> Please, point to me one example of this blue collar utopia.

Much of the "oil states" are like that.

> What about CPAs, lawyers, and their must be some sort of corporate hierarchy wherever these people are employed right?

(1) In other words, you don't actually know anything about these biz,so you're hoping that what you picked up watching "The Office" is reasonably close. It isn't.

(2) Not really. How many lawyers do you think an oil drilling company needs? They need more CPAs than lawyers, but a decent "roughneck" costs more and a decent foreman is gold, and gets it. The lawyers? Not so much.

It's hard and dangerous work, but it's very good money.

You folks really ought to look at what decent tradesmen get.

Taking a few welding courses at the local community college was an eye opening experience for me. Welding is a means by which someone with essentially no education (but a steady hand) can earn a very decent living. Additionally, I've heard the age of the average weldor is something like 58. There's a coming glut in the market for skilled weldors, and it's going to be big. http://bit.ly/pmZVkz

Same for small-scale computerized manufacturing. The educational requirements are slightly higher (shockingly few people know even the simplest shred of trigonometry) but it's still a great way for some who would otherwise be flipping burgers to support a family.

A skilled tradesmen can get six figures.

You should look at the hourly bill rates for licensed electricians and plumbers. These are definitely blue collar jobs, yet their hourly rates are probably more than most software developers.

I suspect they get paid about 1/3 of what they are billed at, just like programmers working for a consulting shop. Even if self employed, the overcharge helps make up for unbillable work and other overhead. Often, at least.