Again you aren't wrong, but the average debt post-college has increased from 10k in the 1990s to 30k as of 2016, and that's the average. Wages also haven't increased, except for a select slice of the population.
Take me, for example. I worked in my family business doing construction with my dad and 2 of my brothers. Someone once commented they knew we weren't union because we ran to get tools
Anyway, housing market crashes. I'm waiting for it to get better, not aware of the true implications; my savings are eaten up (and I didn't have a ton before that) so moving wasn't an option without a guaranteed job, because I barely had money for rent (we rented a house, 4 of us, $1150/month, split it 4 ways. No cable, utilities not included). I bought knorr packaged noodle knock-offs for dinner because they had the most calories I could find for the cost, peanut butter sandwiches on whole wheat for lunch, drove a 25 year old car.
My point is you can do all the right things, have a great work ethic, a real sense of independence (I didn't once suckle from the government teat), and still get screwed ridiculously.
Today I am incredibly blessed with a great job, work for a great company, and my frugality paid off, but out of all of my friends I'm the only one who really broke through - and some of these people are bright, capable, and extremely under employed given their skill set. That's the real threat today - underemployment, not unemployment.