What is the federal government doing about this?

Unemployment does not seem to be going away in the near future. The public sector is nervous to invest in new workers even if they are necessary. Investing in new workers necessitates confidence that new business is on the horizon. When that seems unclear no one gets hired. There is a lot of people who are working less hours as there companies take a attitude to reduce monthly payments for salaries. What that means is that many millions of people are underemployed and underpaid while their basic expenses have not changed. What is the federal government doing about this? They have tried almost everything imaginable under the Sun. Stimulus packages, tax rebates, millions of temp census jobs and much more.
Ronald Reagan once said that the worse thing the government could do was to try to help you. That was a kiss of death, big government. The small and midsize businesses are the heart of the economy. These mom and pop enterprises fuel the economy and growth. If Obama or anyone else wants to fuel things let him cut taxes to these businesses. Let him have less control over the money flow from different places. Let him and the Democrats spend less money that they have and somehow trim the almost unbelievable deficit that there is. Lowering taxes will increase the money available for the government in a complete paradox way. Raise taxes on cigarettes and gambling, clamp down online gambling sites and tax them. Let real businesses flourish so they will hire new people. When this happens people will have money in their pocket that they will spend on goods which will create even more jobs. Just leave it alone and it will come right.