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Ken Karpman: from Hedge Fund CEO to Pizza Driver

Just because he's clever doesn't mean we need to feel sorry for him, or impressed.

He's a perfect example of what happened… why would you attempt what he did? That's a huge amount of risk.

Really, he's no better than all the other dumbasses who got us in this mess (AIG executives included)… he just has a better sense of PR than most of them do.

Maybe he should try that industry, since they're always looking for new ways to shill the latest crap.

And he's obviously good at that.

–Kyle

You don't have the nerve to put your name here and it's a good thing. You truly are an ignorant person.

We are in the same boat as the Karpman's. Six months ago we thought we'd done everything right. NO CREDIT CARD DEBT. NONE. We paid for both of our cars cash. We had a reasonable portfolio of over $250k and owned two homes. One we live in and another investment. We thought we were “balanced.” Now we have nothing. Literally…today, this moment we have not a cent. My husband just went to the grocery for milk with change we scraped up. Both homes are near foreclosure. We've both lost our jobs. Our prescriptions alone every month are close to $1,000.00 and we have no health insurance. We are raising my niece and nephew so we have two young children to feed. I carry a suicide hotline number around in my purse. You have no idea how difficult our life is. I can't believe this has happened to us when we've spent our lives working so hard and supposedly doing everything we thought was “right”. We have no where to turn.

We lost everything in the stock market. Everything. I'm 55, my husband is 47. IT's not as if people are beating down my door to hire me. I chartered private jets for a living and my business is completely dead. I've owned a company before and not can't get a job bagging groceries. It's all I can do to hold on from day to day….I can't even afford therapy or medication anymore.

So anonymous, why don't you offer something constructive?

Terri- Don't give up. Never EVER give up. Keep you faith, stay strong. Your situation is common and your situation is TEMPORARY. It WILL end.

God Bless.

There is hope for you Terri. I want you to go to my website and put in your information so that I can contact you. My company just may be your answerto get in some income. Please visit http://www.workathomeunited.com/shekelia. Good Luck to you!

could u please forward this to ken karpman if possible. i was in a similar situation to him. i miraculously recovered from it. i believe strangely enough that it was due to the luck generated by a chain letter i received. believe it or not its the first time i did something of this nature and it works. so please pass it on to him he can do with some luck may be u can to. bummerrrrrrrrrr for some reason i cant seem to copy the slideshow. who ever reads this please send me your email and i will send it to u. love and blessings, Guna. i am not some nut. u can find me on facebook under devine guna

There is good money to be made in pizzas. He should be a ble to replace his income. Good luck Mr. Ken Karpman!

You know the one thing I noticed, unless I missed something, what does his wife do? Do she work? Does she even try to contribute to the families income? I watched the entire tihng & don't recall that ever being addressed. The only thing I did see her do was shop, albeit groceries and foodstamps. And as bad as tings are for them, they are still very fortunate that they have a friend paying 30k annually for thier children to attend that private school.
I give him credit for not being too proud to take any job to feed his family

Terri I don't think Kyle is ignorant at all, this is a tough ecomony people are suffering, you as an example are suffering as well, but you didn't go on TV with an interview and be so calm and completely composed saying you have $100K in credit card debt. Holy Crap $100K in credit card debt, how can someone wrack up that amount of debt and then go on TV and say it so calmly unless it's not a shameless plug for sympathy and donations. Someone is paying their children's private school bill, they've managed to get that sympathy. Hey, mom's not working, why doesn't she home school? Looks like that might take time out of her beauty routine. Times are tough now but I remember in the 70s growing up times were tought then too, my mom lost her job and stood in line for 45 minutes to apply for a part time Janitor job that paid $5,45 an hour, then she had to do 3 interviews, she did get the job. As the 80s approached US started bring manufacturing back to the US since people were desperate for work and the Silicon Valley started needing the microchip produced in mass quanitity. Tough times don't last but tough people do. I think Ken is shameless with his bid for sympathy, but he is definately willing to do whatever it takes to keep his family moving, you have to admire that. I feel for anyone in a tough situation even if they did bring it on themselves. When will Americans realize that we can't all live like the Celebs? We can't all keep up with the Joneses and that material possessions don't last. Be happy with who you are, because in tough times, who you are is all you have.

This is for Terri, Ken, or ANYONE that thinks that they can't recover from their current situation! I promise there is hope! My biz is exploding! While other businesses are downsizing, rightsizing, or capsizing, we are continuing to increase the pay for our associates!!! I have created an email address for anyone that reads this…. Please contact me via this address and let me show you that I can help… blissfuldan@yahoo.com

Good luck to all of you who are struggling right now. Just remember that “Nothing can stop a man or woman that refuses to quit” M. Humes. God bless

WHAT A MORON! He didn't plan ahead or budget sufficiently when he started his own business by having cash reserves or cutting back his expenses to account for the lesser salary he's receive while starting his business. They still lived high on the hog and burned through over HALF A MILLION dollars in 2 years, living their extravagant lifestyle while he had no income from his business. They didn't budget to account for the change in income, nor could they delay gratification by cutting back on their jet skis, mercedes or ski trips. The kids seem old enough to take care of themselves after school, so why doesn't the lazy, unskilled wife look for a job! They're on food stamps! How do they qualify for that? They must have had equity in their home, and they still have the jet skis, mercedes, etc. Those are assets. There are people out there with far less who DON'T get welfare. Forget this idiot. He was greedy and stupid, and he was a terrible father to have gotten his family in this situation. Now we're partially supporting him. This is what's wrong with corporate leadership in America.

No sympathy here! A guy making 1% of what the avg taxpayer makes and is broke??? what happened to the big bucks when times were good? I'll tell you… it was spent on vacations, lakewood golf memberships, manicures, pedicures, health clubs, fancy dining, private schools, gadgets, and STUFF. All this BEFORE securing the family's security, tuition and housing needs. Securing their basic needs BEFORE starting a risky business that was going to suck him dry! What stupidity! Now the guy's coming on national TV to get sympathy from good Americans to give him a job at the expense of exposing his kids to tremendous embarrassment and ridicule at school. He is just selling out his family for handouts.

no sypmathy here either. shame on you making that kind of insane money and blowing every cent of it. maybe its time for your princess wife to work and pull those spoiled brats out of a private school.. i dont feel bad one bit. you should be ashamed of yourself to even show your face!

GOD bless you Ken,GOD has a purpose for everyone,even though that might not always dawn on us right away being the sentient & temporary beings that we are,you can be sure it will definately sometime in the future! GOD bless you!Mark

I know people are saying how much debt he has in credit cards and so on, but the old adage of you make more, you spend more is true. At least he had the guts to come out and tell people his story, so they might learn from it. And he went out and took a job he could get without saying it was “beneath him”. I think he will get hisself out of this situation, it will take time, but he has a good attitude and “has not let himself go”. I can actually see him starting his own pizza chain from this experience. Ken, I mean this as a good thing, you actually look like someone that would own pizza shops.

This economy isn't all doom n gloom. In the last 3 years our income has increased from 56k to 112k in 08. I turned down a job that would of increased my yearly salary by 23%, but it would of required too much time away from home. My wife will finish her RN/nursing this coming spring and our income will increase more.

We have been lucky for sure, …there are jobs out there, just have to turn over enough rocks. Maybe this isn't great news for those outa work and losing everything, but I don't believe USA is down and out..only dipped a little bit. Its good that Ken K. is doing what is needed. . . .

I think more people need to step up to the situation, not walk up with their hand out………..just my opinion.

Laughable. If the guy was dumb enough to pull $750K in equity out of his own home in order to call himself a “CEO”, then I highly doubt he earned an MBA. Look up “contrived” in the dictionary and ol' Ken's picture will be there.

Of course, ABC has no interest tracking down this guy's publicist; why let the truth get in the way of a ridiculous, fictitious story??? Reminds me of a similar story last summer, where the woman “had” to sell her diamond engagement ring in order to pay for a tank of gasoline. Please.

You want me to feel sorry for some guy who made over a $750,00 a year ??? I don't think so!!!

My husband and I have a small ranch and we rely mostly on what the 90 head calves bring in the fall. What we get, we get, there is no dickering. In the mean time $$ on evrything goes up,feed , fuel. To help out I work 5 days a week, 10 hours a day, for $9. an hour. I have a drive of 20 minutes morning and night. Then come home and try to do what I can to help hereand get everything done on the weekend.

What does his wife do?? Does she have a job to help out?

During the telecom's crash, we were out of work for 18 months… no income, no aid, no stamps/health care.
I honestly do not know how we survived it, but we did. It really cemented why we belong together, it taught us to be grateful when times are good, and to hold fast to each other when times are bad.
We were blessed that our landlord let us stay, 26000 is a lot to owe for rent! But today we owe 2500. I know it's not 1/2 million Ken but you will get thru it with all the things that really matter. Each other.
We owed far more than the rent, our sons teeth rotted, thousands owed in hospitals, but all that is left from that time is the 2500, and I can say looking back… in some aspects it really changed my life for the better.
Telecoms has rebounded-it's not as strong as it once was, but as with all things they do rebound. Things will pick up and all bad things/times, do evitually end.

Chin up Ken, everyone… you will get thru it. To the lady that holds on to the toll free number, talk to your husband. It's just a house, just money. Nothing more. You still have each other and the times you face now, will end, you'll make it thru.

Ken Karpman I'm a financial planner in California, with Aegon please contact me if you can my email address is:

elizabeth.garcia11@gmail.com

I was close to tears when I saw this new story. All I could think was there but for the grace of God. We take a lot for granted in this life. This is a time for you and your wife to pray together for a miracle from God. I wish you all the best

I would like to said the you're very strong with this situation, I'would like to present a better opportunity for you. If you're interesting give me a call. (561) 667-4719. Thank you, God Bless you an your family.

this story should help us learn that if u have the opportunity to get money lets save and instead of buyin a expensive house we should just get somethin small but paid off, that way nobody can take u away from ur house, we should learn to live a good life no with all the luxury of the world, but somethin good enough for us and our family, not because u make good money means u will be making the same forever,,,, this man made a lot of money but all is gone because of his wrong decicions, I hope some people learn from this,,, in my case i had a few thousands in my hand and i wanted a big house i could get a loan and give a good down payment with what i had, instead i bough a small house paid cash is not the house of my dreams but is something i have for my future with my work and the savings i will make without paying rent or mortgage i will be able to get something better in the future,,,

Ken Karpman is doing an admirable thing, as far as I'm concerned, by taking that pizza delivery gig

Okay guys,
Join us in this I will even pay for the entrance fee,
just take a look at Http://mxi.myvoffice.com/chocobobb or at
http://www.gomangosteen.nl/seabreaz
I am 48 and was broke before so I really know how it feels.
Regards,
Rob
Viarobb@Yahoo.com

Well I am so glad that I wasn't the only one thinking this guy was stupid. I tried to be politically correct, ever since I moved to CA I find myself holding my tongue. I've been a single my since I was 21, my kids are now 21 and 23 and I'm paying for their college and my 23 old is unemployed so I'm supporting him also and I make $54K a year in CA! That's like poverty but if I lost my job tomorrow I could live one year unemployed and not loose anything, but that's because I learned early on that you need to save for a rainy day you never know when your kids are going to need braces or pay their $1000 car insurance deductible. Ken you were stupid, just plain stupid with your MBA from UCLA, by the way an MBA can be had on line in 9 months. Ken you were shameless going on TV with your plug for sympathy and the media was even more shameless touting the story like it was some single mom who just had all her christmas money and presents stolen during an armed robbery. Why don't they put someone truly in need on TV. If someone is paying your kid's tuition D*MN YOU ARE LUCKY, I'd have given my kidney to have put my kids in a private school and had someone else pay for it. However my kids are awesome children and upstanding adults who have learned from my struggles, all your kids may ever know is “Dad can bail me out” and if Dad can't then, heck take it to the media. Time to open your children's eyes and show them that tough times don't last but tough people do.

My thought exactly. What is the wife doing? Maybe they could take that 30K and put it towards their debt, and have their kids attend PUBLIC school (or GOD forbid!- public school!)

Good now you will learn to live like rest of us!