There is good reason to think that 2013 will finally be the year that the U.S. economic recovery really feels like a recovery: The biggest forces that have been holding the economy back finally seem to be subsiding.
There is a risk, of course, that new headwinds will gather to hold the economy back — but more on that later. Today, a look at why this should, by all rights, be quite a happy new year.
The recession began five years ago and ended more than three years ago. Yet some 12 million Americans are still looking for work, and many millions more would confirm that it hasn't felt like a recovery at all. That would include the people who have seen their incomes flatline or have been drowning in mortgage debt for years on end.