Why Economic Charts Looking Like A Van Halen Logo May Be The Best We Can Hope For

OTTAWA — Don’t count on North America getting its economic mojo back any time soon. In fact, the slow recovery in the U.S. from the “Great Recession” will continue to hamper renewed expansion in Canada as well, the Bank of Canada warned Thursday. The U.S. economy is likely to remain on a moderate growth path “for years to come,” the central bank said in its quarterly review of global economic issues. “Understanding the trajectory and characteristics of the U.S. recovery has important implications for the Canadian economy and, this, monetary policy.”

By Bill Black, the author of The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One and an associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Cross posted from New Economic Perspectives

From an article in the newest issue of GlobalAsia: Only a few months ago, policymakers around the world were confronted with a series of challenges that, while substantial, seemed relatively well defined. International organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development highlighted the challenges of a two-speed recovery: emerging markets racing ahead, advanced economies plodding along.

An interested reader asks, "One question I would like to ask is whether you see the US ever fully recovering from this recession?"

Economists might not say it publicly, but privately, everyone is extremely appreciative of the UK right now. That's because the UK has been a great laboratory of economic ideas in recent years.

FRIDAY'S jobs report touched off a round of hand-wringing over the possibility of permanent damage to America's labour force as a result of years of labour-market weakness. Labour-force participation fell in April; there has been virtually no recovery in the employment-population ratio over the past three years, despite steady (though disappointingly slow) employment growth.