The EU economy is worse off now than the U.S. economy, which has actually been surprisingly resilient despite the lack of any support coming from Washington.

FORBES: US vs The World: Are We Better Than They Are?

The weekend's other new wide release, Sylvester Stallone's R-rated action vehicle Bullet to the Head, got off to an even worse start than Arnold Schrwazenegger's The Last Stand did two weeks ago.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

There's a lot more people worse off than I am.

BBC: World Cup 2010: Wayne Rooney backed to control temper

While the Iraqi weapons crisis remains unresolved, American officials have preferred a diplomatic approach to North Korean issues, rather than risk provoking an even worse stand-off with the country's secretive and unpredictable leader, Kim Jong Il.

ECONOMIST: Now two rogues challenge Bush | The

The possibility of being worse off than your parents is not meant to be the German way - or anybody else's, for that matter.

BBC: Angela Merkel's Germany pessimistic about future

Responding to the chancellor's statement, Mr Miliband claimed the Budget showed that people would be worse off in 2015 than when the coalition came to power.

BBC: Ed Miliband attacks 'downgraded' Budget