Hope at last: The world's biggest economy has begun a much-needed transition.

The Economist:

GREAT storms and floods have a way of altering landscapes. Once the waters recede, some of the changes are obvious: uprooted trees, damaged property, wrecked roads. Later come further changes, as people seek to avoid a repeat, erecting new flood walls or rebuilding elsewhere.

As in the physical world, so in the economic one. The financial deluge that broke over America has passed and the recession it caused, the worst since the 1930s, is ebbing. This year the American economy is expected to grow by around 3%, after shrinking by 2.4% in 2009. Rainbow-spotters hope that employment is at last beginning to grow again. And the economy emerging from recession is not the same as the one that went in. There is obvious damage: high unemployment, millions of foreclosed homes and a huge hole in the public finances. Less obviously, a "rebalancing" is under way: from consumption, housing and debt to exports, investment and saving. As our special report this week argues, this is enormously promising for America and the world; but it is far from assured. A lot depends on politicians--and not just the ones in Washington.

America has relied for decades on its consumers' willingness to spend, borne up by borrowing and the false comfort of bubbles in asset prices. Now Americans are saving more and borrowing less because the collapse in home prices has eviscerated their wealth. Bankers and regulators who once celebrated the democratisation of credit now ration it. Businesses from General Electric to Citigroup that prospered from the consumption culture are rethinking--and often shrinking--their loan books. Property developers are building smaller, simpler houses. The country's geography is changing. Recession has slowed the rush to sun and sprawl. People are moving out of Florida and into North Dakota. Foreclosures and costlier commutes have laid low the distant suburbs, or exurbs.