Some Incentives

     Earlier in the week we talked about some of the incentives we encounter in our own lives. With that in mind, while I was watching Obama give his first State of the Union Address (here is a transcript of the full speech), I noticed that he mentioned several times, incentives for things. I found this to be very interesting because the other day when I was trying to think of incentives in my own life, I couldn't. I just couldn't think of anything that I was rewarded for doing, or anything like that. So when I heard President Obama use the word or suggested anything reward-like during his speech, it stuck with me.
     Most of the incentives Obama proposed had to do with money, like tax breaks for example. He said that he would "give those tax breaks to companies that create jobs right here in the United States." He also mentions in the same paragraph that he will "give rebates to Americans who make their homes more energy-efficient." Many of his incentives also deal with clean energy: "But to create more of these clean energy jobs, we need more production, more efficiency, more incentives," because, "providing incentives for energy-efficient and clean energy are the right thing to do for our future." I just found it to be so interesting that he is explicitly offering rewards for doing good. And it was very ironic to me that just a day before his speech I couldn't think of one incentive in my life, and then here he was, the president, giving me some right to my face. Well, not really me exactly, but you get the point!
     But wait, that's not all! Just when you think he's done with this whole incentive thing, he does it again! During his section on education he says: "Instead of rewarding failure, we only reward success." I found it particularly interesting that in this line he uses "reward" instead of "incentive." "Reward" sounds more like something you would say to a child, and "incentive" more like something you would say to an adult. I guess I felt a little like a child again. Not that I think it sounded bad in his speech, because I don't think it did. Perhaps he was hoping to connect to his younger audience who are in still in school, as a way to encourage them. It's interesting (I know that I'm using the word "interesting" a lot, sorry!) the way he is planning on using incentives to get things accomplished. But sometimes that's what has to be done. Without something to gain for themselves, people won't always do things for the greater good. Hopefully his incentives will help get America back on track, but do you think it will work? Is he offering a big enough incentive? Too much? Does his constant mention of incentives reflect badly on our society?