Invest in technocal know-how, because the jobs that went away are mostly manufacturing. Those imported manufactured products are paid for with out going dollars and they have to be brought back by selling to foreigners high tech products or knowlege.

US has fallen off the technical cliff so those $s are not comming back and debt builds up.

Ever wonder why interest rates are so low? Consider paying interest on that debt with high rates in place.

Housing has to recover but also the debt has to be reduced before recovery can be claimed.

A harder sollution - Force home corporations to produce at home instead of importing.

True, businesses create jobs but government produces the environment for that production.