At the core of the economic problem is the mismatch between the price of basis necessities (which include healthcare, shelter, energy, mobility, education, clothes, food and water, etc) and a normal income: The last century wages haven't increased at the same rate as the real cost of living.

The only way to get out of this mess is that either the incomes at the bottom must rise or basis necessities must come down. At the sometime jobs have become more mobile then people, moving to places where the labor force is even less expensive. Failing that, there is automation which increases productivity per worker, which also will result in less jobs overall.

So we get to a point where a large part of the population will be permanently unemployed because there are not enough jobs for everyone. These people will need to be able to pay for basic necessities just like anyone else. Even the people who do have a job will find that their wage is not enough: Giving the surplus in workers the wages will go way down.

The only way to solve this is to introduce an unconditional livable basic income for every individual citizen. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_income_guarantee