Unprecedented Economic Crisis

What does our new president mean by this? Has he not heard of the 'Great Depression?' Surely not because those times were far worse than what we are experiencing right now. So I'm guessing what he must mean is that there has never been a time when we've had a national economy in crisis AND we're going to do our best by driving it down even more by bailing out anybody and everybody. But you have to give the man some credit with this statement, because if you make a situation sound really bad then you will have low expectations and can't be blamed in the end if things don't turn out right.

Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama pressed congressional leaders to reach a consensus on an $825 billion stimulus plan, warning the country may be facing an “unprecedented” economic crisis.