Since the 2009 global financial crisis, the outlook for the United States and European economies has not appreciably improved, as Europe continues to struggle with its debt crisis and the U.S. experiences high levels of unemployment. In an October report on the outlook for 2012, Goldman Sachs wrote: “It’s been a disappointing economic recovery since the end of the financial crisis in mid-2009, with US gross domestic product (GDP) growing by only about 2 percent in real terms. The main result of this disappointing growth has been the persistently high number of unemployed in the US. The current rate of GDP growth is insufficient to dent the huge pool of long-term unemployed.” In this cartoon, posted by artist Zhai Haijun (翟海军) to his QQ.com blog, Uncle Sam, riding a bicycle with US$ wheels uphill, looks back at a bicycler representing Europe and points up to the top of the hill, which remains invisible.


David Bandurski

CMP Director

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