re: "Salvation?"
I hate to break this to you, but the government has been "artificially propping up the economy" for a long time now. The government essentially borrows money from the same people who have to pay it back, something no private borrower could ever do, and of course, the value of the money drops.
Note that the following graph is corrected for inflation.
The only thing that's even remotely saving our ass is continued economic growth:
Until we break the government spending habit, this isn't going to change.