Let your life be free from love of money
but be content with what you have,
for he has said, I will never forsake you or abandon you.
Thus we may say with confidence:
The Lord is my helper,
and I will not be afraid.
What can anyone do to me?
Heb 13:6-7

“For a long time, it was kind of glamorous and I had friends who’d ask me ‘Can you get me a job there?’ ” says Ms. Chau, 35, who was part of a recent round of layoffs at the firm’s [J.P. Morgan] Manhattan headquarters. A few weeks ago, she mentioned her work to a photographer she’d met through a friend. “And he looks at me and says, ‘Oh, you’re one of them.’ ”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/business/03bankers.html?ref=todayspaper

Dazzling personal consumption is out. Middle-class drabness is in. It’s sad, but there’s nothing to be done.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/opinion/03brooks.html?_r=1&scp=4&sq=david%20brooks&st=cse

Seems as though you lost sight
Of what's important when depositin'
Them checks into your bank account
And you up out of poverty
Your values is a disarray prioritizin' horribly
Unhappy with the riches 'cause you're piss-poor morally
Ignorin' all prior advice and forewarnin'
And we mighty full of ourselves
All of a sudden, aren't we?
T.I. "Live Your Life"