Dan I think you found the missing link here without even mentioning it ...
Our Education system has failed !!! We learn more or less the same as we did 50 years ago .. the subjects have added a few technology classes, but the rest of the world is teaching high tech not trigonometry ... Government small and large , states and local, do not have the support of funds to really prepare kids for the real world .. the few and far between that actually generate what you said, are out numbered probably 10:1 (just guessing) .. reading today is mostly on twitter and the goal oriented kids are not always given the resources to achieve, so employers look to overseas .. (my wife was a recruiter for fortune 100 companies to find computer programmers) most come from India and Asia ... look around at a hospital and see who your care takers are ... who answers a technical question when you call a 800 number in the middle of the night. Funny how many foreigners still come to the US for higher learning, especially technical professions, yet we have a hard time getting American kids to this level .. I dont believe our kids are stupid, but are they learning the right stuff?
Can we afford as a nation to have a large percent of our under 30 population living with their parents ? and what happens when the parents age out (nice way to say pass away) and their funds go with them? Will we have a large percent of our population not capable of earning a living?
When will we also lower the age of education, as it simply is not made for everyone and the high schoolers who are not interested are usually a disruption, and bring in an apprenticeship tax break for businesses who are willing to hire and train, but could never afford a minimum wage to do so?
As it was said earlier in this thread, some one has to dig the ditches and as I tell my kids, some one has to work at the grocery store ...
Just some food for thought