Paul Kedrosky sees the bright side of the U.S. financial crisis: Direct-mail offers for mortgages and home equity fell by 30 percent in 2007, while credit-card mailings have dropped 19 percent since October of last year. He quips:

Imagine how peaceful it would be if we ever had an outright depression. You could go back to checking your mailbox again.

I guess that's one way to look at it.