Former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack spoke about the obstacles facing the American workforce for competing in a globalized market Tuesday night in the Alliant Energy-Lee Liu Auditorium in Howe Hall.

Vilsack talked about the lack of creativity as a major barrier to America’s success in the global economy and that “America will have to be a more creative and innovative nation than it has ever been.”

He also said the arts need to be stressed in school as much as science and math.

Vilsack said education was the second barrier America faces with major competitors, such as India and China, who attend school 230 days out of the calendar year – 50 days more than American students, on average. He said that while higher education has always put the United States on cutting edge, it is slowly fading.

“If 15 percent of China and India go to college in either America or there, and then enter the work force, that will represent every man, woman and child in America,” Vilsack said. “And there is your competition – not the person sitting next to you.”

World and cultural awareness is another issue that Vilsack highlighted, which needs to be instilled at a younger age.

“It’s not enough to know where countries are on a map. We need to know about their culture, their languages,” he said.

Health care is a common theme that politicians speak about frequently, but Vilsack said it was directly related to our prosperity in the global market. Although America has the highest costing health care system in the world, he said, it gives lower-quality care.

Medicare has produced $57 trillion of unfunded liability, “which you’re all going to pay,” he said.

Vilsack also mentioned energy dependence and the aging infrastructure as major restraints on competing globally.

Vilsack not only identified the obstacles facing America, but also the reasons for why they must be eliminated.

“If you have a global economy, it helps people at the low end, creating no classes, which creates political stability,” Vilsack said. “My hope is that we can understand the competition we face and be the best we can be.”

Hoping to understand globalization better is what brought Eric Almeida, senior in mechanical engineering, to the lecture.

“The majority of the American public does not understand globalization,” Almeida said. “We can use our understanding to help teach other people – teach them why the economy may be going down, and help understand the reasons outsourcing happens.”

Christopher Untiet, graduate student in political science, said he was interested in hearing how the world is connected to create a globalized market.

“The world is interdependently connected on economics, politics and now environmental issues,” Untiet said.