Have you read this Bloomberg article?  (click on headline for the link) Gravy Train Derails for Oil Patch Workers Laid Off in Downturn Basically it recounts how jobs are being cut in the U.S. oil & gas industry with the crash in oil price.  (One side thought is whether the layoff / 'early retirement' will hit our shores.) But that was not what had sparked my impulse to blog about it.  It was a snippet within the article.  I have pasted it below.  Have a quick look. "Like many in the industry, the oil business runs in the family for Svetlana Mazitova, 39, compounding her anxiety.  A third-generation oil veteran, her Russian roots and two masters degrees in science and business helped her secure a job in June with a Houston-area company selling drilling equipment around the world. Her husband, a native Texan, works for a company ......