Our afternoon session started off with Keith Hennessey, Deputy Director of the President's Economic Council, who wanted to touch base with us on the day we topped 11,000 on the Dow Jones. He stressed that government does not create growth, but it can set the conditions for it -- and that is what Bush has tried to do with his economic policy.

Productivity will remain the focus of the economic policy. Current projections show that productivity growth rate will continue at around 2.7%, ensuring shorter turnaround times for doubling the standard of living in the US.

Social Security - Bush talked about this last Friday and the White House expects to continue its public push to address reform. There are two pieces to this puzzle: long-term solvency and transforming the program to an ownership model soon. Productivity does not address all of those problems -- IOW, we cannot grow ourselves out of the problem.

Mr. Hennessey assures us that the White House has now discovered that it needs to continuously communicate its achievements on economic growth, and not lay back and allow the Exempt Media or the political opposition to define success as failure. I asked specifically whether he thinks that the problem is a staffing problem or just a reluctance to toot one's own horn at the White House, and he replied that they understand now more than ever that continuous communication is critical for their long-term success.

Great talk, and I think Keith made a big impression on the group.

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