By far the best line from this week's duel on the State of the Union came from Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. Nice and simple, and right to the point:

"Presidents in both parties—from John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan—have known that our free-enterprise economy is the source of our middle-class prosperity."

(Read More: The Price Tag on Obama's State of the Union)

That's a brilliant summary of pro-growth policies, on the supply-side and in a free-market context.

In Tuesday's State of the Union Address, President Obama claimed that he and Mitt Romney actually agree on raising the minimum wage. (Read More: Obama's State of the Union the Best Chance to Sway Public: Axelrod)

Here's the line from the speech:

"Tonight, let's declare that in the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty, and raise the federal minimum wage to $9.00 an hour. …so here's an idea that Governor Romney and I actually agreed on last year: Let's tie the minimum wage to the cost of living, so that it finally becomes a wage you can live on."

There's only one problem with that claim, Romney backed away from it about a year ago during a live interview on CNBC's "Kudlow Report." The key exchange is below, watch it and judge for yourself:

All this chatter about a so-called global currency war is utter nonsense.

All that is happening is the Japanese are wisely taking steps to increase liquidity and depreciate their vastly overpriced yen. They are doing this in order to avoid deeper and deeper deflation. That deflation will sink the Japanese economy for years to come if remedial actions are not taken.

(Read More: Currency Wars Return, 1930s Style: Who Will Lose Out?)

Among all the big economies, none needs quantitative easing more than Japan's. All the Japanese have done so far is make cheap loans to banks, but with no concerted quantitative easing. But QE is coming this spring, when Prime Minster Abe appoints a new Bank of Japan head man.

Wednesday's report of a 0.1 percent gross domestic product decline for the fourth quarter came as a surprise to most forecasters. But it actually masks considerable strength in the private economy.

Namely, housing investment in the fourth quarter jumped 15.3 percent annually, business equipment and software spiked 12.4 percent, and real private final sales rose 2.6 percent. All in, the domestic private sector of the economy increased 3.4 percent annually—a very respectable gain.

(Read More: The 'Best-Looking' GDP Drop You'll Ever See.)

One of the least remarked upon aspects of President Barack Obama's inaugural speech was his attempt to co-opt the Founding Fathers' Declaration of Independence to bolster his liberal-left agenda.

Sure, the president quoted one of the most important sentences in world history: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." (Read More: Obama Inauguration: Second Term Kicks Off With Challenges.)

So far, so good. But he later connected the Declaration with his own liberal agenda: " ... that fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges; that preserving our individual freedom ultimately requires collective action." (My italics, not his.)

The much dreaded budget ax is hanging over Washington.Unless Congress comes up with yet another postponement deal, the $1.2 trillion sequester will kick in on March 1^st.

That's just 31 days from now.

(Read More: US House Budget Chief: Automatic Spending Cuts 'Going to Happen')

Okay, it's official. According to the Treasury Department, the U.S. debt jumped to $16.1 trillion in 2012 from $14.8 trillion in 2011. That's a $1.3 trillion deficit for the last year. Remarkable. During President Obama's first term, the federal debt rose by roughly $6 trillion.

Now, if they are bold, House Republicans will take advantage of these dismal numbers. Bold means bold spending cuts, as in cut spending like there's no tomorrow. Bold means implementing the $1.2 trillion spending sequester. Bold means an absolute rock-solid commitment to spending cuts. A new Rasmussen survey shows that 62 percent of Americans favor across-the-board spending cuts. That includes every program of the federal government, according to the survey.

(Read More: House GOP Debt Ceiling Plan: 'No Budget, No Pay')

Will the GOP go the way of the Whigs?

Or do the Republicans just need to have a good ol' family meeting? (Read More: Conservatives Tell GOP: Don't Mess With Debt Ceiling.)

There's nothing like losing two straight presidential elections to strike some end-of-life fear into a party and the usual "the other guys are irrelevant" talk from the opposing side.

After the Democrats were whipped in three straight presidential contests from 1980 to 1988, the party embraced a different kind of candidate in Bill Clinton. He often sounded more like a free market capitalist than some Republicans do today, (Google his 1992 DNC acceptance speech sometime and you'll see what I mean), and America bought it.

In retrospect, some of President Clinton's actual economic policies often were closer to the supply-side philosophy. That not only garnered Republican support in Congress, it helped fuel the economic boom of the late 1990's. (Read More: Why the GOP Is Backing Away From Business.)

What is the sound of thousands of cars and moving vans going from Maryland to Pennsylvania?

To Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett it's music to his ears.

The Republican Corbett has a simple explanation for the anecdotal reports of a significant boost in Maryland-to-Pennsylvania migration: taxes.

The worst part of the Jack Lew nomination for Treasury secretary is not simply that he has no qualifications, standing, or experience in the financial world or international sphere (think G20 and European debt crisis). Nor is it simply that he doesn't have any seasoned currency opinions (under President Barack Obama, the greenback has dropped 10 percent while gold has doubled).

Yes, these are big disqualifiers. But the real problem is that Lew is a left-liberal Obama spear-carrier, whose very appointment signals a sharp confrontation with the Republican House over key issues such as the debt ceiling, the spending sequester, next year's budgets, and taxes. (Read More: Obama on Treasury Nominee: 'Jack Has My Complete Trust'.)