economic crunch

They say it's the worst economic depression in the US and maybe just of the many in poorer countries like the Philippines. We'd always been in depression since time immemorial. Was there ever a time when the Philippines climbed a notch higher from its usual economic perch? No, it's always been down there, there seems to be no place else for falling. So when rich countries start ranting about their bad economies, we're like "really"? We seem not to tell the difference. We'd always been there, so it's like, "Crunch? Okey."