Ever since the financial hard times reached Wall Street in September, there have been a series of reports that, in one category or another, this is the worst since [fill in the blank]. The unemployment rate for November (6.7%) was the highest in 15 years, going back to the Bush Senior slowdown of 1991-1993. The 2% unemployment increase in 12 months was the fastest since the Reagan recession of 1982, 26 years ago. In November, job losses totaled 533,000, the most in one month since the Nixon slump of 1974, 34 years ago. Housing starts in October were the lowest since the government began keeping records in 1959, 49 years ago, and the number went even lower in November. It seemed that it was just a matter of time before a financial indicator hit the worst level since the Great Depression. Sure enough,in 2008 the Dow Jones industrial average dropped about 33.8% in 2008, the worst drop since the 52.7% registered in (drum roll) 1931.