Dominant Social Theme: After so much time at the zero bound it's time to hike. Free-Market Analysis: This transcript from NPR features host David Greene interviewing David Wessel, director of the Hutchins Center at the Brookings Institution and a contributing correspondent to The Wall Street Journal. Wessel is fairly sanguine about the US economy. But in this article, we will present a different point of view, as well, courtesy of libertarian publisher Simon Black whose work we often follow. Greene asks Wessel the "bottom line" question: Is the economy getting better. Here's Wessel's answer: Absolutely. The U.S. economy is unquestionably getting better, though it's not great for everyone. We've recovered all the jobs we lost during the great recession, and the government reported last week we now have four-and-a-half million more jobs than we did before the recession. The official unemployment rate, which peaked at 10 percent, is down to 5 percent. And broader measures of the job market are improving as well. But lots of people are still on the sidelines of the economy not looking for work because they doubt they can find it ... It's growing so slowly that we're not yet at full employment.