He gave that up at the height of the recession, but says he can do pretty much the same dazzling look with crystals.

WSJ: Cinderella's slipper: the ultimate must-have shoe

Prior to that, the UK was in recession at the height of the financial crisis in 2008.

BBC: CBI: UK to avoid triple-dip recession

This odd way of looking at the world appears commonplace in both parties: Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney killed a hundred weapons programs in the midst of a recession, and the Obama Administration did much the same thing at the height of the more recent downturn.

FORBES: How The Pentagon's Policies Hurt U.S. Manufacturing