February marks the longest economic expansion in the United States since 1854, when record-keeping begins. At this event, Murray Foss, coauthor with Herbert Stein of The Illustrated Guide to the American Economy, Third Edition (AEI Press, February 2000) will look at the current record expansion in the light of trends over the past half-century or more, including the slowdown in the growth of real wages and productivity since the 1970s. The public understandably pays most attention to the ups and downs of the economy. That emphasis tends, however, to obscure the persistence of growth, which has been a dominant characteristic of the U.S. economy, especially since the end of World War II, and a constant theme of the Illustrated Guide. Drawing from the new Guide, Foss will also provide a close look at current trends in education and income, family income, health expenditures and insurance, changing labor force patterns and productivity--and more.