People are openly using the "D" word, yet the president and his pal Tim Geithner still seem to think there's going to be a second Obama term if they only make the bankers happy. Go figure:

Some economists might be worried about a double-dip recession, but a large number of Americans have an even worse scenario in mind.

Approximately 48 percent of Americans say they think that a Great Depression is either very or somewhat likely to occur within the year, according to a CNN Opinion Research Poll, the highest percentage of respondents that have stated that level of certainty since CNN first started asking the question in October 2008.

Respondents' fear that they would soon become unemployed also spiked to an all-time high of 30 percent. That stands in contrast another post-recession low: the 18 percent that said they either recently became unemployed or are related to someone who recently became unemployed. The seeming contradiction might be explained by the average length of unemployment now hitting an all-time high, as The New York Times recently reported.