Comments on: Could You Survive a 50% Drop in Income? http://www.americanconsumernews.com/2007/10/could-you-survive-a-50-drop-in-income.html Helping Smart Shoppers Save Sat, 20 Mar 2010 12:58:27 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Anonymous http://www.americanconsumernews.com/2007/10/could-you-survive-a-50-drop-in-income.html/comment-page-1#comment-969 Anonymous Sun, 14 Oct 2007 15:18:00 +0000 http://www.americanconsumernews.com/2007/10/could-you-survive-a-50-drop-in-income.html#comment-969 Just like the gasoline/oil 'crisis'. Those in power attempt to condition the masses to accept ($3.00/gal gas) or (50% drop in income) as the norm and of course not to rebel. The fat cats expound on how the economy is rolling along just fine, new jobs being produced daily and so on...<br/><br/>In the meantime the devil is in the details. And while the rich get richer the average folk continue to slide to new depths of poverty.<br/><br/>Revolution??? Not if but when! Just like the gasoline/oil ‘crisis’. Those in power attempt to condition the masses to accept ($3.00/gal gas) or (50% drop in income) as the norm and of course not to rebel. The fat cats expound on how the economy is rolling along just fine, new jobs being produced daily and so on…

In the meantime the devil is in the details. And while the rich get richer the average folk continue to slide to new depths of poverty.

Revolution??? Not if but when!

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.americanconsumernews.com/2007/10/could-you-survive-a-50-drop-in-income.html/comment-page-1#comment-968 Anonymous Sat, 13 Oct 2007 17:26:00 +0000 http://www.americanconsumernews.com/2007/10/could-you-survive-a-50-drop-in-income.html#comment-968 It's survivable but very stressful. I also use to be a naive optimist.<br/><br/>I was making $130K/year when I got laid off. I had just turned 40 in the tech field and the dot com bust occurred just a year before.<br/><br/>I interviewed like crazy but discovered the reality of legally allowed age discrimination. I burned all of my personal investments and my home equity after unemployment ran out. I got divorced and I discovered the promise she made was "for richer or richer". It took years before I got a paying job. I basically have nothing now except about $100K in IRAs which I moved to Euro investments about 2 years ago (yeah I saw the dollar crash coming).<br/><br/>My current job pays about what I made in 1984 fresh out of college which is far less than 50% (actually closer to 25%). On the other hand, I have a sizeable equity stake in the company and it's about to be bought. Once it is I'm leaving the US for good along with my money (to be paid in Euros BTW) and my brains, which were apparently good enough to leverage a start-up into a $100M sale in a few years but not good enough for corporate America.<br/><br/>The USA is dead. I won't grieve though. And every Fortune 1000 manager deserves what's coming. It’s survivable but very stressful. I also use to be a naive optimist.

I was making $130K/year when I got laid off. I had just turned 40 in the tech field and the dot com bust occurred just a year before.

I interviewed like crazy but discovered the reality of legally allowed age discrimination. I burned all of my personal investments and my home equity after unemployment ran out. I got divorced and I discovered the promise she made was “for richer or richer”. It took years before I got a paying job. I basically have nothing now except about $100K in IRAs which I moved to Euro investments about 2 years ago (yeah I saw the dollar crash coming).

My current job pays about what I made in 1984 fresh out of college which is far less than 50% (actually closer to 25%). On the other hand, I have a sizeable equity stake in the company and it’s about to be bought. Once it is I’m leaving the US for good along with my money (to be paid in Euros BTW) and my brains, which were apparently good enough to leverage a start-up into a $100M sale in a few years but not good enough for corporate America.

The USA is dead. I won’t grieve though. And every Fortune 1000 manager deserves what’s coming.

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