The bottom line is that Americans are not lazy, but the private sector simply cannot generate sufficient demand to create a job for everyone who wants one.
It is no longer simply a matter of creating a heterogeneous workforce, but using that workforce to create the innovative products, services, and business practices that can set a company apart and give it a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
In a similar fashion, you can create a broadly diversified portfolio but choose an active management strategy instead of simply buying and holding to track the major indexes (which is passive management).
Centuries before the Renaissance, Charlemagne wanted to create a cultural reawakening, but the political, economic and knowledge infrastructure was simply not there.