28/01/2010 10:48:39 am
State of the Union. I have a habit of reading the US President′s State of the Union speeches. The first such speech yesterday by Barack Obama contains many of the familar ingredients; faith in the American people, optimism about the future, great challenges ahead - and, of course, "our union is strong". But his tone was more casual, even humouristic, and on many occasions he criticised Congress and Washington for their game of politics. On the content side, there were several good pieces of news in the new jobs bill he proposed. And one can see that he grasps the need for incentives, which is why that is used to make people act in ways that the government wants.

Read the speech here - >