I agree with Krugman`s column published today in the New York Times. To use the nomenclature I like: Obama Needs A New Campaign; its Purpose should be to create Jobs.

This is a recovery that is working for firms but not for people. Firms have learned how to be more productive by using less labour; admirable gains in productivity, however, make it unlikely that the private sector will be able to absorb the army of unemployed ( 10% of the population) and mobilize the army of the underemployed ( another 10% of the population) any time soon. A lot of those people are likely to become unemployable, as they get deskilled by just staying home. At the same time American infrastructure deteriorates and basic and needed skills are disappearing. Plumbers and electricians are becoming more difficult to find than lawyers and investment bankers. A $40b program for three years to create 1 million jobs for people who want to learn how to fix things would indeed be a great investment. It would also diffuse a social bomb that can explode at any moment during the long journey to rediscover American competitiveness. Nobody- myself included- wants to see his tax money spent to create more government funded jobs.
However, we have reached a point that does not allow us the luxury of choice, but imposes the discipline of common sense. We do not want to support an army of permanently unemployable people among us. The only realistic way of preventing that from happening is by putting them to work on things that are needed. The price of $40b is exactly what we would have to pay to dispatch 40000 additional troops to Afghanistan.