Reply #15: I went bankrupt at the end of '03

[comtec]

and I am actually relieved that I did. I had been meaning to for a long time, but I kept pushing it back, trying DESPERATELY to get a full time job so I could pay off my debt (under 10k total) but the IT bubble had burst, and all of us mid-level techs were totally screwed, if we weren't already working... and my interview skills suck.

So I finally gave in (the calls were getting really nasty, and unnecessarily so) so I said fuck you, and declared. I went through a company that fills out paperwork (that was expensive) and filed. POOF all gone (except my school loan, but my parents were kind enough to call it an early inheritance)... I can't tell you the weight that lifted.

If I go back and look at my statements, and what I've paid over the years, I paid off the original debt at least twice over. They had my interest at over 26%!!!!! I tried desperately to work with them, they flat out refused to help me pay off my debt with them. So fuck em!

I am now in Europe with my wife, and things are going much better. I miss California like you can't believe, but I won't come back for a while. I can't afford to. The cost of living is too high, and pay for IT workers has gotten rather low. Also the buying power of the dollar is dropping almost half a penny every day! (last I looked it was 1.39 USD to 1 €). The coming storm isn't a recession, a recession would be kind, what we are looking at is nothing more than total economic collapse... a depression that will make the 30's look like the 20's.

I hope I'm wrong... but I doubt it.