Cheer Up! Recession Has a Bright Side

While the specter of recession may leave you cold, consider the bright side: These days contractors, starved for work, actually show up on time, and killer gas prices help you to drive around a city like Los Angeles without facing much traffic, Meghan Daum writes in the Los Angeles Times.

“For the moment,” Daum writes, “I can't help but feel that this recession—or at least the evanescent moment before it kicks into high gear—offers a kind of coziness you rarely feel in a booming economy. I'm talking about tranquil resignation—the state of being grateful for what you have.” But “this wholesomeness will be eclipsed by cynical despair in no time." (More Los Angeles stories.)