Ever since the economic crisis of 2008 started, economists have been looking to determine the exact moment of complete recovery.
This was never truer than the study published last September, which declared that the recession had ended in June 2009.
This study was met with skepticism on both the left and the right. While businesses were performing well and the upper class was making money again, many people were still without jobs, and the middle class continued to struggle.
What was abundantly clear was that while the recession may have technically been over, the effects of it were still being felt across the board.
Now, however, there is a new study with some more encouraging news about the current state of the American economy.
According to a report published last week by the BBC, consumer spending is on the rise in a big way, as spending was at its highest in three years.
Consumer spending was up by 3.5 percent from 2009 last year, making it the largest increase since 2007, the year before the recession.
This is encouraging news, to say the least. While the economy has not fully recovered, as unemployment is still high, The Spectrum does believe this is very significant news, and it could lead to continued economic growth in the future.
The hope would be that all of this increased spending, which will increase profits for many corporations, will lead to the creation of new jobs, as the corporations profiting will begin hiring at greater rates.
While we can't say for sure that this will occur, it certainly seems like a realistic possibility. Lately, it seems as though the middle and lower classes are the last people still feeling the effects of the recession.
While corporations have gotten out of the dark ages and the wealthiest people are still doing well, the lack of employment has hurt these classes quite a bit.
If this job increase actually does happen, the middle class would likely benefit the most, as many of the jobs would be in that territory.
Until the middle and lower classes get back on their feet, the economy can't truly be considered to have recovered.
Still, the rise in spending is certainly good news, and has us believing that glorious date when everything is back to normal might soon be here after all.
