In crises that force people to choose among alternative courses of action, most people will choose the worst one possible. You can't win. You can't break even. You can't quit. Ehrman's Commentary Things will get worse before they will get better.
Negative expectations yield negative results.
Positive expectations yield negative results. You never find a lost article until you replace it. The perceived usefulness of an article is inversely proportional to its actual usefulness once bought and paid for. No matter how long or hard you shop for an item, after you've bought it, it will be on sale somewhere cheaper. If nobody uses it, there's a reason.