Discretionary effort is the holy grail of employee engagement. The "going above and beyond" drives business valuation.

Family entertainment is really very necessary in our culture. Look how profitable they are. It's almost not discretionary. You need to take your family to the movies.

Domestic discretionary spending on education and health care and the environment has been growing at 2 to 3 percent a year. He says we have to rein it in but he ignores the spending category that is the big spike in the budget.

If you or me go to the gas station to fill up our car and it costs us much more than we expected it will zap our discretionary income. We won't have the extra money to buy that washing machine or new winter coat-all big ticket items that are important to economic growth.