You’d think people had never been laid off before. With 99 weeks of unemployment compensation available to them, it’s not like they’d be eating out of dumpster or something.
1) It depends on the cost of living, and the amount of unemployment benefits.
2) Many people went into government work on the basis of the implied guarantee of employment for life; some because they are sick of layoffs, some because they might not get employed in the private sector so very readily.
If the suicide jumper were one of the latter group, he might have looked at his long-term job prospects and potential for bankruptcy or worse, and decided suicide was his best option.
Note, by the way, that this is taking place -- horror of horrors -- under a Democrat governor and legislature.
They can't hang this around Reagan's, Bush's, Ah-nold's, or Sarah Palin's neck.
Prayers up for the next-of-kin...