Now that's the kind of economic explanation I can follow.

Economic theory, at least since Adam Smith, holds that there is an unlimited amount of natural resources and that there will be an ever expanding economy. That is, that people will always want more and will be able to get it, and that it will take ever increasing numbers of people to produce it. What happens when we have enough and it doesn't take that many people to make it? Robert Theobald said that the goal of the economy should be 100% unemployment, let the machines do the work. The problems will be occupying our leisure time (check out your local jail after a three day weekend) and how to distribute goods and services in the absence of necessary labor.

Joe

cool . a lot more people will be more informed if more of economics was explained this way !

Productivity can be explained by the persistent drop in the dollar (foreigners can buy more US goods) and a deflationary pressures on overcapcity in the US.

When prices fall, consumers demand more. Output increases.

Ironically, dropping the dollar is not a sign of a healthy economy. It is a tactic used by central banks of third world economies. Neither is the presence of deflationary pressures a good sign. This is why high productivity readings are currently not a reliable measure of economic health.