Economy front and center in State of Union

Bush will lobby for stimulus plan and may call for more measures to ease housing crunch and cut corporate tax rates. Major new economic initiatives are not likely.

The state of the slowing economy and how to energize it - now and beyond - will be a focal point of President Bush's State of the Union address on Monday.
Bush, in his last year of office, is unlikely to make any new economic proposals like he has in past addresses. Last year, for instance, he called for a change in how the government taxes money used to buy health insurance, and he asked Congress to set a goal of reducing American gasoline consumption by 20 percent over 10 years.
"I think there will be a pretty significant emphasis on what they're doing in the immediate term to shore up the economy," said Scott Hodge, president of the Tax Foundation, a research group advocating for a simpler tax code and lower taxes. "There's so much anxiety in the markets and in business. I think he'd want to assure people they've taken the appropriate actions."
This year, before discussing the war in Iraq, Bush is expected to promote and call for swift passage of the $150 billion economic stimulus package brokered between House leaders and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

more...http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/25/news/economy/preview_sotu/index.htm?postversion=2008012517