One year on, man laid off from $140K/yr job is bankrupt

I'm putting this into the WTF? category ...

Quote:

Originally Posted by CBC News Going bankrupt a bitter pill for N.L. worker in wake of oil price collapse Jamie Parsons appeared to have it all a year ago. A job in the Alberta oilsands earning $140,000 and a strong sense of pride and self-respect. ... "I got called into the office on the eighth of January was was told, 'I'm sorry, we have no trucks on the road. We have no men working. We don't need you anymore,'" said Parsons. He hit rock bottom in December. His employment insurance benefits ended, and he declared bankruptcy. "There's nothing more to sell. Declaring bankruptcy just about broke me."

While details are sketchy, how does one go from earning $140,000/year, presumably for three years (the article says he has three years of experience driving a truck) to bankruptcy, after drawing Employment Insurance benefits for that year?

Cripes! This guy (possibly) made more money in three years that I've made in the last eight ... and I'm a professional with thirty years of experience under my belt. (I'm actually underpaid for what I do, but I work for a truly wonderful company. I live simply and my condo is paid for. While making an extra $20k to $40k would be nice, I don't really need it.)

How does one go from that to broke in 12 months?

A strange thing about this is I'm one of those left-leaning socialist types who believes in helping people when they're down. But I'm hard pressed even to feel sympathy for this man, let alone willing to give him a hand to work himself out of his current situation.

via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1RHtJtJ