# Who makes a killing when there's a global recession? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 16, 2009, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-makes-a-killing-when-theres-a-global-recession/503200 "2009-07-16T07:15:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-makes-a-killing-when-theres-a-global-recession/503200/21 "2009-07-17T11:47:01Z")
Apart from the usual counter-cyclical industries: People who sold their houses at the top of the bubble and can now leverage the free cash they have into attractive investments. Companies with ample cash hordes in the bank and are willing to be bold deploying it. There’s a lot of good talent floating around now and cash is king. Any company willing to lock these people in are going to be in good shape when the economy rebounds. ---
**Author:** ![Moonshiner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@Moonshiner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonshiner)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-makes-a-killing-when-theres-a-global-recession/503200/22 "2009-07-17T12:36:21Z")
Take a look at [gold prices](http://goldprice.org/charts/history/gold_10_year_o_usd.png) over the last ten years! ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-makes-a-killing-when-theres-a-global-recession/503200/23 "2009-07-17T14:13:59Z")
> [@Xaidin](#): > > Now for the topic. I own a small computer shop and over the past several months we’ve seen unsustainable growth. I feel it has to do with people repairing their computer equipment rather than buying new stuff. I’m not getting rich by any means (yet) but I’m a very happy camper. =) > Now if the commercial real estate prices would drop I’d be even happier so I can get a new place and grow some more. It’s time for more techs, more room, and more inventory. Have you seen a drop in new system sales, or just an increase in parts/repair business? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-makes-a-killing-when-theres-a-global-recession/503200/24 "2009-07-17T14:19:05Z")
> [@straggler](#): > > Repo Men, Bankruptcy Lawyers and Speculators who accurately predict recessions before they arrive. Some good answers there. > > Thanks everyone. I don’t want to beat this into the ground, but remember that in your OP you asked “if there’s a whole lot of people losing money, then there’s gotta be a whole lot of people making money.” Wrong, again. The number of people benefiting from a recession and the amount of money they make are barely blips in the overall financial picture. You can add the people who paint “foreclosed” signs to the argument and you still get a net of zero. These professions aren’t real answers to your OP. They’re jokes. They may have been the answers you wanted, but the real answer is something else dracoi said, the part about the switch to “inferior goods,” an effect that far swamps everything else put together. That’s the part you should have been paying attention to. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-makes-a-killing-when-theres-a-global-recession/503200/25 "2009-07-17T14:58:27Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > You can add the people who paint “foreclosed” signs to the argument and you still get a net of zero. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Xaidin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ecd19e/32.png) [@Xaidin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xaidin)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-makes-a-killing-when-theres-a-global-recession/503200/26 "2009-07-17T16:06:26Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Have you seen a drop in new system sales, or just an increase in parts/repair business? Yes, new machine sales are picking backup now, but for instance Jan-Mar there were virtually no new sales. In my little business it’s interesting to watch the sales and service chart. They tend to follow each other almost perfectly. Sales good - service lower. Service up - sales down. I read something back when the recession started about my industry being “recession proof” and I thought “yeah right.” I seems there may have been some truth to that. C’ya, Xaidin ---
**Author:** ![otorophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3ab097/32.png) [@otorophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otorophile)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-makes-a-killing-when-theres-a-global-recession/503200/27 "2009-07-18T01:37:03Z")
Also I think home renovators are seeing a profit, as people want to renovate instead of buying a new house. ---
**Author:** ![gelid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/65b543/32.png) [@gelid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gelid)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-makes-a-killing-when-theres-a-global-recession/503200/28 "2009-07-18T08:24:25Z")
One of my clients is a company that does web- and telephone-conferencing for businesses. They say they are making an absolute killing this year. It seems most businesses are trying to cut costs, so they won’t pay for their people to travel for business meetings with foreign clients. Doing everything by web/telephone is cheaper. A woman from this web-conferencing company joked that they want the recession to continue…apparently they’re having their best year ever. Just a data point from France. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-makes-a-killing-when-theres-a-global-recession/503200/29 "2009-07-18T14:59:46Z")
According to Paul Krugman’s column in yesterday’s NY Times, Goldman-Sachs made out like bandits in selling vacuum-backed securities and then, while still advising their customers to buy, started selling them short and made out well again. Which is why they are about to give out gargantuan bonuses. What I don’t understand is why, if they were actually selling short and advising clients t buy at the same time, this doesn’t constitute fraud. So I offer this up only as one man’s claim, albeit a Nobelist’s. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-makes-a-killing-when-theres-a-global-recession/503200/30 "2009-07-18T16:05:10Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > What I don’t understand is why, if they were actually selling short and advising clients t buy at the same time, this doesn’t constitute fraud. So I offer this up only as one man’s claim, albeit a Nobelist’s. It’s possible, although with a huge firm like G-S, it’s more a case of the right hand says one thing and the left another. Of course, Nobel-prize or not, Krugman has a known tendency to… stretch the truth as well, and he’s not exactly a reporter, either. I’d be wary of what he says until it’s been confirmed elsewhere. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-makes-a-killing-when-theres-a-global-recession/503200.md?page=1)