• On minimum wage:  noting President Obama’s proposal in the SOTU, outlining the classic arguments on both sides of the debate, showing that the $9 proposed by the White House is right in line with past increases (i.e., if you take the natural logarithms) and explaining why certain criticisms of the increase are misguided.
• Considering the President’s pre-k proposal in light of important relationships between the increase in inequality and diminished opportunities for less advantaged kids.
• Describing why the budget hawks should retract their talons.
• Looking at the evolution of health care spending, and how slower growing health costs might help job growth.
• Wondering why central banks are alone in fighting for growth.
• Laying out the case of the Federal Housing Administration as a microcosm of the role of government when markets fail.
• Unpacking the State of the Union, the morning after.
• Highlighting Fed Vice Chair Janet Yellen’s remarkable speech, and delving a bit deeper into the speech’s substance.
• On economic growth:  thinking about the divergent views from a fun CNBC Squawk Box segment, and showing the relationship between GDP and output gaps.

Music:  an outsourced Friday Musical Interlude, Caribbean-style.