What's easy to forget amidst the low-flying military planes in Cairo, the breathless reporters, and the urgency of government officials is the backdrop as to why the Egyptian Revolt is happening.

Unemployment is at 25% and the public, from the rich to the poor, has had enough.

For months, I have wondered out loud what it would take for such an uprsing to occur in America. Guests to JobTalkAmerica believe America's jobless are invisible. Even in a land of Twitter and Facebook, Americans can't muster a sustained and unified voice to demand job creation and immediate hiring. 

U.S. unemployment stands at 9.4% with new figures coming out at the end of this week. But what keeps Americans from marching, burning and overthrowing has more to do with who's unemployed than it does with debates over stimulus, corporate profits and out-sourcing.

White unemployment in the U.S. is 8.5% compared to black unemployment at 15.8%. Teenage black unemployment is 44.2%. 

So I'm asking, how soon do you think we would solve America's unemployment crisis if those numbers were reversed and white unemployment stood at 16%?  I'll bet you it wouldn't even take until a mid-term election. Any takers?

January 30, 2011