Imagine taking the personal connections and interactions that occur every day on the likes of Facebook and Twitter... and bringing them to bear on an education. To a large extent, this hasn't been done yet, but the potential is profound. In a new report by the Center for Community Survey for Student Engagement, two-year programs aren't taking advantage of the tools at their disposal -- plenty of growth is still possible. Kay McClenney, director of the CCSSE, says, "Colleges are not taking advantage of that particular set of tools for making connections with students to the extent that they could."

The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), a distributor of business information and educational materials which counts Scholastic (NASDAQ: SCHL) as a related stock, issued third-quarter results earlier today. Sales contracted over 8%. Net income on a dollar basis dropped almost 14%. Earnings per diluted share decreased a very unlucky 13% to $1.07. At least expectations were taken out. Earnings.com indicates a beat of two pennies for per-share profit.

The declines are pretty understandable. When you think about McGraw-Hill, you understand fairly quickly that the company's business model is tied closely to the economy. Education markets must be tough given all the budget cuts happening in school systems across the country. Plus, spending by administrators is probably done these days very slowly and carefully.

A new bill that would revamp student loan programs in the United States passed the House of Representatives. The proposed program, which would affect the largest change on college aid since they came into existence in the 1960s would push private lenders out of the business and put the U.S. government in control.

The new measure would end subsidies for private lenders, increase Pell Grants available for students in financial need, and create grants for community colleges. The proposal includes almost all of President Obama's key points on higher education from the campaign trail. It passed the House 253 – 171, with most representatives sticking to party lines.

President Obama was in Cincinnati yesterday, where he spoke to a group of union members at a picnic. While he was on his way here, the White House released a statement noting that "working Americans will help our nation emerge from this crisis." Nevertheless, the President believes that the country still faces a "vast and complex" economic crisis. Here is the problem, with a dwindling American workforce, President Obama says that it will be the working Americans that pull the nation out of the economic crisis. Last time we checked (and that was last week), the jobless rate was 9.7%.

Students from 12 high schools in Alabama have been benefiting from a education program founded by the world's largest oil company, Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM).

Students in the Advanced Placement Training and Incentive Programs in Alabama's Jefferson County and Montgomery saw a very impressive 81% increase in passing scores in Advanced Placement math classes.

With the chances of finding a job fairly slim, people are certainly thinking about starting -- or even buying -- a business. But, which industry to go into?

It's a tough decision. Yet, there are still opportunities. To get some insight on this, I had a chance to talk to Toon van Beeck, who is the senior analyst with IBISWorld. Let's take a look:

More dark clouds for your silver lining. The Beige Book numbers came in today showing continuing mild deflation. The report, published eight times per year, is a compendium of anecdotal insights from the various Federal Reserve Banks.

A report out of Harvard University shows that income inequality in the U.S. that has ballooned since the 1970s is the result of an gap in educational attainment by U.S. children and workers. Prior to that period, children were almost always better educated than their parents. No longer. And fixing this one is going to be tough as the general cultural perception still holds that professional degrees are more important than pure scientific degrees. Lastly, as oil continues to rise, concerns are surfacing that high oil prices could halt the recovery or at least slow down the rebound.

Alex Salkever is the Director of Research at Piqqem.com, a stock prediction community powered by the Wisdom of Crowds

This post is part of a special annual report -- Top Stock Picks '09 -- in which TheStockAdvisors.com asked 75 leading newsletter advisors to select their favorite investment for the new year.

"Apollo Group (NASDAQ: APOL), my top pick for 2009, has been an education provider for over 30 years," says Kevin Kennedy, a specialist in quantitative and momentum analysis.

The editor of The Coolcat Report explains, "The company's revenues and earnings have been steady despite the negative economy."

The advisor continues, "Apollo Group provides academic access and opportunity to more than 350,000 students through its subsidiaries, which include University of Phoenix.

"Other divisions include the Institute for Professional Development, College for Financial Planning, Western International University, Meritus University, Insight Schools and Apollo Global. It also owns Aptimus, a provider of innovative digital media solutions.

"The company's educational programs and services are provided at the high school, undergraduate and graduate levels in 40 states and the District of Columbia; Puerto Rico; Alberta and British Columbia, Canada; Mexico; Chile; and the Netherlands, as well as online throughout the world.

China will remain a major low-cost center for manufacturing, but it is egregiously incorrect and irresponsible to say it represents the landscape -- the sweep, if you will -- of the manufacturing horizon, says economist Richard Felson.

"Many low cost products will be made in China, and elsewhere, but better products can and will be made in the United States, if we plant the seeds for those industries today," Felson said.

This decade, which many economists call the U.S.'s 'decade of descent,' has been a lost decade concerning manufacturing. A failure to invest in the nation's manufacturing, technology, and basic research segments "has left the United States grossly underinvested, from physical plant and capital investment standpoints," Felson said. "The U.S. auto sector is probably the best known example of this. It is a manufacturing tragedy."

U.S. can seize the high end

The solution? Invest in industry, basic research, and technology to re-grab the high-end, and beyond, Felson says.

Think next-generation cars, he says. Think even more efficient jet engines and power systems. Think solar technology. Think wind power. Think smart electric grid. Think expanded universities to train the civil, mechanical, and electrical engineers needed to develop the innovative, energy-efficient, and smart systems of tomorrow.

This post is part of a series where personal finance expert Dan Solin looks at money secrets that help the rich stay rich. See the first five secrets.

I give a lot of talks to groups of investors. I like to ask this question:

How many of you made most of your money investing in the stock market?

Very few hands go up.

I get the same result when I ask: How many of you know someone who made most of his or her money investing in the stock market?

Let's drop to the bottom line:

Rich people invest in themselves.

Poor people invest in "things" that give them instant gratification, like plasma screen TVs and flashy cars.

I don't mean to be glib. Rich people can afford education and great health care. Poor people often can't. A great education and good health positions rich people to get richer.

Financial winter is here and the temperature of the market seems to be dropping anew. Credit markets are frozen and the line for government handouts grows by the day. There is no easy fix to the morass.

That much is clear.

As such, we will have plenty of time to contemplate exactly where it is we want to go from here. Hopefully, we won't make the same mistakes twice, and, in that way, some good may come out of the carnage after all.

We all know how we got into this mess. Greed and debt led to asset value growth that was unsustainable. The piper is calling in a major way.

He'll have plenty of listeners, mainly those now unemployed. Job losses are growing by the minute with some speculating that unemployment rates will grow to 10% or more before this recession is finished.

Certainly, the craziness in the mortgage market with its Wall Street accomplice had much to do with our troubles today. But then again, so did weakness in our education system. Shortcomings there have as much to do with job losses to overseas competition as anything else.

Most winners in play-money investing games end up wishing they'd invested real dollars. Not in this year's Stock Market Game for students in grades four through 12, run by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. Well, except for that team that shorted Wachovia Corp. (NYSE: WB) in late September; they managed to more than double their fake money.

The lessons learned may be exactly the opposite of those the Securities Industry board had hoped.

The kids started the game shortly after school began this fall, so most students have experienced a steep slide in their faux portfolios. One student had it worse: he played the game last year and decided to try it out this year with real money, saving his birthday and Christmas money to buy into a mutual fund. Now he's afraid to open his statements (his fund is down 44.9% this year).

Michael Ashworth, a 13-year-old Delaware middle schooler interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, had been getting excited about investing and had asked his mother for stocks for Christmas. After the market downturn? "I told her not to do it. I asked for a parakeet instead," he said.

Perhaps the rest of us would do well to follow the lead of Mr. Ashworth. If not a parakeet, perhaps a flock of chickens?

Bloomberg columnist Caroline Baum gently reminds us that not every tax cut achieves its intended effect.

Case study: The 2001 Bush Administration federal income tax cut, which included a cut in the marginal tax rate to 35% from 39.6%. The Bush Administration touted it as a tax cut that would increase incentives to invest, save and work.

The result? The tax cut didn't work: saving and investment have been "anemic" during the Bush years, Baum said, citing data provided by Paul Kasriel, chief economist at Northern Trust Corp. in Chicago. Business investment is down, the savings rate is at a post-World War II low. Further, the labor participation rate has declined.

No guarantee tax cut would be invested in U.S.

But why didn't cutting the top marginal rate do all of the good things the Bush Administration touted? Economist Peter Dawson said the reason is the tax cut's inherent flaw.

"The tax cut contained the mistaken belief that rich taxpayers would invest their money and invest in the right way, in the U.S., to increase GDP," Dawson said. "There was no guarantee that they would do that. Someone who is rich could invest the money in Brazil or India, with little benefit for the United States."

American high school students know little about the basics of finance and economics, and the problem is getting worse, according to a report from the AP today.

The majority of high school seniors answered basic questions about finance incorrectly in a nationwide poll conducted by the Federal Reserve. Fed chairman Ben Bernanke called for better financial education, and linked the woeful state of basic economic knowledge to the housing crisis.

Bernanke said, "In light of the problems that have arisen in the subprime mortgage market, we are reminded of how critically important it is for individuals to become financially literate at an early age so that they are better prepared to make decisions and navigate an increasingly complex financial marketplace."

It's hard to disagree with him on this point, but a cynic might wonder if a poorly educated population is really the source of the housing crisis. Sure, Americans don't know much about the power of compound interest or how to calculate net present value, but that's not why the economy is in trouble. The housing bubble was produced by people who knew what they were doing -- mortgage brokers who winked at "liar's loans" and sophisticated bankers who created new financial instruments to get rid of the bad debt. All of these people were highly educated in economics and finance. The problem isn't ignorance but a lack of integrity and regulation.

There is never a shortage of jobs. Some people have two or three jobs. The classified adds have thousands of jobs all the time -- always. If someone is unemployed there is a reason and it is definitely not a lack of jobs.

Sometimes it is a regional lack of jobs, General Motors (NYSE: GM) and Ford Motor (NYSE: F) in the rust belt states of Michigan and Ohio have downsized, but foreign manufacturers Toyota (NYSE: TM) and Nissan Motors (NASDAQ:NSANY) in the Southeast have up sized. This does not help the states where jobs are leaving, and indeed causes other massive problems like weakening the tax base and pushing housing and other elements of the local economy down. However, from a national unemployment standpoint that does not count.

In our discussions of unemployment and the economic picture we attempt to understand the government figures and attribute some meaning. We know the government is prone to put things in their best light (lie) sometimes and there is discussion about what a true measure would be, but does that really matter? It is more important that whatever criteria is used remain constant so that we can use the data for comparisons, not that it be altered often as people become concerned about the exactness of the figures.

It might be time we need to account for a new set of metrics. What are the costs of retraining? How could these costs be distributed without expanding government -- not something I would support. We know that some people are not employable or are only marginally employable because they simply do not have the capability to do many jobs. I have numerous jobs, although generally speaking, I have created them myself over time. Clearly education and training are a factor, along with over all aptitude.