A mild winter has allowed the U.S. to avoid much higher energy prices, particularly for natural gas and home heating oil, which could have seriously slowed the expansion. As we head into the spring quarter, the nation's economy is essentially at full capacity with growing pressures on inflation.

The world economy has become much more open and global. Greenspan was in favor of all that, as most economists are.

Land is beginning to be a problem.

He continued the fight against inflation that Volcker began and has gradually managed to squeeze inflation out of the system.

The Fed has been right there to catch the economy. We may live in a riskier world, but we've entered a period of longer expansions with shorter, milder recessions.

We are a state of haves and have-nots.

The boom starts on the West Coast. Then the money finds Las Vegas and then spills over in Phoenix, and more recently, it's found Tucson. So local markets are really in a process of catch-up. Because we're late to the party, when the break comes, we should be able to see that first in California and Las Vegas.

It's really about the people who are already here and their skills, because if the company, for some reason, pulls up stakes, then at least there is some residual value by having improved the job skills of the existing work force.