What is the Most Important Investment We Can Make Now?

In his State of the Union address last week, President Barack Obama devoted a considerable amount of attention to investment. He said we need to invest in basic research and new technologies, in education, in biomedical research, information technology, and clean energy technology. He said countries in Europe and Russia invest more in their roads and railways than we do and that China is building faster trains and newer airports. He said that when our own engineers graded America’s infrastructure, they gave us a "D." He vowed to put more Americans to work repairing crumbling roads and bridges. He said we’ll make sure this is fully paid for, attract private investment, and pick projects based on what's best for the economy, not politicians. And to help companies compete, he vowed to knock down barriers that stand in the way of their success, barriers such as unnecessary and burdensome government regulations.

It is a truism that we cannot invest everywhere at once – at least, not without spreading our resources so thinly that they don’t make a difference. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the US budget deficit in fiscal year 2011 will be nearly $1.5 trillion. With deficits like that, we must choose wisely where to invest our scarce resources. The vision of investment that President Obama articulated last week is only one vision. What is your vision about where we need to invest? What is the most important investment we can make now to have the greatest impact in the long run?