It worked out pretty good for my uncle who is/was heavily invested in the stock market. big democrat too.
I saw it coming, tried to position myself to thrive with the changes, did pretty well on my own from ‘96 until 2007, when things started getting a little sketchy, customers holding invoices, nitpicking, canceling orders, etc. which only got worse going into 2008. Several ended up going bankrupt, left me holding the bag. Awful year, 2008, had to shut it down. Ended up going to work for one of those customers, considerable loss of income. Went from low six figures to a third of that, clawed my way back to half. It’s been tough, but have held it together more or less. Others have had it worse than me, though. And still the hits keep coming, more offshore competition, more waves of immigration that suppresses wages. We’re headed toward penury being the norm rather than the exception if something doesn’t change, imho.