Is the recession over? Has the recovery started?
One lesson of the last few years is that some of our traditional economic labels have lost meaning. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research — the group of academic economists who set dates for the beginning and end of business cycles — the U.S. economy has been in a recovery since mid-2009. That's when the recession that began in late 2007 is deemed to have ended. But for many Americans, if not most, it hasn't felt like a "recovery."
And why should it?