> Once upon a time there was a net of reasonable jobs that didn't pay well but allowed people a life, low-level government jobs that took anyone willing to work hard. But has anyone here looked at how hard it is to become a postal worker or to join the army? Ability and willingness isn't enough any more.

This is all about Neoliberalism then isn't it. Privatize everything and then the privatized companies are highly competitive and only want the best and couldn't care less about the middle or the bottom. It's not about jobs, it's really never been about the jobs that's just rhetoric. It's about profits. And profits are stuck in large consolidated corporations that pay as little as possible to the middle and the bottom, preferably on contract or the "sharing" economy of contractors. For full-time employees with benefits they just want the top which is often overworked. I mean the economy was engineered to be like this specifically for the benefit of those with money.