That number is set to increase with severe cuts to entitlements and the unlikelihood of another extension of unemployment benefits.
Americans have really drunk the Kool-Aid on the notion of American exceptionalism. The idea that America is somehow special, possessed of some manifest destiny and unable to lose has been so deeply engrained in the American psyche, and for so long, that even now the notion of failure seems too fanciful to enter the common narrative. America is not special. It's been favoured by politics and luck, but there's nothing keeping it on top besides continued prosperity. Look at Japan for an example of what could easily happen: a high-tech economy with a massive banking and manufacturing sector, that collapsed then...never really restarted. There are, in fact, many parallels between the Japanese and American recessions. While Japan is still a massive innovator, the benefits have not trickled down to the average Japanese citizen. China long ago took over as the biggest economy in Asia, and could easily supplant the US globally if current trends continue.
To face these challenges, the US has...Congress. The leadership vacuum in Washington is downright depressing. Amidst bitter political bickering, the disaffected masses turn to the demagoguery of the Tea Party, further perpetuating the political morass. Can anyone see a viable, achievable solution? Cutting the deficit is critically important, yet any proposed method of doing so seems likely to hurt the economy at a time when it simply can't take it. Everything seems poised to get much worse before it gets better.