Is the economic slog really over?

Washington

HELLO, 2015. We now are in the sixth year of economic recovery since the end of the Great Recession in mid-2009, says the National Bureau of Economic Research, a group of academic economists that dates business cycles. But, if upbeat economic forecasts come true, this could be the first year that feels like a recovery. There would be huge implications. It would soothe Americans' bruised sense of self-worth and alter popular psychology for the 2016 elections.

It's been a slog. Below, you'll find some economic indicators comparing where we are now with the peaks of the last economic expansion, which ended in the fourth quarter of 2007. Generally, the numbers aren't impressive. At best, they show modest gains from those previous peaks. Consider: