Regarding the "escape velocity", it really isn't that tough IMO to save enough to retire when you're making 5-10x the median household US income, even if you're wasting $3500/month on rent. Yeah, milk and gas cost about twice what they do in the rest of the USA, but since I moved to the Bay Area I've been saving over a third of my income without even trying despite having a kid, eating out every day, and buying every gadget and gizmo I hear about
~5 years of savings can buy you a house out in the outside world so you can take a stab at building a ramen-profitable startup
~15 years' worth can probably cover regular old retirement at a level that'd be comfortable for people from https://old.reddit.com/r/FinancialIndependence
I think this is exactly what the parent commenter meant. You'll be able to retire comfortably after your most productive years, but you most likely won't be financially independent within 5 years and have the means to focus on building a startup.
FAANG compensations can be quite high. Arguably they are that high precisely to siphon up headcount that would in the past alternatively go into other ventures to seek wealth there. But I would say that these high compensations seem to me to be set precisely high enough to hoover up talent but not high enough for employees to achieve "escape velocity" entirely from the market (without extreme financial discipline anyways)