On July 15, President Obama announced a major new federal investment in job training and community colleges.  He appropriately made the announcement in Michigan, a state with 14% unemployment, the highest in the nation, and a major political battleground state. 

Obama's plan consists of a $12 billion investment in community colleges.  Part of the funds will help build and renovate buildings, part will expand on line courses and part will provide challenge grants for programs to expand "student success." 

This plan may or may not be the best one to help retrain workers.  However, it is a credible plan.  Wages for better-educated workers grow much faster than their lesser-educated counterparts. The Educational Testing Service reported earlier this year that in 1979 the average college graduate could expect to earn 56% more than his or her counterparts without a college education.  Today, college graduates expect to earn 96% more.  President Bush significantly increased spending on community colleges, though not as much as Obama has proposed.