Quick: Are rising interest rates good or bad? What about oil prices? Home prices? It’s kind of a trick question. Those are all signs of an economy that’s growing quite nicely — when wages are going up. That’s where we’re starting today. Then: If you’re talking about wages, it’s worth mentioning that some of the biggest companies in this country are sitting on mountains of cash: $102 billion at Google’s parent company, more than double that at Apple. So what are companies doing with all that money? We’ll explain. Plus: Back in the ’60s, traffic in Los Angeles was so light you could get across town in 20 minutes. We know firsthand that’s impossible now. So what happened? And what’s that say about the economy?