Today, we re in the midst of the longest economic boom in our nation s history. Job creation is up and unemployment down.
Inflation is barely existent.
And after three solid decades of budget deficits the federal government now faces its third year of surplus. Most Californians and most Americans have shared in this growing prosperity. Making sure that all share in it is the first challenge of the new millennium. But we shouldn t measure the state of the nation, as some are tempted to do, solely by how high the stock market goes. It should be measured by how small we can make class sizes in our public schools how many years we can add to the life of Social Security and Medicare how strong we can make our health care system and how many acres of endangered public land we can protect and preserve for generations to come.