Yeah, stocks are on sale and so are houses!!! Buy low, sell high, right?

yes!! It might teach people to live within their means and stop spending more than they make.

well prices for merchandise has gone done although it sucks how bad food has gone up.

Yes, when you go out to dinner there is less of a wait to get a table.

Right now it's really difficult. It's very likely that my s/o's crappy paying job may be going under...she has a few prospects. But, with the corporate merger of my client, it's very likely our jobs are on shaky ground. As of yesterday, it may be sooner than later, but we just don't know! Until all that dust settles, I don't see the silver lining right now!

no too late for me,i had to spend high over the past 5 yrs & now i have nothing left to benefit from it,just too goddam late:(

People will be and always have been the silver lining! Happy Holidays!

Well houses are much cheaper to buy but the ones you already own are worth half as much.. If you are willing to buy and sit and wait it will work itself out.

Yes but it is going to be a long hard journey but I think things will improve

I just heard a news report that said gas could go as low as $1 a gallon!? Heating fuel will be cheaper this winter so people won't have to freeze.

that banks will change a lot in the way they operate and be under scrutiny by governments and the public

I am a student of Economics for the past 40 years. I have studied the great depression of the 30's carefully. It did have some silver linings and the economy did turn around. Compared to that the present recession is very much a low intensity one. The silver lining lies in the Government intervention to prevent things going out of control. So the recession will not progress into a depression. The economy will recover soon enough.

The current scenario is the result of Capitalism without Capital. This is serious and complete reversal of all the economies. It will take at least 10-12 years for the recession to end. Dont spend even a single dollar without a need. Be wise and cautious as all these so called virtual bullish economy has failed . The world will see a complete revamp in all the businesses and the real wealth will matter and will take a very long time. Never ever think about the stock market for 10 years. Don't listen to the student of economics. Armageddon is here.

Yes. More people now know the value of saving money, and not spending money that you haven't earned yet. Another thing: when you've hit the bottom, there's no other way but up.

hopefully it will make the bankers think that they are not actually untouchable, and they do need us small people to invest in the banks to keep them ticking over and they cant swan off and spend millions on frivilous items. also, i have felt in my local community and local business a sense of pulling together. we are spending more in local shops rather than the big stores to ensure that we keep eachother ticking over until this whole thing blows over. this whole mess angers me, me and my family are at the bottom of the money chain so to speak and with another on the way the future frightens me. but the one thing it has taught me is that nobody is safe and nothing is sacred, the government have encouraged overspending and severe debt, and this has enlightend me as to where i shall be investing my money in the future.

A lot of people - of course not you or me - will come out of this filthy rich

yes. We will alll learn to live within our means and make money by working a little harder. The generation that was raised in the Great Depression learned this. That generation is often mentioned as the greatest generation in American history. Things run in cycles. We need not panic but learn from the past.

I think the current 'deflation' that we are experiencing is temporary. Gas prices and other goods have gone down in price recently because of the financial world 'deleveraging' or unwinding and selling off their assets to pay back enormous amounts of debt. This has caused the dollar to rally. But if you look at the fundamentals - our economy is a house of cards. Social Security is just as much of a Ponzi scheme as Mr. Madoff's charade. So, what is the silver lining? What should one invest in? The formula that Warren Buffett always used was to buy things that were selling for less than their true value. Can you think of anything that is cheaper than it 'should' be? I sure can. Gasoline for one. But it's not very practical or safe to store $10,000 worth of gas in your basement. But there is an even better item, at an even greater discount, that takes almost no space to store - it never rots - it's instantly saleable and recognized worldwide. What could this be? Gold. Silver. These two commodities are selling at a tremendous low price. It takes almost no space to store $10,000 worth of gold or silver, and it would be pretty hard to lose money on them, because they are basically at all time lows (adjusted for inflation). Someday we will look back at $10 silver and $800 gold as incredible bargains and ask ourselves why we didn't load the boat full.

Not until it colapses.

What recession?

It's forcing everybody to rethink the "buy it now, pay for it later" consumer culture we've been living in... to actually buy things only when the money is available. Also, stocks can be bought for cheaper, and hopefully they will rebound.

I Hope so;)!!

Only if you own a lot of Wal Mart.

YES, it's the slap in the face that has been building up for years and years. Did we really think we could just freeride on floated money forever? Our bubble has burst and we need to learn from the past and improve the future.

Honestly we had it coming.. we partied too much and its time to pay the piper. Im sorry for the loss of jobs that are hurting famlies though.

Prime Ministers such as Germany's Angela Merkel, who is in bed with the Deutschebank president in a quest to turn Germany into a credit-based society, will hopefully rethink their plans to use the American government and business model. I assume Japan's reluctantly rethinking it now.

Yes. We will - maybe - change our priorities from who has the biggest house to who has the biggest heart.

Oliver James, a psychotherapist and author (most notably of "Afluenza") has long been critical of the consumerist society and will, I am sure, say that this recession has a silver lining. Perhaps the outrageous wealth divide will begin to narrow a little, and this, in turn, will cause less envy, and perhaps less misery for those who would have, but who have not. Perhaps the quest for material wealth will dampen a little and a search for something a little more meaningful will begin.

We are beings of extremes, maybe as many find that can't afford so much junk - they will understand they don't need much of it nor does it enhance their lives. Being who we are though it will be short lived and shortly many if not most will return to their old habits - a few wiser ones may learn.

Perhaps people will starting growing some of their own food and plant some fruit trees and stop eating all the chemically treated foods from the grocery store.

it is not a recession... it is a depression. and the only benefit this could be is if it wakes american up and gets up to stop voting for the republicratic party whos traitorous devotion to powers both foreign and domestic has caused this by creating an aristocracy. investors are like home loans and consumors are like jobs. the economy can benefit from an investment, but it will sink without enough consumers.

A mild recession probably does benefit some people in the sense of reining in spending, minimising waste, encouraging better use of what we have. Unfortunately the people at the bottom of the economic pile are usually the first hit - and have the least resources to protect themselves. It's quite possible to think "recession - what recession?" until YOU lose YOUR job, and then everything changes.

in a way - it may stop the rich being so greedy

Maybe it will teach people to go back to basics. Maybe people will realize that they dont need so much excess in their lives or in their children's lives? Scaling back can be good for all of us. I find that the less "stuff" I have, the more free I feel. All you really need is family/friends, food and a roof. You'd be surprised what you can live without... (before getting married and getting a house, I lived in a 1 bedroom apartment. I did my laundry in the bathtub, I "acquired" my food and toilet paper/toiletries from public places and I didnt have an internet connectionn, OMG! lol. Point is, I had everything I needed to survive and I am a stronger person for it.)

NOT WITH THE PRESENT ADMINISTRATION. ALL I SEE IS DICTATORSHIP IN THE MAKING.

Yep, I'm going to be laid off in December! Oh, wait, that's bad.

It will show the progressive movement by the government that wants to grow bigger (not constitutional!) that they cant spend while in debt. Which will cause people to not spend themselves into debt as well. source: http://www.recessionexception.com

war,lots more money in weapons shares

Yes I know that dark clouds will eventually part for sunnier days ahead and Yes I Can have something to do about lol

YES IF MANY WILL DO THIS http://www.inventube.com/ooojay/blog/