To fix the unemployment problem, economist Paul Krugman suggests the US Government bring in a WPA (Works Progress Administration) -type program, the same sort of approach that was adopted in the New Deal. The problem with that, as Zubin Jelveh, says in the New Republic is that people taking up Depression-era WPA jobs were more likely to be unskilled, so when economic conditions picked up, they were less likely to get back into the private sector.

But that's part of a much broader problem. Economist Gary estimates that 58% of the population is dependent on the government for a big slice of their income. That includes teachers, soldiers, bureaucrats, welfare and Social Security recipients, government pensioners, public housing beneficiaries and those who work for government contractors. The problem, Shilling says, is that two thirds of the US population, or 67% will be dependent on government for their livelihoods by 2018.

While tea-party people might say this is evidence of socialist style policies, the reality is that the US government has no choice. The government needs to spend money to keep the US economy going. As Robert Reich says in his blog, the Obama administration needs to bring in another stimulus and that will be more important than new jobs tax credit, loans to small businesses, help to troubled homeowners and extending unemployment insurance.

And yes, that will leave more Americans dependent on Government. But then, the alternative is to do nothing and let the economy destroy itself.