[NoLsAfterMid]

> The employment rate in the USA is usually somewhere around ~5% depending on what subset of the workforce you're looking at.

Well based on the number of friends I have that work multiple jobs and can't afford anything more than a room and basic necessities, that's not a very useful perspective.

[fastball]

Is that actually true though? Your friends don't have a smartphone with mobile internet, a computer, a TV, a fridge, a microwave, AC/heating, high speed internet, maybe a game console, a bounty of clothing, etc?

Because I think those aren't really necessities, yet the average person in the US has them. We're just quite spoiled in the 21st century, and many would argue (including clearly OP) that the reason for this abundance is (at least in part) free market capitalism.

People complain about needing to work to live, but that has always been the case. The difference is now you can work reasonable hours (40/week) doing a low-skill job and still have all those things.

[NoLsAfterMid]

> Because I think those aren't really necessities, yet the average person in the US has them. We're just quite spoiled in the 21st century, and many would argue (including clearly OP) that the reason for this abundance is (at least in part) free market capitalism.

If you want to consider that "spoiled" you're more than welcome to, but it doesn't change decades of increasing wealth inequality, nor the fact that we have no choice but to live in the 21st century.

> The difference is now you can work reasonable hours (40/week) doing a low-skill job and still have all those things.

My point is that that's no longer possible to achieve this with just 40 hours.