James Glassman (who beneficently publishes my articles at TCS Daily) writes that despite what the MSM would have you believe, "overall, 2005 was a damn good year. Celebrate!"

When the final figures are in, it is almost certain that our Gross Domestic Product -- the single best indicator of economic progress -- grew by more than 3.5 percent once again in 2005, compared with about 1.5 percent for the Euro Zone (the part of Europe, mainly Germany, France and Italy, that uses the euro as currency). U.S unemployment is 5 percent, compared with rates twice that high in Europe.

We are creating net new jobs (that is jobs gained minus jobs lost) at a rate of 2 million a year. Inflation is low, and the stock market -- unless something dire happens this week -- will rise for the third year in a row.

Further good news is that, Europe excepted, the rest of the world has enjoyed superb growth this year, and the U.S. has provided much of steam for the global engine. Yes, this means that we have a large trade deficit, but we can afford it. Our economic strength has boosted the value of dollar, and we’re attracting gouts of investment cash from around the world.

Globally, 2004 and 2005 were the two best years in a row since the 1970s. Latin America will grow more than 4 percent; China, about 9 percent; India, nearly 8 percent. Even Japan, which has been in the doldrums for more than a decade, is back on track.

“This sustained and broad-based economic growth is a pleasure,” writes Martin Wolf in the Financial Times. “It is also something of a surprise.”

After all, hurricanes in 2005 caused $100 billion in damage in the United States. There was a terrible terrorist attack on the London subway. Iraq has been rough going--though not as bad as we are led to think. A recent pre-election survey in Time magazine found 71 percent of Iraqis saying that “things are going very well” or “quite well” in their lives and that, by a margin of 6-1, next year will be better for their country.

There are threats in America: imminent investment tax hikes, a looming crisis with Social Security and Medicare, terrorism and protectionism. But overall, 2005 was a damn good year. Celebrate!

Meanwhile, Mark Trumbull of The Christian Science Monitor writes that "what the Census Bureau calls 'material well-being' abounds for regular folks today in ways that Louis XIV--for all his palaces, silk stockings, and ruffled finery--could barely have imagined":

In case there was any doubt, a study has confirmed that Americans have a lot of what economists know, technically, as stuff.

The computer has surpassed the dishwasher as a standard household appliance. The poorest Americans have posted a sharp rise in access to air conditioning. The richest Americans still own the most cars, but they are choosing to own slightly fewer of them than they used to.

These census findings, released earlier this month, were true even before gifts piled up under trees this past week.

These nuggets provide a glimpse of American lifestyles that isn't captured in the raw data of monthly economic reports. At a time of concern about the standard of living for future generations, the study offers hopeful signs of tangible progress, even as the pace of income growth has slowed in recent years.

It's only one piece of the overall picture of economic progress and doesn't resolve the question about future generations. But it confirms that what the Census Bureau calls "material well-being" abounds for regular folks today in ways that Louis XIV - for all his palaces, silk stockings, and ruffled finery - could barely have imagined.

True, most of us don't have an entourage of fawning servants, and while US homes have expanded in square footage they hardly rival Versailles. But modern appliances, in many ways, are robotic servants who sometimes break down but have yet to stage an organized revolt.

Or as Thomas Sowell wrote a few years ago, it's "Hard Times for Envy".