The U.S. Private Sector Has Been In Recovery For A While Now. The U.S. Public Sector, However....

Finally, somebody got the analysis of the U.S. recovery right.  The Economist, which is actually a conservative publication, states that "...the public sector is still hobbling the recovery....  Government payrolls typically swell in economic recoveries, by 5.9% on average during the first 34 months after a recession has ended [but] not this time....  The 2.5 million overall rise in employment since the downturn's end corresponds to 3.1 million new private jobs, less 600,000 government jobs.  Local governments have cut over 500,000 jobs, most of them in education...."  Yes, this is a complicated scenario and people have differing views of it, but we can all at least agree that the private sector is in recovery, but things like education are in the toilet.  I know it.  I'm living it.  The Economist is hit or miss, but this is a good article:

http://www.economist.com/node/21554560