A roundup of this morning’s must-read budget and economic stories.

Among all the rhetoric, it’s sometimes hard to tell what politicians are actually trying to say. A simple solution? Go straight to the words.

While many praised President Obama’s State of the Union speech for its optimistic, largely moderate tone, many are also raising the question of how his laundry list of proposed new “investments” square with his promise to cut the nation’s yawning debt.