Plastic Surgery: Your Own Personal Stimulus Package

Rising gas prices, fewer jobs and the slumping economic has many craving a face-lift, literally. Most would-be patients make less than $60,000, so why not have "tax breaks on cosmetic surgery for low-income Americans," Rosa Brooks suggests in the Los Angeles Times. It’s a completely rational investment, she writes, since "we live in a society that rewards beauty (and penalizes ugliness)."

Attractive employees earn 5% more than average-looking ones, and the unattractive ones earn 9% less, studies show. "If you can go from unattractive to 'average,' you've potentially got a lifetime 9% income boost." That's a lot cheaper, and easier, than a master's degree. Not sold? Two-thirds of patients say they are getting work done "to remain competitive in the workplace." (More cosmetic surgery stories.)