There's so much misinformation (or just plain wrong information) being circulated as to the state of the economy that you'd be better off just watching prices and noticing how many people you know have jobs.  The financial press are worse than meteorologists trying to predict the weather one week out.

And OP, glad you had a good time in London.  I've never been there, but I've been to NYC and have seen a mix of wealth and absolute poverty occupying the same streets--large cities with stock exchanges tend to have that characteristic, though being homeless in New York has got to suck, given how cold it can get.  Not sure about London.

OK, I did see that link from tyz but I still don't know whether to believe it or not.  I keep hearing mixed stories about the US economy, and yet aside from inflation everything is far better than it was just over 10 years ago.