Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio. I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

Mobile phones are, of course, not just for making calls. In the developing world, they

can represent someone's first link to the formal financial system. But, along with the

benefits of mobile banking, come the risks of fraud and exploitation. And, fashion houses

pump out an abundance of pricey clothes, a new line available every six months. But,

what about the stuff that doesn't sell? Incinerating it all turned out to be pretty bad

PR, so high-end brands are having to come up with other ideas.

Last night, President Donald Trump delivered his fourth state of the Union address. It was

full of dramatic flourishes and actions seemingly precision engineered to wrinkle Democrats.

The state of the Union addresses one of the big set pieces of American politics.

John Prado is our United States editor. It wants to evast TV audience live. The audience

is not so big now, but it's still a very good opportunity for the President to address

the nation uninterrupted. If you go back to the previous state of the Union, what President

has often tried to do is use them to announce policy initiatives, which would then be followed

through later on. There was less of that in President Trump's state of the Union. There

was a lot of stuff about how fantastically the country was doing.

Jobs are booming, incomes are sorry, poverty is plummeting.

You know, he talked about the government having shattered the mentality of American decline.

And our country is thriving and highly respected again.

And it was really a description of America that was flourishing and flourishing entirely

thanks to the good work of the Trump administration.

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