an inflation rate of 1.8% this past year which was up a bit from 1.5% in the previous year. The federal minimum wage rate is $7.25 an hour which is about $14,500 per year for someone working 40 hours a week 50 weeks out of the year. The median wage for the middle-class in this economy has decreased by 5% in the past 10 years and their wealth has decreased by 28% while the wealthiest one percent has 288 times more than the average middle-class family. Due to the governmentâs increase in spending over the past couple of years to help stimulate the economy in an effort to get the economy out of the recession, the national debt has increased $12.9 Trillion 4 years ago to $17.7 Trillion this past year. Much of the debt increase was due to government spending that occurred to stimulate economic growth when the economy was in the Great Recession. Pick the 3 biggest issues which must adressed and the next year and explain why these issues are the most important to adress.

a. Unemployment
b. GDP Growth
c. Consumption
d. Investment
e. Inflation
f. Exports only
g. Imports only
h. Exports & Imports
i. Housing Market