A new report from the Commerce Department shows that the economy grew at a rate of 2.8% in 2011. That rate is below the average speed in the last fifty years, and experts say that to recover from the recession we will need a higher rate of growth. While governments cut spending, many companies report profits and orders for manufactured goods rose by 3%.
See "U.S. Recovery Slowly Gained Speed in Late '11, Data Show", Catherine Rampell, The New York Times, January 26, 2012