<prompt> Human: My salary has been stagnant for more than 5 years with only two miniscule raises that certainly do not offset inflation. In the meantime everything has gone up in price, including mortgage, groceries, etc. and I have a kid in college. Mortgage payment alone eats up about 75 of my net monthly income, so my savings are quickly disappearing. I feel lucky to have a job, especially to have health insurance, but I cant go on losing money every month. What do you guys think? Am I greedy to want a meaningful raise? Am I a fool to jeopardize my job, a steady job with benefits, in an economy that is likely to remain bad for a number of years? Tell me what you think.Assistant: Why on earth does your mortgage take up 75 of your salary? Have you considered downsizing?Human: I live in an area that is very expensive for insurance and property taxes, both of which add up to about 40 of my total payment to the bank. Downsizing by selling will not net me the sort of profit I could get in a better economy and since I plan on staying in this area, I thought I should just stick it out as best I could. I thought that in view of this possible greater gain, the fiscally intelligent move would be to sacrifice now to reap later. It is not a big house by any means and my monthly utility bills are the envy of everyone I know. You can begin to see my panic perhaps? And I think the really big problem is the salary.  <response>: Then you either need to reduce costs elsewhere, or bring in more income... 