Five Ideas to Create U.S. Jobs

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At Issue: How to Create More Jobs

In other words, one thing U.S policy makers should not do in 2012 is cut government spending in a big way, short-term: that almost certainly will slow U.S. GDP growth more, if not tip the world's largest economy back into a recession. Delay the big cuts until 2013, as the automatic cuts dictated by the super committee's inability to reach an agreement call for -- don't do anything that would have those cuts occur sooner.

But the above describes what to avoid. What can the nation do to create jobs?

Well, taking another page out of economist John Maynard Keynes' play-book, the U.S. government can deploy a series of public works projects to -- you guessed it -- increasing demand and create jobs.

Moreover, there's no shortage of work that needs to be done and literally millions of Americans available and willing to undertake the work.

Here are a few ideas:

1 Infrastructure Rebuilding - Highways, Roads, Bridges. The nation's infrastructure is in a state of disrepair. The U.S. will probably experience more highway bridge collapses like the one that occurred in Minneapolis in 2007, which killed 13 people and injured 145.  The nation must rebuild and expand its infrastructure to meet the commerce demands of the 21^st Century. Cost: $500-750 billion.

2 Increases in Funding to Secondary Schools, Community Colleges - Congress could establish a special federal education fund to both decrease class size and increase the capacity of community colleges -- the latter of which could serve as a critical re-training resource for the tens of millions of Americans who will need to be re-trained to obtain the skills required for the technology-based 21^stcentury U.S. economy. Cost: $200-250 billion.

3 Smart Grid/Electric Grid/Internet - Speaking of technology, if Congress deploys federal funds to build a smart the nation will become more energy-efficient. Further, the electric grid needs to be expanded as well, given the fact that a simple heat wave in the summer tends to strain the grid. And expanding broadband access to universal status can only make the economy more efficient and increase job opportunities to those who presently lack it. Cost: $150-250 billion.