Deloitte sez that in 2014 barely .05% of payments were made using phone NFC or contactless technology. Now it's at 5% and climbing. ("Contactless payments finally gaining momentum")
Phone Swipe merchants all have Next Day Funding. All transactions are automatically batched and settled each day. Batching occurs at 8pm Eastern Time, so transactions processed before that time will be included in the day’s settlement.
A souring story: SquareIt didn't help when The Wall Street Journal reported in early 2014 that Square's losses were widening and it was running out of cash, so Square was discussing possible deals to sell itself to a larger company. Potential suitors were a who's who of Silicon Valley tech giants.
Another bad sign was that after quickly jumping to a $5 billion valuation by January 2014, the company was valued at $6 billion later that year in another round of funding. That change represented a fairly modest increase in the world of start-ups, and suggests that Square was unable to secure more favorable funding terms with private investors due to slowing growth. (For entire article go to Source: Motley Fool)
The U.S. economic outlook for 2015 will be significantly different depending on your vantage point. If you’re wealthy, 2015 will probably be another year of celebratory wealth creation.If, on the other hand, you’re not, 2015 will feel an awful lot like 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, and 2009. Wall Street and the U.S. government will tell you the economy is doing well, but it won’t feel like it.In fact, according to a national survey, 70% of Americans believe the U.S. economy is permanently damaged, while 84% do not believe the economy has improved since the recession ended in 2009.
(GREAT NEWS!!! YOU BELONG TO A VERY RICH FAMILY BUSINESS in the financial service sector called merchant card processing-- SO YOUR OUTLOOK IS WHAT YOU MAKE OF IT!!)
United States Economy Overview
Economic Overview of the United StatesDespite facing challenges at the domestic level along with a rapidly transforming global landscape, the U.S. economy is still the largest and most important in the world. The U.S. economy represents about 20% of total global output, and is still larger than that of China. Moreover, according to the IMF, the U.S. has the sixth highest per capita GDP (PPP), surpassed only by small countries such as Norway and Singapore. The U.S. economy features a highly-developed and technologically-advanced services sector, which accounts for about 80% of its output. The U.S. economy is dominated by services-oriented companies in areas such as technology, financial services, healthcare and retail. Large U.S. corporations also play a major role on the global stage, with more than a fifth of companies on the Fortune Global 500 coming from the United States.
Even though the services sector is the main engine of the economy, the U.S. also has an important manufacturing base, which represents roughly 15% of output. The U.S. is the second largest manufacturer in the world and a leader in higher-value industries such as automobiles, aerospace, machinery, telecommunications and chemicals. Meanwhile, agriculture represents less than 2% of output. However, large amounts of arable land, advanced farming technology and generous government subsidies make the U.S. a net exporter of food and the largest agricultural exporting country in the world.
