What do you think needs to happen for this country to recover from this recession and grow?

I am just curious to hear some real opinions from people on what it is going to take for our country to thrive again. I don't want to hear about government hand outs, or off the wall predictions. I would like to hear some real answers. I keep hearing that it will possibly take 10 years to pull out but how does that actually happen? Farming used to be the backbone of this country, then manufacturing now we rely primarily on other countries (China) to meet our needs. What is it going to take????