From BusinessWeek:
When conditions are dire and people are losing their nerve, Traxis Partners hedge fund manager Barton Biggs pulls out a chart of the London Stock Market's performance during World War II. The fever line plunges as the German army invades Poland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. Then an odd thing happens. Just when the mood is darkest — in June 1940, as Adolf Hitler is inspecting conquered Paris — the market finds a bottom and begins a long, steep rebound. It's almost as if investors sense that somehow, some way, Hitler is destined for defeat.

As those doughty Brits demonstrated nearly 70 years ago, fortune favors the bold. As long as you're not overleveraged, scary times like the current recession can present a perfect opportunity to make calculated bets. That's true whether you're a manager, an employee, an investor, a consumer, or a borrower. In this Recession Survival Guide, we'll share some of the smartest ideas we've heard for people in each of those roles. Most of us fit into all of them in one way or another.

Surviving the economic storm - Personal finance - MSNBC.com