I'm not sure if I titled this thread quite the right way, but my question refers to this story that ran in the Chicago Tribune today. The basic outline is this: Dad makes $110,000 a year, loses his job. The mom makes $20,000, all of which goes to the kid's Catholic school tuition. Within a week, they are on food stamps and at risk of losing their house because they have zero savings, no emergency fund at all. Unemployment covers only their mortgage. "From middle class to poor," the dad is quoted in the article.
So my question is...does anyone find the tone of this article to be somewhat outrageous? I think it's supposed to be a cautionary tale, but it reads an awful lot like these folks were hapless victims of the economy, when it seems to be in large part their own bad judgement that caused this problem. I don't mean to sound unsympathetic, but the problem is that my sympathy mostly lies with people who are truly struggling in life, and not people who make 130,000 grand a year and can't manage to stash some money away for a rainy day. And I don't begrudge them their food stamps or anything...if they need it, they need it...it's not about that. It's more an annoyance with the media for putting this face on the economic crisis.
Anyone else with me, or am I all wet?