What good is it when you have to perform one or multiple menial jobs every day just to exist. That lifestyle doesn't leave you with much mental energy at the end of a long work day to absorb and learn from the world's knowledge at your fingertips. Yes, some folks are probably able to pull themselves out of that situation - but those are edge cases.

On top of that the added anxiety people experience because of living paycheck to paycheck.

It's becoming more and more like in the movie Elysium - all the technological wonders are there - just not accessible to the poor.