THE U.S. economy has come a long way since the dark days of the Great Recession. Less than two years ago, the global financial system was on the brink of collapse, and the United States was suffering its worst economic downturn since the 1930s. At its worst, real gross domestic product (GDP) appeared to be in free fall, declining at nearly a 7 percent annual rate, with job losses averaging close to 750,000 a month. Today, the financial system is operating much more normally, real GDP has grown by more than 3 percent during the past year, and job growth has resumed, although at an insufficient pace.