Let’s be clear, the U.S. economy is just awful (Forbes)

History has shown the economic recovery following a recession is just about equal to severity of the recession. The oft cited analogy for this is a rubber band—the more it is pulled, the more it will snap back. This, however, does not seem to hold true for the most recent recession that officially ended in June 2009. Instead of regaining everything the economy lost in the recession, growth has been about half of the 4% that it should be. To foster growth, the government needs to enact policies that allow the private sector to create growth and jobs. But before any policy goes into effect, it should be evaluated by one question: Does it increase growth? If it does not, then the policy should be rejected.