That THING we all talk about, as though it's a measure of our national "health."  The term "economy" refers to the Gross Domestic Product -- a big pot that includes all the $$ we spend in a period of time.  That money could be spent on ... cancer, casinos, Harry Potter books or credit-card interest.  It doesn't matter what it's spent on -- what matters is that it's spent.  If the GDP is big, we're overjoyed; if it drops, we're bummed.  But look at it this way:  Americans who "bring the economy down" are those who cook their own dinner, take walks in the park and spend time with others, rather than eating fast-food, joining a gym or going to the movies.  Yet these same people end up with more money in their pockets (arguably "richer") for making those choices.

So what's the whole game about?  Someone wants us to keep spending, to HAVE to spend.  Greater discretionary income means people have the ability to spend (and they will, given the culture); inflation means people are forced to spend (and must borrow to do so).  Our present "economy" has been built from debt (see "House of Credit Cards" below and the film Zeitgeist Addendum).  Inducements to spend (advertising!) appeal to us when we're feeling rich, but included in the GDP calculation are mechanisms to keep people pouring those dollars out, whether they can afford to or not.  Consider reverse-mortgage scams, those frightfully expensive ink-jet cartridges, the fluctuating price of gas.  "Stimulating the economy" is only about getting people to discharge their dollars, and -- amazingly -- no matter how much Americans possess, their happiness has been dropping like a stone since the 1950s when it peaked (before the credit system was bestowed upon us by the big banks).

"Growth" is not indicative of anything but inflation.  Think of the billions just pumped out in the bailout -- "to keep the economy going"!  According to Robert Solow (1987 Nobel Prize winner in economics), "There is nothing intrinsic in the system that says it cannot exist happily in a stationary state."  Read the excellent piece titled "Our Phony Economy" -- testimony by Jonathan Rowe to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation (March 12, 2008).