The Great Recession is an apt name for America's current stagnation, but the present phase might also be called the Grand Illusion—because the happy talk and statistics that go with it, especially regarding jobs, give a rosier picture than the facts justify.

The country isn't really advancing. By comparison with earlier recessions, it is going backward. Despite the most stimulative fiscal policy in American history and a trillion-dollar expansion to the money supply, the economy over the last three years has been declining. After 2.4% annual growth rates in gross domestic product in 2010 and 2011, the economy slowed to 1.5% growth in 2012. Cumulative growth for the past 12 quarters was just 6.3%, the slowest of all 11 recessions since World War II.

[link to online.wsj.com]

Mortimer Benjamin "Mort" Zuckerman (born June 4, 1937)[2] is a Canadian-born American real estate tycoon and media proprietor. He is the co-founder, chairman and CEO of Boston Properties, one of the largest real estate investment trusts in the United States. Zuckerman is also the owner and publisher of the New York Daily News and of U.S. News & World Report, where he serves as editor-in-chief. He formerly owned The Atlantic and Fast Money. His personal net worth is estimated at $2.4 billion.[3]

[link to en.wikipedia.org]