'The State of the Union Is …' According to Paul Krugman

Each day leading up to President Obama's State of the Union address, ABCNews.com will bring you a different newsmaker's thoughts on what "The State of the Union is …"

Paul Krugman, a columnist for The New York Times, told ABC News that the state of the union is "still pretty bad" but seems to be improving.

"The state of the union is still pretty bad - very high unemployment, slower growth than we'd like and, obviously, a lot of troubles - but maybe making some progress. And I think there's a lot more good out there than a lot of us expected, so I think the president can say some pretty good things in his speech," Krugman, an economist and 2008 Nobel laureate, said.