For people who must rely on these loans, the pay for this class of jobs are too low. Your financial picture I think is mostly a myth. There is this grey margin where the jobs pays enough for minimal living expenses, but not enough any sort of long term holding or advancement with regular variation of cars breaking down, or health issues, or funding further education, or a basic vacation which everyone deserves. Society can only decline long term when more and more jobs only pay in this twilight threshold.