Open the latest issue of BusinessWeek , listen to National Public Radio, or browse new books on the economy at your local bookstore, and you'll come across frequent assertions that today's economy values knowledge and creativity. And its worth to the economy is some three to four times greater than the value of stocks, bonds, real estate, and other assets. That's quite a ballast.
Human capital is that kind of a stabilizer.
Schools are important, of course. So are corporate job-training programs. In today's society, that means mostly moms, especially when kids are infants and toddlers. It's a very interesting prism for discussion. Pols and policymakers have been paying lip service to motherhood for years.