There is something to be said about your comment: this illustrates the value of free markets and the efficient allocation of resources; you were allocated more efficiently and you made more money and got your wife.
Really? My sense is that he is sardonically looking back at a shitty situation, not of his own making, that happened to work out for the better, and despite this would not wish it upon anyone, rather than endorsing it as being part of some larger 1980s laissez-faire bullshit ideology.
I wouldn't call it luck; it really depends on a lot of factors. If he's a software dev like most people here, then he's in an industry where there's a high demand for his talents, so it's generally not that hard to find a new job. Unfortunately, this is of course not the case for all workers; laid-off coal miners for instance will have a much harder time.