Sadly, I think it IS a high priority right now. This issue is at the heart of the whole economic ball of crisis that we're dealing with right now ("The recession's over!" claim the economists. Yeah, right!).

I live in Michigan, and I'm telling you that it's the absolute worst here. Our unemployment rate is hovering at 15%. And that's NOT counting the "lost generation" of job seekers who are just out of college and out of luck (since they aren't yet collecting unemployment). I DO feel for them, my husband and I got our undergrad degrees JUST after the economy tanked about 8 years ago, so we had very hard times finding any jobs also. It's still a struggle.

Even more interestingly, I'd like to see if anything comes out about a lost generation of homeowners--people like me and my husband who thought they were just buying a starter home 5 years ago, and will be stuck in underwater mortgages in tiny houses for as much as 10-15 years or more.

The answer to it all: More jobs.

However we can do it: Infrastructure projects, green technology, etc.

We just need more jobs.

Good luck to us all!

I think it is a pretty high priority at this point. However, I'm not sure that jobs are always the answer. Work and compensation is the answer. What would happen if some of these people who currently have zero income started businesses or got part time contracts in their community? They may not have a livable wage right away, but they can build it to that point. This is how a lot of great businesses get started. People who pick up the phone, bang on doors and do everything in their power to provide value usually find reasonable success in the end.

There is really no shortage of a job or something to do. Lot of people has forgotten that they could also do self employments. If you are a gardener you could walk around your neighborhood asking people with garden if they want you to work on their garden, pass around your telephone for future business, start looking for customers on something that you can do, instead of looking for a boss first and waiting for your boss to ask you to look for some gardening job which you will do. just like any business your success will depend on your tenacity and creativity to look clients.