UK recovery vs the US recovery – an uncomfortable truth for Osborne

Today, the US growth rate for 2013 was announced. It’s the same as the UK’s growth rate – which George Osborn will surely wish to note – but that’s only part of the story – because an economic recovery isn’t just about how much you’ve grown, it’s about where you are compared to where you’ve been.

So here’s an uncomfortable truth for George Osborne – the US economy is 6.5% above it’s pre-crash peak today. The UK economy, by contrast, is still 1.3% below:

If this is a “global race”, then stimulus-boosted America is beating austerity Britain. And if the economy is still smaller than it was in 2008, what kind of recovery is this anyway…?