From $80,000 a year to eviction | Hacker News Reader

From $80,000 a year to eviction

cnn.com

13 pointsquoderat22 comments

And I wanted to be an aerospace engineer who designed and flew his own spaceships.

Sometimes stuff doesn't work out.

These are "template articles." Usually you find these on the front page of msn.com not hacker news.

Find a person that fits template, big goals and dreams then X happened where X is drugs, economic downturn, accident, etc. Then move into how the world is scary and random, then get "expect advice." End with final quote about how world is scary and random.

Then watch the commenters divide into two camps:

1. "X affected me. The world is scary and random."

2. "X did not affect me. You should have voted for Ron Paul."

You're right. Most journalism is template articles (said as a former journalist).

So this could be adapted for generating said generic pieces: http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/scigen/

The blackhat seo side of me starts thinking of ideas with this...

Yeah I thought this article was from the Onion.

How does crap like this end up on the front page of HN, and why are people upmodding it but not commenting?

(I assume the people upmodding are not commenting because the comments are mostly negative (8 out of 10, at present).)

Is there a shortage of impressive hacks to submit and upmod? Is there something particularly pleasant about this place vs. Reddit or Digg? Are the words "Hacker News" only appearing for me?

It's sad to hear stories like this (unemployment in our area is around 10% now) and layoffs aren't the employees' fault ...

BUT it also underscores the importance of (a) living at or below your means when you do have a job and (b) saving money for emergencies like this. Probably at the very least 2 or 3 months living expenses, which gives you time to job hunt, relocate, etc.

"Here, the people earn millions of dollars with bonuses that are astronomical," said Dorlen, who is also the public education coordinator in New Jersey for the American Psychological Association. "There is a demoralizing aspect to having a huge salary and a huge bonus and then having to look for a job that is going to pay much, much less."

Why would you need too look for a job if you had earned millions of dollars? Do you really need to live a 2 million dollars a year lifestyle the rest of your life just because you're used to make 2 millions a year? Gosh.

Is there a site that isn't elance, rentacoder, or stuff like that, where you can genuinely hook up with people who are looking for "odd job" type Internet work? Such as, write a press release, design a logo, help me with a business plan, yada yada.

If all these people are falling out of work and earning a pittance (that article claims she's now making $20k), then surely there are some pretty qualified people we could be paying $25 an hour to do stuff for us (who would have previously cost $100+).

You might think that'd be "taking advantage" of the recession, and sure, it is, but money in the pocket is better than no money.

they sometimes have that sort of thing in the gigs section of craigslist

"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."

I usually just chuckle when I hear that statement, but oh man does it apply here. Something about the first story doesn't add up, which unfortunately makes me less than sympathetic.

I don't see how she planned to go through years of law school with no money. Either she had enough money saved up for living expenses + tuition (in which case, she still should, as she would have saved 3/4 of that,) or she had a scholarship... in which case, she should have stayed enrolled until she found a job.

I get that the circumstances MIGHT have been unforeseeable, but Aesop knew it way back in the day, and it really seems like common sense.

I agree the first story doesn't add up. She's still making $20k with her part-time work - a lot of people are worse off! You can survive on $20k in the Detroit area. Instead, she lost her car and got evicted. I'm guessing she didn't prepare financially for being a student, and she still hasn't readjusted her expenditures.

Two years ago I owned my car and had a roommate so when I was unemployed for 6 months and it was no big deal.

Now my apartment is 1515$ a month an my car payment is 500$ a month. There is no way in hell I could pay that while making 20k / year. If your making X and drop down to 1/4 X then all those obligations that seemed reasonable at the time are just not possible.

Exactly, which is why if you drop down to 1/4X you need to move out of that $1500 apartment. If someone ignores the problem until your car is repossesed and you get evicted, there are people more deserving of sympathy.

Also, I think $1515 a month in Detroit gets you a castle with a moat around it.

You know, I was kind of nodding along with your statement until it hit me that our generation's definition of "living within your means" is likely far different from that of our parents'.

My father, if he lost his job, would be fine, probably for a year or better. Perhaps it's our generation, having grown up with credit cards and availability as the norm, but my dad (and definitely his) has always been a 'cash' payment sort of guy.

I remember a discussion I had after starting a new job, after having been laid off from my previous one, in which I made the comment that I'm striving to get to 40% savings. He laughed at me, claiming how impractical it was, and how I couldn't afford to live off only 60% of what I made... but having just done so for awhile, I knew the benefit of having a safety net... and I was just lucky before that I found employment before my savings ran out.

Many people pay for law school with student loans. This could easily be $150k+, depending on the law school. Unfortunately, this can spell trouble if you do not finish law school and thus can't get a high paying job. Still more unfortunate, even if you do finish law school, you may end up with long hours and doing uninteresting work simply to pay off the loans. The interesting legal work that many people go to law school to do (eg at non-profits or with the government) rarely pays enough to allow one to support themselves and pay off significant loans.

Both stories listed are the result of their own decisions. The first lady quit her job to go to law school and can't find work in her old field. The second example listed left his full-time job to get in the real estate business which was unstable even when he started (July 2007) and they are both wondering what went wrong. No one I've spoken with is anxious to move jobs right now and everyone seems to want to stay where they are until things brighten up. These people took risks that didn't pan out and that is why they are where they are.

If you haven't noticed, there were 70,000 layoffs this week.

In Tucson, people are scrambling for jobs. I'm in a position where my employment is ending in March and the jobs I see are extremely competitive. I'm in a good position relatively (strong savings, a competitive skillset for enterprise applications) but I'm extremely concerned.

(And yes, the plan is to attempt to generate revenue through some sort of startup if nothing comes along. This, of course, is the benefit of being a creator. My concern is that no one seems to be buying right now.)

New to Backtype. My contract recently ended, am invloved in my own job search..it's tough out there. Please reach out to the friends, business associates and colleagues that are struggling through these difficult times,help find there way. Remember what they did to help you in good times. Sometimes just listening helps.

The week is young. It's up over 100,000 now.

I love the "advice" you get from mainstream media. Your life is wrecked up by a mix of bad decisions and bad luck, and the solution is to:

• Don't panic; • Find a support group, even if it's just an informal group of friends; • Seek employment counseling when available; • Be professional in your job hunt; • Network with other professionals; • Take time to exercise during hard times; • Spend valuable time with your family.

Ah, good! I was about to panic, become a hermit, be unprofessional in my job hunt, and avoid my family.

Okay, some of that advice is mildly valuable, but without additional detail, "Don't panic" is totally vacuous. Yeah, you're not going to be wrong, but it's not insightful either. It's why I typically avoid mainstream TV/newspapers - lots of unqualified "Don't panic" and "remember to exercise" type advice.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com