Right around 9 percent of workers are unemployed. This does not tell the entire story, as only 4.2 percent of college graduates are unemployed, compared to 14 percent who did not finish high school. North Carolina has the seventh highest rate of unemployment in the country, at 10.5 percent for September.

Simultaneously, banks and credit unions have basically reduced lending to anyone except those with the highest credit ratings. Even entrepreneurs with college educations and good credit ratings find it difficult to get a loan, and those entrepreneurs without higher education, and owning a bruised credit history, are finding it impossible. And our whole society loses, because without available capital, job development slows or stops.

Now consider this: Small firms accounted for 65 percent of the net new jobs created between 1993 and 2009. They represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms, employ half of all private sector employees, pay 44 percent of total U.S. private payroll, are 52 percent home-based and produce 13 times more patents per employee than large firms. Clearly, we need more of them!

Creating new jobs requires capital - even setting up a lawn-cutting service requires mowers, edgers and trucks. A new nail salon requires money for chairs and feet soaking tubs.

As my colleague Brooke Adams found while researching this topic for TheOptimisticFuturist website, most banks do not lend businesses amounts smaller than $50,000. How do we as a society create a source of loan funds for emerging small businesses that don't fit large lenders' criteria?

Read more here!