I will just remind new readers, as regulars already know, that I have sympathies and leanings to aspects of both the republicans and democrats, so my allegiance varies by issue. I thought President Obama gave a bravura performance in his State of the Union address. He appeared more confident than of late and clearly senses that the wind may be ebbing away from the sails of his opponents. When the cameras panned into the audience as his supporters leapt to their feet for the ritual ovations, one had the impression of large numbers of grumpy old men still seated.
On one issue Obama is right and it will become the number one political issue all across the West. Income inequality. The gap between rich and poor has grown to unprecedented levels, suggesting that there is something fundamentally adrift not with capitalism, but with the current model of it. Politicians of all persuasions will have to move this issue to the top of their in trays. It will grow and grow in importance until to be on the wrong side of it will guarantee electoral carnage. And not just in America.