Parthenon's Chief Economist, Roger Brinner provides an updated outlook on the economy. Bottom line, our March forecast of anemic U.S. GDP growth of 2% in 2012 and 2013 holds. Europe's situation has definitely taken a turn for the worst. Short of a "Grand Compromise," Europe will struggle as is evidenced by its retreat back to recession. The most recent U.S. jobs report indicated rising unemployment, which garnered much public attention. While both of these events would lead one to believe that our forecast would be revised downward, the reality is that Roger had already baked this into his March forecast.