Decline in income, combined with decline in purchasing power due to higher prices for anything that’s sensitive to commodity prices(virtually everything) due to ‘ctrl+p’ from the Federal Reserve. That REALLY sucks!
Mine dropped $25K when I moved from Seattle to KY. That was about a 15% drop. But the cost of living is much lower here. Heck, even gas is about 30 cents a gallon cheaper. I also pay about 2/3 in real estate taxes per year, what my friends in Seattle pay per MONTH.
Add to this growing our own chickens for eggs, a couple of beef cattle and a 1/4 acre garden (and the occasional wild turkey and deer that wanders by our house), and life is very good.
Then if they let the Bush tax cuts expire, more and more of us will be needing food stamps and welfare. Who will be left to bail us out?