Boom or Bust?: You're absolutely right with regard to what should be our objectives as to growth and employment. Most economists will tell you that unemployment around 5% is considered to be no unemployment as this percentage is really just people in flux between one job and the next, as opposed to being a laid-off steel worker who hasn't had work in 8 months. Moreover, sustained growth of 3% is usually what economists want to see. Too much growth doesn't allow for a solid super-structure to be developed around the scaffolding of boom-time development. As for the stock market, clearly the market is a better indicator of short-term trends than GDP, which is really a culmination of past events. But, it also is the land of speculators which can skew results. Nonetheless, three solid months of growth is encouraging, which means people (well, institutional investors) are taking money out of savings (well, short-term bonds) and going into the equity market. Maybe we're turning a corner?