If the Federal Reserve raises interest rates on Thursday, it will be doing so in an economy that is radically different from the past. The lack of comparable economic terrain is one of the complications that Chair Janet Yellen faces as her committee contemplates an exit from almost seven years of near-zero interest rates.
Check out the accompanying graphic to see how the landscape has changed, with a focus on key indicators that the Fed uses to gauge the economy's momentum. For example, when the Federal Reserve last started to lift rates back in June 2004, inflation stood at 2.8 percent and 66 percent of the population was working or looking for a job. Today, those numbers stand at a feeble 0.3 percent and less than 63 percent, respectively.
