Daniel Drezner writes about the mention of Egypt in the SOTU address last night.

The lines about Egypt and Saudi Arabia were nicely phrased, in that they represented a challenge to the regimes there.

Coincidentally enough, the Wall Street Journal has a front-pager by Karby Leggett on Egypt’s economic reforms. From the opening, it appears that Egypt’s latest prime minister is adopting a much more market-friendly posture:
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So, what does the U.S. do? Hope that the economic reforms trigger future political reforms, or apply more leverge on the Mubarak regime — even if a more democratic government might not pursue such market-friendly policies?

I agree with him, just like how I think lifting the ban on Cuba will help foster democracy. When people are able to make money, they not only get very defensive with it, but they tend to be able to use it for more than paying taxes. Even if governments try to take it, people will see what they could have potentially gained, and therefore get pretty pissed. Economic reform is just as good as the first nail in any authoritarian’s coffin.

Similarly, as I’ve posted before, Andy has an article about how emerging millionaires help finance the defeat of autocratic billionaires. An interesting take, and one that holds historically true, as most of the Progressives of the early 1900’s were middle class; stuck between labor and the oppressive trusts.