Recession Proof Businesses

Now I am used to reading news like "XYZ Corpn lays off 5000 employees; will sack another 4000". I was just wondering which industries are reasonably recession-proof and here is my incomplete list.

a) Temples. Well, I am not saying these are businesses. But as things become more uncertain, more people will visit temples. So expect more waiting time in Thirupathy, next time you go there.
b) Astrology. Precisely for the same reason, more people will go to astrologers, palmists and what not. Depending on the age, you can predict the nature of the problem. If he is not unemployed, it is about job; if he is employed, then it is about love; if he is employed and married, then it is about child; if he is old, then it is about health, and so on. I am incidentally pretty good in numerology. :)
c) Academics: As of now there seems to be no problem. But ever since the recession started, my annual income has almost come down by 40%.

Using Finance language, Temples and Astrology are zero-beta businesses. Academics seems to have a higher beta (particularly in management education).

You can add trivial examples like restaurants, entertainment, food processing, FMCG, etc to this.

What the Americans understand by Business

Last week I was in the U.S. for presenting a paper in a conference in Norfolk. While leaving the JFK airport, I had a brief encounter with a customs officer there. He asked me if I was on a Business trip.
I said no. I was on an official trip, but not a business trip.
Then he made me convince that it is a business trip. The sum and substance of what he said is this:
You are a professor and hence it is your business to do research. You are here to present some of your business findings (related to the business). So it is a business trip.

Now I understand what they mean when they say "It is none of your business" better.

My Fast Post after more than a year

For some reason, my earlier blog has been disabled. So I am now going to put all my postings here.