Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media

By Laura Smith - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

President of the American Enterprise Institute, Arthur Brooks, said Monday that entrepreneurship, hard work and merit will help guide the U.S. out of the recession.

"Those are the tools to get out of this recession or any other recession,” Brooks said during a discussion hosted by AEI and the the National Chamber Foundation on job creation.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the unemployment rate hit 10.2 percent in October, with California, Michigan, Florida and Illinois being the hardest hit.

Nick Schultz, editor-in-chief of American.com, quoted Wall Street Journal journalist Alan Blinder, saying, “It’s no wonder people have three things on their minds: jobs, jobs and jobs.”

However, Brooks says he thinks Americans care about different things.

“I think Americans care about three things that are actually more fundamental than jobs, jobs and more jobs, which is freedom, individual opportunity and a culture of entrepreneurship.”