And to add to it, you cannot sustain an economy long through only government spending. That didn't work historically IE USSR and will not work here or anywhere else. Obama did the right thing when he stated we need to create new technology and started pushing "green energy etc" That was a suggestion that we need to change and create private sector jobs of new thinking. Maybe that isn't the best approach but jobs need to come from the private sector or we all going to fail.   When we lost our manufacturing jobs as was going to happen we left a void that has yet to be filled. We can complain about cheap labor and no rules the other nations have but they will say, hey it is our time now, you went through your industrialization so why not us. It is clear we won't be able to compete in manufacturing as the third world countries are now where we were 100+ years ago in manufacturing. That is why we read about child labor and such, we went through the same thing only many years ago.   So where does it leave us, I submit to great minds than me but we need to be the worlds most innovative nation (we once was), or turn to services. I see no other choice at the moment. Both of which required education (the very thing many wish to cut)