by Donna Hamlin

Created on: May 22, 2009

Recessions Have Their Upsides

Most people think finding the plus of a recession is like looking for the bright side of poison ivy. (Of course, we positive sorts know it's the side facing the sun! ) Truthfully, there are benefits from an economic recession, if you sit and drink with a friend and brainstorm about it awhile. Consider these, for example:

1. A recession is not as bad as a depression. They are not the same. For instance, as your hairline recedes further from your eyebrows, that's a recession. When you notice it in your mirror, that's a depression. In an economic recession, the Gross National Product (GNP) drops in two or more consecutive quarters. In a depression, the GNP can only drop two or more consecutive pennies!

2. Lending institutions get a reality check. They return to more prudent risk management, control and transparency. That house with the wheels under it isn't worth $350,000 and - if the wheels weren't still under it making it a permanent home - it isn't worth $450,000, either.

3. Recessions lead to tighter budgeting for families, too. Some kids may have to give up their permanent address at the shopping mall. Families may give up trips to the movies and actually sit home and tell stories and jokes to each other until their sides split. For many, that gas guzzler will no longer be a family member. After all, people may discover they don't need a Hum Vee to pick up a potted plant or a kid and a soccer ball. Shoppers could have the revelation that a K-Mart bag will hold just as much as a Gucci bag. And, men could discover that -while they've been playing golf and paying all those huge green fees -they actually became fathers!

4. A recession is a wake up call to how much we waste. Just look at your power bill. The Guinness Book of Records shows the longest burning light bulb ran for several years. You're not going to break that record, so shut the lights off for awhile.

5. Living on credit can go out of fashion. People who carry "plastic" may stop charging things like candy bars at the local Quick Mart. They will start reading their credit card statement and realize - with the adjusted interest rates - Musketeers Bars cost them as much as a Pontiac cost in 1974! Moreover, high interest rate credit cards may be chopped up and outright forgotten. This may lead to an innovative new use for plastics. Why, it could restart the plastic pink lawn flamingo industry (OK, maybe that's not a plus for a recession).

6. Country music flourishes

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