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Just to play angel's advocate for a bit: why the hell does getting laid off put you in such disastrously dire straights in the country that is, by most metrics,

• skh 8y ago
  Quite a few Americans have a haunting fear of a poor person getting something they don’t deserve. Hence, our social welfare system is not on par with what one expects in other rich nations. There is also what I call the Daniel Boone image that Americans tend to possess. We like to think of ourselves as self reliant and if government just got out of the way of taking our money via taxation then people wouldn’t be in any sort of predicament not of their own choosing.
• throwaway5752 8y ago
  It doesn't put you in dire straits. You have unemployment insurance and can get continuing equivalent health coverage under COBRA (and this is probably a qualifying life event under the ACA, so they can apply for much less expensive coverage). Beyond that, you are living beyond your means if you don't several months of rent and utility expenses saved up. She literally admits they were living beyond their means. That is poor judgement and it's their fault. I am very, very sympathetic to their situation but I also don't think Tesla wronged them.
  • fixermark 8y ago
    80% of Americans are apparently living paycheck-to-paycheck, so I'm not sure it counts as living "beyond your means" when 80% of a country is doing it.