I didn't think she could do it. I really thought it would be looked at as unfair that I cast her in it.

Each actor is an individual and they bring their own personality to the role.

But we had a lot of girls, and we really wanted to give them a chance.

They both had the chance to prove they deserved this part.

There are short-term questions to be sure -- the impact of changes in residential housing markets and the prospects for inflation are two -- but, overall, the economy in 2006 seems likely to be very well-behaved.

We may be entering a period in which policy changes are even more dependent than they have been on current readings of the economy, with all the uncertainty such readings can bring.