People seem to be forgetting something about the recovery from this recession: Since the 2008 Mortgage meltdown brought us into the deepest doo doo since the Great Depression, of course the recovery is going to take longer. And let's not forget, the previous recession was a tech bust, and the "recovery" from that was another speculative (real estate) bubble, lulling us into an unrealistic idea of "quick" recoveries. The reality of our economy is that the bulk of our nation's spending power is now in the hands of fewer and fewer people, and we can't keep kicking the can down the road. Clean tech looks promising, but in this political climate it does not appear that this will be a gold rush. The only way for that to happen is if our backs are against the wall, namely, we run out of oil and have no choice but to act. Sad, but true. We'll probably be moving along at 1-2% rates for some time to come.