This is leaving out the most crucial piece of why that was a normal reality: UNIONS. Union participation percentage is a measly 10% across all industries for the latest statistics in 2025. Unions are the ones who could fight against the requirement for everyone and their mother to need a minimum of a bachelor's degree. they could fight for working hours to be properly compensated so that the work week was actually 40 hours or less and everything over was actually paid for. The reality of the work place and why we work so much more for so much less is because we are not unionized. the reason europeans seem to have it so much better is because of their strong union culture. there are solutions to these problems and we need to stop obscuring the why.

correct.