It felt good to get away and relax with my family. Take some time off and get some sleep. Eat well and work out a lot. I am tanned and rested. I have only taken one vacation this summer and am hopeful I can take another one before this year ends. It is amazing how fast you can rejuvenate when you get away with loved ones. I am very grateful to be able to take a family vacation. I know how lucky and fortunate we are as a family.

I read lots of books and newspapers. I watched lots of CNN and CNBC on this latest iteration of our economic-political crisis. The crisis is global; it is all about a lack of confidence in our leaders and our economy and our future. Consumer confidence is at an all-time low right now. An all-time low, sad to say.

I saw video of riots – of market meltdowns – of warfare – of famine – of debate between left and right. The problems seem so big; so unsolvable. And I think that is the issue. Too many problems; too many constituencies; too many issues; too may deeply held points of view. When we need to get a consensus around one big problem – one big shared issue to try and solve first. All of us. It needs to have metrics and be measured and managed with deadlines.

I think the major issue right now facing us is unemployment. A lack of new jobs and thus economic growth.

When an individual is not working; there is no bright future to discuss. There are no tax revenues generated. The individual needs government assistance. No houses are bought – no cars are purchased and no vacations get taken – the spiral goes down – the psychology is negative. All politics is local; and jobs and employment and being able to take care of your family is about as personal and important as one can get.

I remember a 3 month period when I was young when my dad lost his job and the feeling of discomfort and panic that set into my household; the discussions between my mom and dad; the hushed talks about rent payments, the economic belt tightening; the cancellation of a family vacation; it was an awful time in our home. My dad was a waiter. When he found a good new job, he was so happy; that made my mom happy and the psyche of our home changed so dramatically. All was right in our little world again once he went back to work. The rent got paid. The checking account got replenished. My mom got a job too soon thereafter; she was a secretary and we became a two wage earner household. We were able to save some money. The spiral went up.

We need to get people working again; that should be our first and main deliverable as a combined governmental– business partnership. People working and generating income will get tax revenues growing long term; fix the real estate market – get people buying cars again; the spiral will go up. We can then move on to our next set of big shared issues.

This is a global issue the unrest in Egypt and in England have their roots too in student unrest and political discord about economic policy and the lack of jobs for the young and the lack of hope for most people and mostly for the unemployed. All governments need to focus on this one issue.

Right now we are at more than 9 percent unemployed in the United States.

That is a dangerous number. It means that about 13 million people that want to work don’t have jobs in America. If we could cut that figure by 5 million – our collective psyche and our economy would heal and get growing again.

13 million. That is also a lot of votes. It behooves our politicians to get people working again. The real drama isn’t about S& P downgrades or health care reform; it is purely about families and their security and economic welfare and all roads lead to employment and jobs.

So, can’t we do some simple things?

1. Let us reclaim lost jobs overseas back to America; let us create true economic incentives for companies to bring back call centers and tech development groups — make a goal of 1.0 million lost jobs back to America– tax companies less for creating jobs here in the US; appoint a Czar that works with companies to implement these programs; celebrate the CEO’s that lead these programs. Bring back the jobs now. Don’t punish companies for doing so– reward them. This should be a priority.

2. Do the same program for the military bases outside of the US; close some; and the jobs that get lost to foreign employees on these bases. Create new training facilities here in the US – and rehire Americans with a focus on young adults; try to create 1 million jobs; modernize our bases here. Get young adults to enlist. Leave foreign soil; tend our own garden.

3. Infrastructure- in China. They work crews 3 shifts. 24/7 and get big programs done on time and on budget. Fast and big and they leap frog us.

On Saturday night at 6PM NOT a single person was working, as an example. On the Tysons Corner big dig program; that program is scheduled to be completed in 2017. Why? Why not hire many more people and get the program completed in 2014? This program had stimulus dollars attached to it–why not add dollars to get many more people employed and the project done faster? I know there has to be thousands of these kinds of projects around the country. China would do this and be lauded for its economic prowess; shouldn’t we do it too? Fund programs that stimulate infrastructure modernization and employs lots of people. Fast. Have a goal of 1.0 million jobs created between government and private sector.

4. Local State VC funds; Texas has done a good job here. Use State tax dollars to create VC funds-use those funds to invest in local startups; that employ people have the federal government match the investment dollars; small businesses create new jobs; they innovate; they grow; they pay taxes. Stimulate “the rise of the rest” – invest in 1000 new companies around the country. All that create jobs and can have a chance to get a great ROI on investment. Set a goal of half a million jobs (500,000) from these 1000 investments.

5. Find programs that work for the Fortune 2000 companies; get them hiring again; reduce their taxes incentivize them to modernize and build new plants and buy new technology from US based companies. Re-purpose tax savings into employee hiring; place a goal of a half a million new jobs
(500,000) – that is small new hire goals for these big concerns.

6. Demand that foreign companies doing business here open local plants and hire local people focus on the biggest companies that have established beach heads here in the US; with a goal of a half a million people hired in a two year period…(500,000).

7. Rehire America start a program aimed at people that were laid off in the last 12 months. Grant incentives to the companies that downsized to bring back these people with tax cuts repurpose the tax cuts to specifically re-employ these laid off workers– give two year amnesty to get these people back on company payrolls. Focus on half a million jobs that were lost ( 500,000).

I know some of this is hard to do and implement; but these programs could generate 5 million jobs; we could get America working again; we could rally around a single cause. Making America work is what our work should all be about. We need to rally. Job creation is our number 1 priority. Job Preservation is mission critical as well.

I look forward to going back to work today. I am grateful.