Laid-off executives struggle to find any kind of job (expenses, credit card, debt) - Economics - City-Data Forum

westcoastbabe · 12-31-2009, 06:17 PM

Laid-off executives struggle to find any kind of job - USATODAY.com

Jacked this article from another board....Very compelling article.. We all should be very humble.

PlainWhite · 12-31-2009, 06:25 PM

And this should be on a Charlotte-specific board why?

crankygf · 12-31-2009, 06:28 PM

It is a scary thought to lose a job, but one has to wonder did they save any thing from their 6 figure salaries. They were living quite lavish and probably living above their means. Do you really need to be in an exclusive country club? It's the kids that ultimately suffer and it's sad. It should be a warning to us all.

ellemaew · 12-31-2009, 06:48 PM

Interestingly, these are all the same things us peons have been dealing with, except that it's 10% of us, versus 5.1% of the "Management" strata and 3.4% of the "Executive" strata - and I've never been able to afford 7 vacations a year!

sundrop · 01-01-2010, 08:14 AM

I don't feel sorry for them at all.
Wonder how many jobs they off-shored or out-sourced?
Wonder how many backs they walked up to secure their
own lifestyle?

The one guy was laid off in 2008 and has already blown his retirement/savings?
And people want to bawk and say there are those who got caught up in the housing crisis
who were living beyond their means? Not hardly........

What a joke.

ellemaew · 01-01-2010, 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chromekitty

I don't feel sorry for them at all.
Wonder how many jobs they off-shored or out-sourced?
Wonder how many backs they walked up to secure their
own lifestyle?

The one guy was laid off in 2008 and has already blown his retirement/savings?
And people want to bawk and say there are those who got caught up in the housing crisis
who were living beyond their means? Not hardly........

What a joke.

I especially "liked" where the family went ahead and took their vacation to Hilton Head - one would assume at somewhere around $500/night - because he was so sure he'd get re-hired right away. Welcome to the real world.

lumbollo · 01-01-2010, 09:06 AM

I feel no sympathy for the man. He is 43, once had a job making $400K/year, apparently too proud to go take just "any" job, and is now hitting up his parents for money because he apparently never learnt the lesson of being frugal and putting away for a rainy day. Amazing Amazing Amazing. I looked him up on the internet. He has been the executive of companies that provide no value add to American society. Instead they leech off the movement of money. These are the same people that sent the real jobs in this country overseas.

My advice to him. ManUp to your responsibilities as a human being, father, and husband.

dazzleman · 01-01-2010, 06:51 PM

I see some sour grapes in here. There is some truth to the statement that it's not so much where you land, but how far you fall. High-income earners are not all that much different from everybody else in having taken on too much in the way of expenses, and are suffering from the loss of income and investment value.

Traderx · 01-01-2010, 07:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lumbollo

I feel no sympathy for the man. He is 43, once had a job making $400K/year, apparently too proud to go take just "any" job, and is now hitting up his parents for money because he apparently never learnt the lesson of being frugal and putting away for a rainy day. Amazing Amazing Amazing. I looked him up on the internet. He has been the executive of companies that provide no value add to American society. Instead they leech off the movement of money. These are the same people that sent the real jobs in this country overseas.

My advice to him. ManUp to your responsibilities as a human being, father, and husband.

You are one angry dude. I'd be willing to bet whatever you do adds nothing to "American Society" either, but I understand everyone needs a job. And whether someone makes 400k or 40k I wouldn't ever be happy to see them lose their job. Perhaps someday good fortune will hit you and you'll realize that how much a person earns doesn't say anything about what type of person they are. And you might even someday get to the point where you learn that 400k isn't exactly "hotshot" kind of money.

dazzleman · 01-01-2010, 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Traderx

You are one angry dude. I'd be willing to bet whatever you do adds nothing to "American Society" either, but I understand everyone needs a job. And whether someone makes 400k or 40k I wouldn't ever be happy to see them lose their job. Perhaps someday good fortune will hit you and you'll realize that how much a person earns doesn't say anything about what type of person they are. And you might even someday get to the point where you learn that 400k isn't exactly "hotshot" kind of money.

$400K is not necessarily 'hotshot' money. That's very true. While it's a comfortable income, for sure, the real Wall Street 'hotshots' would consider that income to be poverty level. And in a high cost of living area like New York, it doesn't go as far as one might think.

One thing I have definitely noticed is that the American habit of financial overextension, going into debt, etc. is just as applicable to high income people as it is to lower income and middle income people. In that sense, our problem is very egalitarian. I know people who do what one of the guys in the article does, running up credit card debt all year and paying it off with his bonus. That's a game of Russian roulette, IMO, as demonstrated by the facts in the article.

I work for a Wall Street firm and it is no picnic. Most of the people working those so-called glamorous Wall Street jobs are miserable and highly stressed.