The problem is when we were totally and completely free within a few decades the entire means of production was owned by a few insanely large companies, and due to the relative laxness of their regulations, they operated with near total impunity. It was only after the uprising of labor and organization into unions that the real "golden age" of America arrived for someone besides the ultra-rich. Since then the media narratives and corporate propaganda have steadily demonized all collective bargaining entities, brought forth the scourge of the "gig economy" where businesses get to have multitudes of low-skill workers competing for a small fixed pool of work, all of whom jump at the chance to earn $20 because they'll starve otherwise, and carry none of the expenses of real employees (those annoyances like "a living wage" and "healthcare" and "retirement savings."

And that's just the actual jobs, with automation eating more jobs ever faster, fewer workers are now producing more than ever meaning there are fewer salaries doled out and even less money making it away from the wealthy.

Communism did fail, but I think it arrived too early. I really think there's some merit to the idea that once the machines have eaten all the jobs, and once we're free to our own time, that there's no reason to keep up the illusion that we must remain employed for seemingly little reason other than "that's the way it's always been done."