Talk about ignoring the elephant in the room: Federal officials concerned about the unemployment rate among teenagers are doing just that. Perhaps that is because the "elephant" in this case was a creation of Congress.

According to a story by The Associated Press, federal officials are concerned the federal "stimulus" program did not create enough new jobs for teenagers. That isn't surprising at all. Once "stimulus" program funds run out, teenagers lose their federal jobs and are unable to find new ones in the private sector.

Throughout the lengthy AP story, officials in the federal government and some states debated what went wrong in using "stimulus" money to provide teenagers with jobs. Again, that is obvious: The program provided only temporary positions funded by government, not better ones in the private sector.

Virtually ignored were warnings from conservatives that jobs for young people would be killed by the hundreds of thousands by increases in the minimum wage, approved a few years ago by Congress. Since July 2007, the minimum wage has increased by $2.10, to $7.25 an hour. Clearly, that has prompted many employers to restrict the number of teenagers they hire. Once again, then, federal officials have chosen to ignore a problem - because they created it.