The nation's economic output grew at an annualized rate of 2.8 percent in the fourth quarter, the Commerce Department reported Friday. Yet even with the pickup in output, the pace last quarter was below the average of economic expansions in the United States since World War II. Given how much ground was lost during the Great Recession, the United States economy needs above-average growth right now. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, said he expected the United States to grow about 2 to 3 percent this year, ahead of the 1.7 percent growth in 2011. The good news? Companies like General Electric and Lockheed Martin closed the year with record order backlogs, a sign that, at least for some businesses, demand is so strong that they cannot produce quickly enough.
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