North Carolina’s unemployment rate is above 10 percent and has been above the national average for many months. The stubbornly weak economy is now the subject of dueling jobs plans from politicians seeking to answer the $64,000 question: What should we do to create jobs, and what should we avoid? John Locke Foundation President  John Hood analyzes the approaches put forth by President Obama and Republicans and the likely impact each would have on the economy. Then you’ll hear from the commander in chief on a recent visit to North Carolina. President Obama packed N.C. State University’s Reynolds Coliseum with cheering supporters as he touted the benefits of his American Jobs Act.  You’ll hear highlights from the president’s speech and a critique from Roy Cordato, John Locke Foundation vice president for research and resident scholar. Political actors in Washington are not alone in pursuing plans designed to boost job creation. N.C. House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, has been discussing the General Assembly’s job-creation efforts during a series of town hall meetings across the state. You’ll hear highlights from one of Tillis’ meetings. That’s followed by a look at K-12 education reforms. In addition to a no-tax-hike budget, one of the key accomplishments in this year’s legislative session was the lifting of the state’s cap of 100 public charter schools. Darrell Allison, president of Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina, discusses the significance of that vote and other positive school choice developments in 2011. And finally, recent gains in the state’s graduation rate have been met with cheers. But a new analysis by Terry Stoops, director of education studies for the John Locke Foundation, reveals that the state’s graduation standards are alarmingly low, resulting in a large amount of needed remediation at the community college level. Stoops discusses the data and addresses whether or not North Carolina is really making progress when standards are taken into account.