I'm really confused where you're getting your numbers from. One month of $140k salary, post tax, gets you less than 4 months of studio rent + food around here (Seattle suburbs). Sure, you're not on rations the moment you're laid off, but it's not necessarily "safe" or a good feeling. And absolutely not a "very very very very long time".

Add a car payment, car insurance, and you're probably looking at 3 months.

Edit: that's also not supposed to imply that folks only have a single month's worth of salary saved. Just trying to highlight that your comment had some wonky numbers.