It has a population of about 65m and the mainland part of it has enjoyed an astonishing average annualrateofeconomicgrowthof around 17% for the past quarter-century.
The ISM said the index was consistent with an annualrateofeconomicgrowth 3.3 percent from January through March, up from a tepid 0.4 percent growthrate the last three months of 2012.
According to calculations by White House economists, slowing the annualgrowthrateof health care costs by 1.5 percentage points might increase economic output by 2 percent in 2020 and 8 percent in 2030.
That number is paltry compared to the average U.S. annualgrowthrateof 2.8 percent since 1973 and is below the 2.5 percent long-term economicgrowthrate typically used by financial markets to value businesses.
Conversely, Sinai found that raising the U.S. top individual capital gains rate from the current 15 percent rate to 20 percent, as suggested in several deficit reduction plans, would cut annualeconomicgrowth by an average of .05 percent per year and job growth would decline throughout the economy by an average of 231, 000 from 2011-2016.