The first decade of this century was a dud for job creation nationwide. With a weak recovery from the 2001 recession followed by the Great Recession, the nation as a whole gained almost no jobs during the decade (actually, there was a 0.3 percent increase). That made the aughts the first decade since the Great Depression without any substantial job growth.

Whispered in July, rumored in December, and nearly shouted earlier this week, today marks the official announcement of Florida’s high-speed rail investment by the federal government. Many will talk about what this day means for a new age of American infrastructure, and even more, including my colleagues, will debate the overall efficacy of such an investment. For me, I’d rather get into some of the nitty-gritty of what appears to be, thanks to the president’s Tampa event, the flagship project in Florida. 

First off, there’s much to like for Florida’s current residents and future tourists. The Tampa and Orlando metropolitan areas, along with their sandwiched neighbor Lakeland, were home to almost 3.4 million people in 2008. That year their economies produced $230.6 billion of economic output, more than the Czech Republic. A huge part of this is the vibrant tourist industry: Few places in the world give visitors simultaneous access to many top theme parks, multiple world-class beaches, and bona fide big city culture all within 120 miles. A pleasurable and useful train ride won’t just benefit Floridians, and could become an additional beacon to visitors across the country.

Florida also offers the Federal Railroad Administration, the official administrator of the high speed rail (HSR) stimulus grants, a well-prepared recipient. Florida already owns over 90 percent of the route’s right-of-way, they’ve already completed the environmental impact assessment, and the deal is structured to take advantage of private donations and operational risk. Just as importantly, Florida projects to open the line in 2015, making sure these funds get spent in short order and users will see the benefits quickly. Florida also has wanted this for some time; they originally passed a ballot initiative back in 2000.

But, let’ be clear--this isn’t a perfect plan. A major problem is that the Orlando Convention Center station is over eight miles from a soon-to-open SunRail commuter rail station. This disconnect represents a missed opportunity for intermodal linkage, especially since SunRail reaches downtown Orlando and the HSR route does not. Intermodal links, including the ease by which one can rent a car at the HSR stations, are critical in a state like Florida that’s been developed in an auto-centric manner.

So the White House has finally announced the full list of where that $8 billion in stimulus money for high-speed rail is going. Here are the two big, headline-grabbing projects:

So it looks like tomorrow, after the State of the Union, President Obama is planning to announce how the $8 billion in stimulus money for high-speed rail projects will get spent. As noted earlier, a line between Tampa Bay and Orlando will probably be the first lucky recipient, getting federal funds to supplant private investment. But what about the rest?

Whatever happened to all that stimulus money for high-speed rail? It's taken awhile to select projects, but as Streetsblog's Elana Schor reports, the first lucky recipient might finally get picked on Thursday. That's when Obama's expected to announce $2.6 billion in federal funds for a new high-speed line between Tampa Bay and Orlando—a line that could help kick-start a vast new Florida network:

The congressman is nearly in tears--his face crumpled and voice cracking. This was hardly the response that I anticipated when I asked freshman Democrat Alan Grayson a banal question about adjusting to life in his new job. "Personally, it's extremely difficult for me to be away from my family," he started. That's when he started to swell. As he came unglued, I cast a nervous glance at his aide. The least she could do was hustle him from this awkwardness. But she just fidgeted with her PDA, as if this wasn't his first outpouring.

So it looks like the housing sector will soon start contributing--a little, in some places--to the economic recovery after contributing mightily to national breakdown.

Wish you were here! Today, I'm in sunny Las Vegas to help roll out an interesting new Brookings initiative and realizing I'm residing at ground zero of America's current economic quandary.

No large U.S. Metro has suffered greater house price declines in the last year. No large metro has a higher concentration of foreclosures. Gross metropolitan product has declined by 3 percent since its 2007 peak. And unemployment now exceeds 13 percent.

Sean Wilentz has just offered a new response to Orlando Patterson's response from yesterday--which was written to refute Sean Wilentz's response to his op-ed in Tuesday's New York Times. Key passage: