These figures could depress a hyena:

Following the most recent NFP disappointment, the simple math indicates that for the US to return to its December 2007 unemployment, when factoring in the natural growth of the labor force of 90k people a month, the economy will need to add 250k jobs a month for the next 66 months or until the end of Obama's now very implausible second term.

When I read this, I got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I agree with Mitt Romney who said today that the unemployment problem is a "moral tragedy" of Obama's. While millions were being thrown out of work the first year and few months of his term, he and the Democrats spent 95% of their time on trying to pass Obamacare. It was pointed out at the time that Obama wasn't doing anything to turn the jobs picture around and here we are a year later staring into the abyss.

Those numbers assume that we won''t dip back into a recession that would cause more Americans to lose their jobs.

The fact is, the government is still not doing the things it needs to do to get the jobs engine revving up again. The consequences were laid out by Romney:

"Unemployment means kids can't go to college; that marriages break up under the financial strain; that young people can't find work and start their lives; and men and women in their 50s, in the prime of their lives, fear they will never find a job again. President Obama has failed these good and decent Americans."

Systemic unemployment is changing the kind of country we are. Maybe Romney is the guy who can make this case to the people in 2012.