The first part of my sentence was predicated on low wages.  It is impossible to do much of anything but survive hand-to-mouth for many given the preponderance of low wages.  I had a wonderful friend who owned a business.  Her daughter earned almost six figures, but was never on site, nor really worked much.  The workers who were there full-time made $0.25 an hour above minimum wage.  She bragged that the employees had access to a 401K they could contribute to.  Many of them qualified for food stamps, while her family vacationed all over the US.  The family inherited money to start the business, and that is how quite a few people, unless you work in IT, law, medicine or have an advance degree, get ahead these days.  (Case in point:  our current president who inherited 40 million years ago) Hard work, for many, under the current preponderance of low wage jobs is not enough.