I AM worse off than I was four years ago. I have

[magical thyme]

57. I'm so sorry for what you're going through

I spent the W years in free fall after the high tech crash / 911 crash. Career gone, too old to get re-hired, to young to retire, right when I *should* have been in my "peak earning" years.

I ran through *all* my liquid savings. All that's left is my house, which I own outright (as opposed to having IRAs).

And then starting in '08 as I approached flat broke, instead of dumping my house I decided to take on student loan debt for allied health care, based on Obama's hope campaign.

I'm better off in that I'm no longer in free-fall and am barely treading water. On the one hand, thanks to the student loan debt and humongous work on my part, I'm part-time employed at hourly rates I made back in the early 80s. The student loans would have sunk me except for the income-based repayment program. And now my hours are being cut from half-time to about 1/3 time, so unless I'm able to sell my home, I'm going to have to find ways to cut even more expenses. I'm running out of ideas. I already cook solar and freeze my food throughout the summer to reduce my fuel use in the winter. My pets are downsizing through attrition. I hold my breath every time my elderly cat looks like maybe she's expired in her sleep...and am saddened by my mixed feelings when she wakes up purring. Her food is another $25/month.

It hurts me to see how many people out there -- including all my co-workers -- think the last 4 years have been horrible because they didn't didn't get raises, when so many of us have lost so much of what we'd worked for and earned and have no way to recoup the losses.

I've lived your pain for the last 10 years.