Add to that the costs of healthcare, which in the US tends to be tied to employment, and bingo. There's your answer. People have no money, nor no safety net if something goes wrong, so they stick to their garbage 9-5 instead of trying something new.
To go from a comfortable - meaning I'm not living paycheck to paycheck concerned about whether I have to pay for either food, gas, OR medicine - to uncomfortable - meaning relying on the largess of the ruling class through 'social' programs - is a step most people are not willing or able to take.
I understand that those programs are a safety net, but they are further down the cliff than most people are comfortable with. If you've hit them, you've hit two feet from bottom with a very small chance of recovery.
Does that make sense? I think it's a difference in how you define 'safety net'.
If there are people who are unable to live in a home, there is not enough safety net. Housing should be a right of citizens, as well as medical care. Private property has allowed wage inequality to increase with no end.
