A man once lost his entire fortune on the bad housing market. He lost his home and was in debt as a result.

"Things could be worse." His friends assured him.

With no place to go, he lived on the street (his former rich friends never offered to help).

Due to lack of resources, the man could not bathe, do laundry or keep up his work from lack of sleep. He lost his job as a result.

"Things could be worse," his boss said, as he handed the man his last paycheck.

The man was turned away from welfare and social security (due to his last income and back taxes owed).

There was a waiting list for shelters and he didn't get into them in time.

"Things could be worse," they assured him at the shelter as they turned him away.

The man's shelter on the street was torn down by police and the Neighborhood Clean-up Crew (paid by tax dollars which the man used to pay).

He was caught in the storm without shelter and then got terribly sick.

The nurse practitioner saw him at the emergency room and diagnosed his severe pneumonia and chest infection.

"Things could be worse," the hospital staff assured him, after they released him back onto the street with only one dose of antibiotics that he couldn't afford along with a $5,000 hospital bill and $700 lab tests he could never pay back.

The man got sick again and passed out on his way to the hospital. No one could save him in time and the man died a week later.

The man met Death at the bridge between heaven and earth. Due to the man's misdeeds as a rich person (having scammed other innocent people into poverty in order to be temporarily rich - before he lost it all...), the man was sentenced to purgatory.

"Things could be worse," Death assured him, "At least you're not in hell."