Although the U.S. is beset with a number of challenges, the biggest issue in Tampa/Hillsborough County/Florida and the country is the lack of jobs for people who want them.
The economy was the focus of an intelligent discussion on ABC's This Week program hosted by Christiane Amanpour.
Obama economic adviser Laura Tyson said that spending more on infrastructure and ultimately, education is the only salvation for America going forward:
You know, the good news here about the stimulus, it's said, well, the infrastructure projects haven't come on board yet. They're coming on board now, and they have high job-per-dollar-spent outcomes.
And then, finally, we have to worry about the longer-run problem of this structural employment, because I'm going to point out one thing for this discussion. The unemployment problem is primarily a problem for people who have a high school — who don't have a high school education or just have a high school education.
Unemployment for those with college educations is now 4.5 percent. Unemployment for those with more than a college education, below 4 percent. We have a problem of education in this country, and we have to educate more of our young people fully through college education. Let's take this as an opportunity to do that.
This article appears in Aug 12-18, 2010.