Expert: 'Death rates go down during economic slowdowns'

Here's the bright side of the economic crisis tearing across the globe: "A recession could save your life," reports the NY Times.

During troubled economic times, we drive less (so car accidents decline), there's less business activity (and thus, fewer on-the-job accidents and pollutants), people have more free time and they "smoke less, exercise more and eat more healthily."

How about a statistic? For every percentage point the US unemployment rate falls (what we think of as a great thing), there are an additional 3,900 heart attack deaths (what we think of as a bad thing).