You probably hear a lot of people talking about how "the economy" is doing or sharing their ideas about how to fix "the economy."
But, uh, what exactly is the "economy"?
Basically it's the way the country handles its land, workers, money, and other resources. In the U.S., we have a free-market economy. That means that we can all buy the services and things we want, and the price of all that stuff is decided by demand, not by the government. The more people want to buy a product and the less there is of it, the more the price goes up (sort of like Super Bowl tickets—there's only so many, so they're ridiculously expensive).
Most people think our economy is healthy when lots of people are buying stuff and there's lots of demand for products. The idea is that it keeps businesses going, creating more jobs and even more money.