Busy bees buzz:
The productivity of American workers rose at an annual rate of 2.1 percent in the final three months of last year, sharply higher than originally believed. ...The better-than-expected 2.1 percent revised estimate for productivity left this indicator for all of 2004 rising by 4 percent, the department said Thursday, capping the strongest three-year period for productivity growth in more than a half-century of record keeping.Productivity is the key component for rising living standards.
Watching jobless rates fall as labor exponentially produces work is not unlike Olympic spectating: a misstep here or there, it's still world-class. And concessions are hot, too.