Very good points! From my perspective, the recession was devastating. Not for me, but for a friend's family. One of them owned a side business involving cons

Very good points! From my perspective, the recession was devastating. Not for me, but for a friend's family. One of them owned a side business involving construction. Not enough to pay all the bills, but in '07 suddenly it was. So he quit his regular full-time job, even though he had a full family to support. It wasn't a stupid decision though, because he had so many contracts (guaranteed cash flows) that he could support his whole family twice over. I remember that business was so good that he made a big show of unveiling a wonderful grand piano for the whole family. He had the contracts to support such a lifestyle. Then '08 happened, and the contracts were all canceled. (Illegally, but that's beside the point; he couldn't afford to pay any bills, let alone a lawyer to go after anybody.) I later found out he had contemplated an elaborate suicide to collect on death insurance to provide for his own family. Not trying to contradict anything you've said; merely adding an alternate perspective.