More anecdotes. As you point out, jobs increasingly require a college degree, so that actually renders your earlier anecdote about “well my friend dropped out of high school and now he’s a rich plumber” completely irrelevant. A high school drop out today isn’t going to become a plumbing millionaire.

By that same token, being a computer programmer isn’t going to be a high-paying job in four years, as the number of available positions is going to decline 8 percent by 2024, according to the BLS outlook. All those jobs are being outsourced to India because we lived in a globalized economy and there is such a thing as labor arbitage.

You can make what seems like a rational choice at the moment and because of the disruptive nature of capitalism, the job you pick becomes obsolete in a few years. I have a cousin who is a trucker and owns his own rig. He “does okay” but when automated trucks wipe out the 3 million+ human truckers, suddenly that won’t be such a secure job any more. My grandpa worked in a refinery with just a high school degree and he retired comfortably with a fat pension because his plant was unionized and they guaranteed a decent quality of life.

I on the other hand decided to pursue a career in journalism, but graduated during the financial crisis as the news industry was dying off.

All this “just make the right choices and work hard” stuff is frankly Mike Rowe libertarian fantasy horseshit. A solid two-thirds of Americans can’t afford a $500 emergency. I guarantee you that most of them work very hard and didn’t major in “grievance studies.” Jesus.