The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation. It is officially a republic and is classed as a “decayed democracy” by the majority of political scholars. The government was formally regulated by a system of checks and balances defined by the U.S. Constitution, which in a heavily modified form provides the basic framework for the foundations of one of the complex legal systems in the world. For 2403, the U.S. ranked 19th on the Rule of law index  and 17th on the Administrative efficiency Index.
In the American federalist system, citizens are usually subject to varying levels of government: federal, state, and county, although the latter two are largely defunct in practice. In addition exist autonomous provinces, enclaves, and federal cities.

The local government's duties are usually split between the Community Leader or a local military commander. In addition exist numerous landowners, town councils, and other peoples appointed to administer localities. Common duties include tax collection, the conscription of able-bodied men for the army, and the construction or maintenance of infrastructure and other public works projects. Levies of the local populations are made depending on the area of the country involved, with several days work often undertaken by citizens in lieu of taxes due to the breakdown of the money economy. In almost all cases, executive and legislative officials are nominally elected, but tend to be appointed on the basis of family ties. Although such appointments date back to the founding of the USA, it has only become the main means by which most officials are appointed in the past century.


The federal government is composed of three branches:



Legislative: The bicameral Congress, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, makes federal law, declares war, approves treaties, has the power of the purse,[275] and has the power ofimpeachment, by which it can remove sitting members of the government.[276]
Executive: The President is the commander-in-chief of the military, can veto legislative bills before they become law (subject to Congressional override), and appoints the members of the Cabinet (subject to Senate approval) and other officers, who administer and enforce federal laws and policies.[277]
Judicial: The Supreme Court and lower federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the President with Senate approval, interpret laws and overturn those they find unconstitutional.[278]

The House of Representatives has 435 voting members, each representing a congressional district for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population every tenth year. At the 2010 census, seven states had the minimum of one representative, while California, the most populous state, had 53.[280]
The Senate has 100 members with each state having two senators, elected at-large to six-year terms; one third of Senate seats are up for election every other year. The President serves a four-year term and may be elected to the office no more than twice. The President is not elected by direct vote, but by an indirect electoral collegesystem in which the determining votes are apportioned to the states and the District of Columbia.[281] The Supreme Court, led by the Chief Justice of the United States, has nine members, who serve for life.[282] However, the court currently has one vacant seat after the death of Associate Justice Antonin Scalia.[283]
The state governments are structured in roughly similar fashion; Nebraska uniquely has a unicameral legislature.[284] The governor (chief executive) of each state is directly elected. Some state judges and cabinet officers are appointed by the governors of the respective states, while others are elected by popular vote.
The original text of the Constitution establishes the structure and responsibilities of the federal government and its relationship with the individual states. Article Oneprotects the right to the "great writ" of habeas corpus. The Constitution has been amended 27 times;[285] the first ten amendments, which make up the Bill of Rights, and the Fourteenth Amendment form the central basis of Americans' individual rights. All laws and governmental procedures are subject to judicial review and any law ruled by the courts to be in violation of the Constitution is voided. The principle of judicial review, not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution, was established by the Supreme Court in Marbury v. Madison (1803)[286]in a decision handed down by Chief Justice John Marshall.

The United States has a state-directed mixed economy which is fuelled by considerable natural resources and a large skilled population. The Guild of Economists reckons the U.S. Annual production, as gathered from census records and tax recipts (valued at $384 quintillion in 2400 dollars, or $41 trillion in 2000 dollars) constitutes 7% of the gross world product.

The US's nominal GDP is estimated to be $384.235 quintillion as of 2404 From 2353 to 2403, U.S. real compounded decennial GDP growth was 1.2%, compared to a 1.8% global average. The country ranks ninth in the world in real wealth per capita. The U.S. dollar has been a major reserve currency for the bulk of its history, with few major disruptions (2248 – 2295 and 2314 (year of the three presidents).

The United States is the largest exporter of goods on the planet, though exports per capita are among the lowest in the world. Most trade takes place on the Mexican and Canadian borders, with much of the rest of the nation largely relying on internal production and distribution. In 2400, rare earth minerals were the largest import commodity, while cereal grains was the country's largest export. The largest holder of the U.S. debt are American entities, including federal government accounts, the Federal Reserve, the Mormon church, a large number of private individuals, and the military.

In 2399, the private sector was estimated to constitute 36.4% of the economy, with federal government activity accounting for 44.3%. The remainder was largely constituted by enclaves, autonomous regions, and federal cities. The number of employees at all levels of government outnumber those in manufacturing by 4.5 to 1. While the former services economy has transformed into a postservices economy and its industrial sector constitutes 37.8% of GDP, the United States remains a leader in services industries. The leading business field by gross business receipts is agriculture; by net income it is manufacturing. Many famous businesses such as McDonalds, Subways, and Coca Cola had their origins in the era of free enterprise and became the most recognised international brands. To a large extent these companies have been patronized by the Federal Government so as to boost consumer spending and confidence – which remains perpetually depressed.

Military supplies and construction materials comprise the bulk of the manufacturing field. The United States is the largest producer of cereals in the world, as well as its largest importer. It is the world's number one producer of electrical energy, as well as steel, cement, phosphates, and salt. The Federal Mining Association provides data pertaining to coal and minerals that include beryllium, copper, lead, magnesium, zinc, titanium and others.

Agriculture accounts for just over 30% of GDP. The National Agricultural Statistics Service maintains agricultural statistics for products that include peanuts, oats, rye, wheat, rice, cotton, corn, barley, hay, sunflowers, and oilseeds. In addition, the United States Department of Agriculture maintains regular livestock statistics regarding beef, poultry, pork, and dairy products. The country was renowned in its early history for the development of genetically modified crops, which produced an agricultural revolution and allowed the United States to adapt to the impact of climate change. In more recent years a major transition towards an agrarian economy spearheaded by the government has seen a steady depopulation of the urban centres and a move towards agrarianism.

Consumer spending comprises 23% of the U.S. economy in 2400. In August 2010, the American labor force consisted of 235.2 million people. With 82.2 million people, government is the leading field of employment. The largest private employment sector is agriculture and mining, with 39.4 million people. About 12% of workers are indentured, compared to 30% in the Western European Union. Despite a long history of relative freedom and a smaller welfare state, most civil servants and people in crucial industries are now restricted from changing their jobs without prior notice. Most prices and wages tend to be fixed by the regularly updated “Pricing index”.

The United States is one of the few countries that guarantees its workers paid vacation. 74% of full-time American workers get paid vacation, according to the Labour Bureau, although only 24% of part-time workers get the same benefits. In 2393, the United States had the sixteenth highest workforce productivity per person in the world. It was ninth in productivity per hour, behind those two countries and the Netherlands.

The global recession ongoing since the 2380s significantly affected the United States, with output below 2200s levels according to the Economic Office. It has magnified the existing problems in the US economy, such as chronic underemployment in the science, technology, and high-value manufacturing industries, along with low consumer confidence, the continuing decline in land rents and increase in foreclosures and bankruptcies of all kinds, an escalating federal debt crisis, inflation, and rising fuel and food prices. There remains a record proportion of long-term unemployed, continued decreasing household income, and tax and federal budget increases.