Million dollar question: Why are we only slowly slinking along toward recovery? That would be because the government feels it necessary to hold our hand, to dictate and in some cases, even take over the recovery efforts. Instead, what they need to do is let go. Create an environment that will allow businesses to thrive and then let them do what they do best. But there is one problem: this is asking the government to give up some of its power. Yeah, power! (Seems to be a theme today.) Power is something that politicians, especially liberal government-lovers like Barack Obama, aren't going to let go of easily. Instead, they would rather have the government keep us contained and have the government maintain control. Where will this take us? Well ..... let's just say that things ain't looking so pretty for your children and grandchildren. From a study by the McKinsey Global Institute:

"A drop in the rate of [gross domestic product] growth from its historic 50-year average of 3.3 percent per annum to, say, 1.5 percent for each of the next 20 years would be far more damaging to prosperity and jobs in the United States than even a double-dip recession sometime in the next 12 months."

"If, over the next 10 years, the labor force were to grow as currently projected and productivity increases at the average 1.7 percent annual rate that the United States has posted both over the long term (1960 to 2008) and more recently (1990 to 2008), U.S. GDP growth would decline to 2.2 percent per year," McKinsey said. "With the working-age population declining from 67 percent to 64 percent, Americans, on average, would experience slower gains in living standards than did their parents and grandparents."

We have Obama's vision of a centrally planned economy to look forward to.