How does he make ends meet?

I started teaching the title phrase of this blog entry to students today. I have been asking them to tell me bad economic stories they have heard. Most of the students told me that they tried not to concern themselves about the economy during the New Year holiday.

One student has told me about a friend, a maintenance engineer, who had been laid off. Asking the student this blog entry's title question, he told me that his friend is making ends meet for now. "Unlike many North Americans", he said, "the Chinese are savers." His friend is living off his savings and has a house that is paid for.