Thomas Oliphant had a good piece in the Boston Globe this week on the state of the economic recovery.

"To be more precise, the country has still not recovered its lost jobs. In the private economy not tied to the boom-bust cycle of military spending, employment is still slightly down from its prerecession level and is not likely to catch up before the end of this year. Americans also know that the very brief dip in economic output four years ago was followed by a painfully slow resumption of growth. They also know that the tiny bits of improvement spiced by three rounds of tax cuts have been eroded or wiped out at the gasoline pump and in the sharp escalation of health care and housing costs."

Speaking of oil prices, I recommend Kevin Drum's writings on the problem of peak oil production.