But even as people dig out their old books about that concatenation of accident, stupidity and miscommunication that caused the Great Depression, I want to throw in another thought: it could be worse than the 1930s if we let it happen.
"Obviously, it could be worse if she was given the death penalty, but it wouldn't have been that much worse, " her husband, Russell Yates, told reporters after the decision.
But you hadn't moved to Florida so it could be much worse up north.
And it could possibly be worse than the 16-month recession of the early 1980s.
Are you encouraged by what you've seen today, it sounded, from Richard Wells, as though it could be worse?
Still, it could be worse: Mr Grasso's last prominent directorship was at Computer Associates, a company plagued by dubious accounting and mismanaged stock options.
And it could be worse for the Big Ten: Imagine if the two conferences hadn't backtracked on a planned long-term agreement to play nonconference games against one another.
It could soon be worse for Fleury, who might be the backup goalie when the Penguins host the Islanders in Game 5 of the first-round series on Thursday night in Pittsburgh.
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But the other way to defend the deal is to point out that, even if it was a bad idea to start with, abandoning it could be even worse a view that, unsurprisingly, Ms Fiorina chose not to advance, but is being quietly put forward by the deal's supporters.
But its impact on markets could be even worse than a default, it could be a default on steroids: if it became accepted that membership of the eurozone isn't forever, huge doubts would arise about the true value of hundreds of billions of euros of contracts.
But given what has happened to the other economic statistics, it could be a lot worse.
It's been a fantastic year and you have to try and enjoy it because it could be a lot worse.
The only difference this time was the games were played on Jan. 2, not the traditional New Year's Day. (As is customary when New Year's falls on a Sunday.) Granted, it still could be worse.
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Yet if Mr Immelt is tempted to do something dramatic to save his skin, it could hardly be at a worse time.
It's possible that with such intense sensitivity to the chemical, that reactions to it could be involuntary, or worse, result in seizures.
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But could it be that this story is even worse than many in the national press will say?
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Yet after seeing Tokyo and London burn and the inhabitants turned into zombies, it is hard to imagine what could be worse.
The second reason that Israelis can be pleased with the outcome is that it could have been much worse.
The increase in VAT, for example, is scheduled for January it could well be delayed if the economy takes a turn for the worse.
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