The signs are starting to appear everywhere: the U.S. economy is slowing again.

This morning, the U.S. Commerce Department reported that real gross domestic product (GDP) — or the inflation-adjusted total value of all goods and services the nation produces — grew just 2.2 percent in the first quarter of this year. That’s a substantial slowdown from the 3 percent pace of GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2011. The latest GDP number also fell short of the 2.5 percent rise economists had largely been expecting.