Call me crazy, but. . . . .

I find it difficult to feel much sympathy for the wives of husbands who work on Wall Street, who have seen their incomes shrink significantly. For example, in this LA Times article, one woman's husband was making $400,000 a year ($200,000 base salary, and, I presume, $200,000 in bonuses). Now he's down to "just" $200,000 a year. No bonus, poor guy.

Am I seriously supposed to feel bad for people who were earning---on one salary---more than I'll make in ten years?? I'm usually not this snarky on this blog (I'm plenty snarky in real life), but $200,000 is a ton of money. If you move out of your giant house with the giant yard in the great neighborhood, and maybe trade in your giant cars for one efficient one, and consider NOT spending $500 on a 3-year old's "back to school" clothes, perhaps, just perhaps, it won't hurt so bad.

Now, I know everything's relative. My salary is pretty good, and my income is actually right at the median for Portland when I include the earnings from my second job. I've got it pretty good, in spite of the crazy fun I've had with credit cards in the past (one more month to the Big Payoff, folks!). There are people out there who would look at my life and think it's pretty luxurious, frugality notwithstanding.

Truly, though, I don't think I can stand to read too many more articles about Wall Street wives (or employees, or whatever) who were making upwards of $200,000 and more a year, who are now forced to (gasp!) clean their own houses and make their own meals.

There. That's my rant. I hope to be less snarky as the week goes on!