I have said many times the reason the US is in as bad a situation as it is today has to do with the fact that the Internet has accelerated the transfer of manufacturing jobs to China and service jobs to India.

Instead of spending our time blaming Wall Street and people making $250,001 for our current problems we need to understand that the real estate bubble of the last decade was encouraged by virtually everyone in our government as well as the Federal Reserve because it masked the larger problem of jobs being outsourced. After all, it is tough to outsource home and office construction jobs.

To put my past thoughts in perspective there is an article I came across which sums up the massive changes which have taken place in the US over the years.

Here are some salient points:

• The number of people in the manufacturing sector today is about the same as 1941!
• We invented the TV and none are made here
• Computer manufacturing employment levels are lower than in 1975!
• The US spends almost $4 for Chinese goods for every $1 China spends on US goods
• US 15-year-olds do not rank in the top half in math and science in developed nations
• We have the third-worst poverty rate among developed nations
• In the last 100 years or so the US dollar has lost about 95% of its purchasing power

The solutions to our challenges have to do with acknowledging the above and more importantly electing leaders who understand the problems we face have to do with education, focus and competition.

Moreover, we have so many government leaders who have never hired a single person, run a company or done anything which would give them experience enabling them to understand how to create an atmosphere where entrepreneurs can thrive.

New small businesses which we desperately need, require far less regulation so they can compete with China and India. In addition they need much less government overhead and far lower taxes. Very few in government today understand any of this or if they do they never seem to mention it. They focus instead on class warfare which only reduces the amount of available jobs they claim they are trying to increase.

Moreover, we have got to get our kids excited by science and math and less by pop culture. We need to take international competition and improving our workforce as seriously as we would a world war.

The fact that we continue to provide tens of millions with government assistance without requiring them to become more educated is insanity. It is the equivalent of going to war and paying your soldiers but not training them or providing ammunition.

The sorts of change the country really needs if we hope to take on the billions of people in China and India and be competitive include far lower taxes and far less government spending and regulation. I am not advocating the abolition of regulations but a look at the tax code gives you but a single example of how ridiculously complex a simple thing like income tax as become.