People who made big bucks often lived large (not always). It is a shame that some did not save, did not have a safety net.

Oh fuck off. I'm sick of the "hurr durr, should have saved more" attitude coming out as people are struggling to pay bills.

How much do you propose they should have saved? 3 months wages? 6? 12? 24?

My husband was laid off for 3 months last year during the first slump and luckily we had still had 3 months wages saved from the time before that when he was laid off for 2 months. But that's gone now, and I was just laid off myself. My husband could lose his current job at any time, and we're back to square one because we're officially out of the 6 months wages we had saved up. .

Not everyone who makes big money spends big money. Some of those men have alimony and child support requirements, and guess what, that doesn't go down just because you're laid off. For someone who went from making $130,000/yr to making $28,000/yr on EI, a $1100/mo child support payment mean not being able to pay your own bills or face a judge. Believe me, I know this for a fact because when my husband was laid off and we were running out of money and tried to get it lowered for a couple months, the government said "tough shit, that's what you pay. Find a way."

And you now what else? Houses cost a lot in this province. We have a shitty little 2 bedroom bungalow with an unfinished basement, and our mortgage is still $1400/mo, and that was the cheapest place we could find that didn't immediately need $10,000 in renos.

Know what else? We both drive shitty cars. My husband's has 320,000 kms on it, and mine has 220,000 kms.

So does it sound like we're living large? Living the high life? But if he loses his job too, we're facing some serious fucking problems.