The U.S. is now more than six years removed from the worst of the economic recession that followed the Financial Crisis in 2008-2009. The Federal Reserve finally deemed the economy strong enough for its first modest interest rate hike back In December. However, global economic jitters, particularly in China, have now clouded the outlook for future rate hikes.

Is there any real reason to doubt the strength of the U.S. economic recovery? As it turns out, there is.

According to data from the St. Louis Fed, post-downturn GDP growth this cycle has significantly lagged the recoveries seen following the Great Depression and the economic downturn in the early 1980s. The Federal Reserve may have finally met its targets for a rate hike in terms of metrics like unemployment rate, but the graph below illustrates…

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