@stanleybmanly The bottom segment of the population is suffering yes, but there has also been a huge surge of middle age, middle of the road types like myself, that have fallen to near poverty line levels during this recession.
Lots of people have gone from relative riches to rags in a few short years. Lay offs, job loss, long term unemployment, lucky to land a job that is paying you a rate that you might have been making 10, 15, even 20 years ago. Combine this with the tanked interest rates, being forced to subsidize with your savings, use credit cards for such necessities as utility bills and groceries, watching your hard earned nest egg disintegrate before your eyes. Going from perfect credit and little debt to credit card debt and worse, perhaps bankruptcy.
It’s hard to miss what you’ve never had, but when you have attained a certain level of comfort, to have that rug pulled out from under you is a bitter pill to swallow. No wonder the suicide rate amongst middle aged people has gone up to over 30% during this recession. A lot of people are worth more dead than alive now. lol
Sad but true, when your death will bring a bigger payout to your family than continuing to live and work will.