[simpleguitar]

My grief (and grieving) is not with this.

If you had an advanced degree in math or physics, hedge funds in NYC was always an option to maximize your talent in exchange for money. But one also had an option to choose something different and still make an upper middle class living.

It seems these days, only the finance/tech offer such living. NOT choosing tech is choosing barely middle class living, and everyone else is delegated to hand-to-mouth living.

[deagle50]

Where I live (DC) most people are not in tech and they still have an upper middle class lifestyle working for the Federal government or a contractor (in a non-tech role). Nationally, purchasing power has been declining for many years.

Besides Fed Gov, Tech/finance are the probably the only sectors left with large work forces, great margins, a culture of rewarding talent (vs health care for example), AND rooted in the USA (vs manufacturing and heavy industry). These factors combine to create a super class of tech/finance labor.