Actually I think one of the root causes is higher education--people go to college, get a degree, and then expect to earn a decent income.

If you're a "gender studies" major are you really expecting to graduate and earn a 6 figure income? Who will pay you for that knowledge?

And frankly, all a degree gets you (in almost all cases) is a "job" working for someone else--and yes, that means you'll likely just have to "settle" for being comfortable, working in a cube farm somewhere.