A number of economic indicators suggest that the pace of recovery is accelerating after more than a year of sub-par improvement.  Households and businesses appear more optimistic about the future, and a now sustained increase in consumer credit suggests a welcome improvement in both the availability of credit as well as consumers’ willingness to spend.  However, the labor market remains troubled.  Although the unemployment rate has fallen, the eventual re-entry of millions of discouraged workers who have left the labor force will place upward pressure on the unemployment rate for some time.  Indeed, Chairman Bernanke said it will be years before the unemployment rate returns to more normal levels.  And while the first round of quantitative easing (QE1) arguably produced the intended effects, the same cannot be said of the most recent round of quantitative easing (QE2).