GDP Up: Will Recession Fear Fade as Economy Shows Signs of Life?

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With just two months until the first primary contests officially kick off the race for the White House, politicians have unleashed a flurry of proposals designed to fix the ailing economy, encompassing everything from tax-code reform to student loan relief to a large-scale mortgage refinancing initiative.

And it sure seems like we need it, right? A string of bad economic data and policy failures in the first half of 2011 have severely weakened consumer and business confidence—more than three in four Americans now believe the country is on the "wrong track" according to a recent Rasmussen Reports poll. That attitude has made virtually everyone clam up and become super-cautious when it comes to spending, a persistent obstacle in this non-recovery.

Not only do Americans feel uncertainty about the U.S. economy in general, plenty of doubts exist when it comes to their own financial situations as well. Even with a weak "recovery" taking place, personal income growth has receded to levels not seen since 2010, making Americans feel less wealthy and increasingly pessimistic about the future.

But while no one is arguing the economy is in tip-top shape, a slew of recent data shows encouraging progress and support for the argument that although weak growth might be in the future, a double-dip recession most likely isn't. Here are a few reasons why things might be looking up for the U.S. economy:

[Read: Recession Fears Fade But Euro Debt Crisis Still Looms.]

Gross domestic product. After a series of gloomy forecasts for the U.S. economy, real gross domestic product—a measure of the output of goods and services—increased at an annual rate of 2.5 percent in the third quarter of 2011 according to the advance estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis Thursday. In the second quarter, real GDP increased 1.3 percent and first-quarter numbers came in at a measly 0.4 percent. While economists emphasize that 2.5 percent isn't exactly robust growth, it is a huge improvement from first- and second-quarter estimates and a sign that the much-anticipated economic recovery could be finally finding its footing. But, other economists warn that growth above 2 percent doesn't appear to be sustainable. "Business investment, inventory, and exporting hold the key to how much growth can be anticipated through the first half of 2012," Kathy Bostjancic, director for macroeconomic analysis at the Conference Board, said in a press release Thursday.

In any case, simply the perception that things are getting slightly better could generate a rebound in consumer and business confidence, which could ultimately help steer the economy further away from the cusp of another recession.

Housing. Pretty much any way you slice it, the housing market is in the dumps. And while 2011 is shaping up to be one of the worst years on record for the single-family housing market, green shoots might be growing elsewhere. It seems counterintuitive given the constant talk of overbuilding contributing to the massive housing bubble, but a rebound in multifamily unit construction—think townhomes or apartments—has given the housing market a shred of hope to cling to.

Thanks to building activity in that sector, housing starts jumped 15 percent—the best reading in 17 months, according to IHS Global insight—to a 658,000 annual rate. Single-family starts were up 1.7 percent, according to IHS, a modest but encouraging change.

According to IHS forecasts, a housing market recovery initially driven by an uptick in multi-family unit construction through 2013 will eventually make way for improvement in the decimated single-family home space as pent-up demand builds.

In some ways, that demand may be reappearing already. On the heels of strong gains in August, existing home sales—while down 3 percent in September—clocked in at more than 11 percent above figures from September 2010, according to the National Association of Realtors.

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What the Recession Has Done to the Rich

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December marks the fourth anniversary of the start of the Great Recession. The nation has become a different place during that period: Poverty has worsened, young Americans are being hit hard by unemployment, and government debt has skyrocketed.

For the richest Americans, life has changed as well. For one thing, they currently find themselves at the center of a political fight, with Republicans hurling accusations of "class warfare" at President Obama for his proposed tax hike on Americans making more than $1 million annually—a cause that even multibillionaire Warren Buffett has joined. Of course, "rich" can mean different things to different people, but whatever the measure, assets and earnings are highly concentrated at the top. The top 1 percent of Americans control 40 percent of wealth, according to economist Joseph Stiglitz, and in terms of income, the top 1 percent take in almost 25 percent.

[Read about Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's latest report to Congress.]

Here are a few statistical snapshots ofhow the population of the wealthiest and highest-income people in the nation has changed since the recession:

Women Are on the Move

From 2007 to 2010, high-earning women have grown as a population much more rapidly than their male counterparts. Over that time period, according to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, the number of women 16 and over earning $100,000 or more grew by nearly 17 percent, compared with 2.3 percent growth for men. During the preceding three years, from 2004 to 2007, the population of high-earning women had also grown more quickly than men, but not by such a large ratio. During that period, the group of men earning six figures grew by nearly 32 percent, and the cohort of high-earning women grew by nearly 57 percent (it should be noted that the Census only included group quarters, like dormitories and correctional facilities, in the American Community Survey from 2006 onward, which may affect some comparisons between 2004 and 2007 data).Of course, men still dominate high-earners, making up roughly three quarters of Americans making over $100,000. But women are making inroads, and one likely reason for that could be education, says Erin Currier, project manager at the Pew Charitable Trust's Economic Mobility Project. "Post-secondary education is one of the strongest drivers we've found of upward economic mobility," she says, and women have been making great strides in this area for decades. "We do see over the last 20 years or so a strong increase in the number of women, both white and of color, who are attending and completing four-year college programs, especially compared to white men," she says.

Decline in Wealthy Whites

From 2007 to 2010, the population of high-earning Americans has grown more racially and ethnically diverse. The total number of households with annual incomes over $200,000 grew by 1.5 percent during that period, a significant decrease from a nearly 51 percent jump in that same population from 2004 to 2007. White, non-Hispanic Americans were a big factor in that slowed growth. From 2007 to 2010, the share of those households headed by white non-Hispanics remained almost unchanged, posting a decrease of just over 1 percent, compared to growth of 14, 19, and nearly 21 percent among Hispanics, Asians, and blacks, respectively. Of course, this growth is tempered by the fact that households headed by these minority groups still make up small shares of the larger high-income population. Households headed by non-Hispanic whites still make up 82.5 percent of households making $200,000 or more per year. "It's much easier to get a high change when you're dealing with small numbers," points out Dedrick Muhammad, senior director of Economic Programs at the NAACP. While it's good that African-Americans are better represented among high-earning Americans, he says, "the fact that to go up 20 percent means that you're going only up to not even 4 percent of your demographic representation [among all high-earning households] doesn't show radical progress."

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