You are aware that many hard working people don't make $50,000.00 a year no matter how much overtime they get, aren't you?
"Let them eat cake" just doesn't fly!
Yes, I'm aware of that. I'm also aware than many "working people" as you call them (as if a Master Degreed engineer doesn't work, LOL!) have done absolutely nothing to take advantage of the wealth of educational opportunities that exist in this country to expand their skill sets. This is a self imposed limitation, just like not being willing to travel is a self imposed limitation because of the life choices they made. Life is indeed a series of choices. Having children is a choice. Spending time in front of the boob tube instead of going to school and learning new skills is a choice. Spending time in front of the boob tube instead of working a second job is a choice. There has never been a time in my life from about 18 on that I've had less than three sources of income. Usually, it's been five or six. I'm sorry, but I have absolutely no sympathy for people who have taken the path of least resistance and now find themselves in a bind. I'm sorry if you don't like it, but it is what it is. You will never, ever get ahead in this country with no marketable job skills, or with an unwillingness to go where the work is, or with an unwillingness to put down the TV remote and make something of yourself. Look around you. It's being played out in every direction to one degree or another. Talk to anyone who has achieved success and you will see that they have broad based skills and did what was necessary to make it work.