The core issue involves a trading strategy that industry veterans say has actually been globally commonplace: an artificial depression of next-day physical energy prices in order to increase the value of separate financial contracts.

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There were busts, above all the Great Depression, but these represented the last gasp of the old order.

FORBES: The Modern Cycle Of Economic Boom And Bust

"When the stimulus package came up for a vote, I felt that it was indispensable to vote 'aye' in order to avoid the possibility of a 1929-type depression, " Specter said Tuesday.

CNN: Specter says party switch driven partly by desire to keep seat

On the other hand, chronic anxiety is a life-destroyer of the first order, and is at least as big a risk factor for suicide as is depression.

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