The financial crisis has been the source of a litany of problems, including overleveraged homeowners, soaring unemployment, failing banks and cradles of democracies on the verge of bankruptcy.

Add one more to the list: lowered expectations.

When the American government proposed limits on executive compensation at Wall Street banks and at Detroit automakers that received bailout money, company officials complained that their most talented employees would leave for more lucrative jobs.

They may have spoken too soon.

Of the 104 senior executives whose pay was set by the federal pay regulator in the last two years, nearly 85 percent are still with the companies at much lower salaries, The Times reported. Pay for the top earners at five American companies that received multiple bailouts, on average, is expected to fall by 11 percent from 2009, to $1.62 million. Compensation is down nearly 77 percent from 2008.

So much for the sprint for the exits.

For others who lost jobs that paid well and carried heavy responsibilities, a new position is better than no position.

Jackie Swanson, 44, accepted a job in May as a facilities manager at Conservation Services Group, a Massachusetts company that delivers energy-efficiency programs, The Times reported. She had been laid off after 16 years at a company where she had handled planning for more than 50 offices. In her new role, she is responsible for the upkeep of just one building.

“I was willing to take a drastic cut in pay just to have stability,” she told The Times.

Don Carroll, a former financial analyst with a master’s degree in business administration from a top university, was overqualified to run the department that settles damage claims for Cartwright International, a small, familyowned moving company south of Kansas City, Mo. He takes pride in his modernization efforts, but he often tells his co-workers about his college degrees and previous experience.

“Obviously that stems from maybe some embarrassment ,” he told The Times. “I do want people to know that, to some extent, this isn’t who I am.”

Some Greeks are not in the mood to accept change, even though the country’s spending on pensions and health care for its aging population could soar to about 37 percent of its economic output by 2060 from just over 20 percent today, making it the highest level in Europe, The Times reported. “Projected pension expenditures are expected to double,” Manos Matsaganis, a professor at the University of Athens, told The Times. “That is unsustainable.”

Few want to reduce their pensions. “Nobody thinks they have to be the one to sacrifice,” Mr. Matsaganis said.

Some do seem willing to make compromises, however small, and there is support for austerity measures, though street protests are common.

Michalis Sekendis, a salesman at a jewelry store across the street from the Agora, the square where ancient Greeks established the foundations of democracy, knows the money to get out of the hole the country has dug for itself has to come from somewhere.

“I don’t mind paying extra for my cigarettes,’’ he told The Times.


TOM BRADY

For comments, write to nytweekly@nytimes.com.


SIMELA PANTZARTZI/EPA
A Greek pensioner before a protest banner that reads: “High Prices ... Poverty ... Unemployment ... Hunger Pensions ... Shame on You!’’