"Things Could Be Worse"

That is is the title (or headline) of an op-ed by Paul Krugman comparing the state of the US economy to Japan's.  You would think his thesis might be that "things could be worse" in the US because, hey, we could be in a 20-year funk like the Japanese.  But no.  His argument is that things could be worse in Japan--it could have Republicans, but thankfully it does not.  At least that appears to be the argument.