We are all aware of the grim statistics affecting our economic and social well being.  Every day we are reminded of another downward trend -- housing foreclosures, unemployment increasing, more people in poverty than ever before, the wealth gap, education gap, slow economic growth.

I am also growing weary of the endless debates about solutions that simply skirt the real answer. The answer doesn't lie in more taxes for the rich, or less taxes for the poor. The answer doesn't lie in selective stimulus for certain segments of our economy like transportation, or education, or the public sector. All of these solutions are short-sighted manipulations of the status quo that make the rich richer, and the rest of us poorer.

We live in the most dynamic society on the planet. There are opportunities around every corner that can lead to breakout initiatives that will get us out of this stagnation that is stifling creativity and economic growth. The light at the end of this dark tunnel is innovation -- not clinging to the hope that our old jobs will return, nor that the government will provide relief to our pain and suffering.

We live in the information and technology age, with a new type of infrastructure -- the Internet -- that accelerates the speed of the transformation of ideas into implementation. We must take advantage of the technology that surrounds us to produce a new prosperity out of old systems.

We no longer have cell phones; we have mobile devices with many applications to connect, inform, and transact business. We no longer have brick and mortar workplaces; we can work from anywhere that we have access to technology. Yes, our manufacturing jobs are gone, but our social networks represent new routes to market that connect us with production. We must take advantage of this infrastructure and access to information to create a new economy. The old one is gone forever.

Much of the thought leadership and innovative thinking is right here among us in the virtual Black community. We must take advantage of new approaches to collaboration, leadership and community development to take advantage of our new reality.

For an introduction to this new approach, please read the article: Wanted: 21st Century Trim Tabbers

There is a light at the end of this long dark tunnel. When everything that we know has been turned upside down, innovation is the light that shows us the way out of the darkness. I believe that Black entrepreneurs are the innovators that will lead the way to a new Black economic reality.

What do you think?