The town was devastated by the collapse of the steel industry in the 1970s and '80s and the wave of illegal drugs and violent crime that followed.

Steel Industry Will Signal Recession's End - NYTimes.com

Jan 2, 2009 ... The steel industry, a bellwether for the state of the nation's economy, is looking to the government for a $1 trillion investment program ...
www.nytimes.com/2009/01/02/business/02steel.html - Similar

I hope they have some reps. there.

The 10-to-4 Unemployment Jobs Creation Plan (the "10-to-4 Plan") is designed to re-start Elkhart's economy.  It is a private sector solution to a public sector problem.  There are 17 components to the "10-to-4 Plan."  Each component is interdependent. 

For the past two months I explained components of the the "10-to-4 Plan" to senior executives at an recognizable Washington-based organization that has offices and personnel throughout the U.S.  On 11/13/2009, the two month exclusivity period ends.  Evidently, their priority and my priority were not in alignment.  Their focus was on healthcare reform. 

Healthcare reform is important.  But, I maintain ... as I have for more than a year now ... that the elephant in the living room is the national 10.2 unemployment level. 

The 10-to-4 Plan eliminates this elephant and solves several other systemic problems.  You who live in the Elkhart/Goshen area, one of the epicenters of high unemployment, know that we have to eliminate this elephant.   

    Obiviously, this ey are preoccupied with

The 10-to-4 Unemployment Jobs Creation Plan (the "10-to-4 Plan") is designed to re-start Elkhart's economy.  It is a private sector solution to a public sector problem.  There are 17 components to the "10-to-4 Plan."  Each component is interdependent. 

For the past two months, I explained components of the "10-to-4 Plan" to senior executives at a recognizable Washington-based organization that has offices and personnel throughout the U.S.  On 11/13/2009, the two-month exclusivity period ends.  Evidently, their priority and my priority were not in alignment.  Their focus was on healthcare reform. 

Healthcare reform is important.  Nevertheless, I maintain ... as I have for more than a year now ... that the elephant in the living room is the national 10.2 unemployment level. 

The 10-to-4 Plan eliminates this elephant and solves several other systemic problems.  You who live in the Elkhart/Goshen area, one of the epicenters of high unemployment, know that we have to eliminate this elephant.   

This is interesting because it says nothing about asking successful and failed entrepreneurs what can be done. How many businesses have any one of these people started and made grow? They are politicians, always using other peoples money. Talk to people who started businesses and took the risk themselves. You learn just as much, perhaps more, from the failures as the successes...there are vastly more of them. The strategy should be to reduce the failure rate, not punish those who tried.

It's kind of like asking the military"experts" about Afganistan, only to be supprised they want more money and people to "win" (kill more). Listening to the guy who walked through the country, talking to the citizens, suggests an entirely different (and much less costly) approach.

You are absolutely correct.

The 10-to-4 Plan involves the private sector. I have never worked in the public sector. My clients were a Who's Who of industry. The 10-to-4 Plan is based on my experience working with giants and start-ups in a wide variety of industries.

I reviewed the "Pods of Opportunity" component of the "10-to-4 Plan" with someone with more than a casual understanding of situation in Pakistan. Simply put, his comment was, "Brilliant, absolutely brilliant."

I have invested more than a year on the "10-to-4 Plan" because others have been distracted. When President Obama convenes job creation stakeholders in Washington next month, I hope he brings people into the tent who are willing to re-start the U.S. domestic manufacturing sector so that our unemployed are re-absorbed into the workforce. U.S. consumer spending represents roughly 3/4 of the U.S. Gross National Product (GDP). When we are at full employment, U.S. consumers spend money on goods and services from everyone.