Go North young man and woman if you want a good, long-term job; Iowa is the best model

CNBC, my network of choice during the week, just had a great interview with Iowa Gov. Chet Culver about 48,000 job vacancies in his state.

And these jobs are full-time and in growing industries. Iowa has always been a center for financial and insurance institutions. But Google has announced its intention to move there and help create another 1,000 jobs.

There is a big difference in what is being done in Iowa versus Tennessee when it comes to economic development. The Chattanooga VW plant is in an industry that faces a great uncertainty as this nation moves toward more alternative fuels. In addition, Tennessee officials are giving away the whole hog just to get a few ribs. Tennessee's governor -- supposedly a Democrat -- just gave away $577 million in taxpayer freebies to VW. That was a third more than the state of Alabama was offering in this silly bidding war.

Iowa's investment in white collar jobs offers a brighter and more secure economic future there. These industries will always be around.

Iowa has created economic magic by increasing its already high literacy rate and the number of college-educated citizens. Meanwhile, Tennessee's governor has a record after almost six years in office of only 18% of its children being ready for college, according to ACT test results.

While Tennessee's governor employs excuses and rationalization, Iowa's governor is worried about the 48,000 available, decent-paying jobs with benefits there. And he is taking aggressive actions as a result.

Nationwide, CNBC said that a shortage of 14 million skilled workers will bear down on the national economy by 2020. Locally, Vanderbilt University has already reported that there will be a nursing shortage of 500,000 skilled health care professional by the same year.

What's the solution? It's obvious. The youngest workforce is Hispanic. The numbers of these human beings continues to grow in this nation. Children of undocumented workers, however, have been denied affordable education in college to become those skilled employees. These young people -- who have been educated in American public schools -- cannot get in-state tuition rates. And Republicans have blocked passage of the federal Dream Act to address this insanity.

Instead, immigration authorities under the Bush administration and even Democrats locally here in Nashville are just deporting people like crazy. In some states, children who have been the valedictorians of their schools are being deported. What a loss of brain power for this nation.

Wouldn't it be great and more beneficial to all if the opposite was done with this avaialable workforce and new brain power? In Nashville, I'd like to establish a mentoring and employment relationship between Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the Hispanic communuty through Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church.

Both institutions are near each other. The opening of Vanderbilt's operations at 100 Oaks Mall will bring the communities side by side. What if a mentoring program was started to take Hispanic 8th graders and older at OLG -- which has weekend mass attendance of 5,000 people -- and start mentoring them toward nursing careers. Provide summer internships or parttime jobs to show Hispanic parents the opportunity for economic advancement in this profession. Then, let's make sure these kids get into college and nursing school. Meanwhile, they can start working up the career ladder at VUMC with initial, basic caregiving while still going to school.

That's my dream.

For the time being, people looking for better jobs should should beat a path to Iowa. But for the longer term, state and federal governments must finally set aside America's historical bigotry and allow all American-educated children access to higher education at affordable rates to become the skilled workers of tomorrow.

The alternative will be a nation by 2020 struggling to care for its old and sick and watching companies leaving for China and India where an adequate skilled workforce is available.