From a strictly pragmatic standpoint, educating too many people might be considered a waste of money if you are eliminating jobs through automation. And automation is really efficient, usually. The low wages seem rather expected under unthrottled capitalism and low taxes for the rich.This feeds into my belief that the powers that be are looking towards a future with a permanent underclass. The hatebox occasionally spews its hatred of “screwels”. There appears to be no real effort to raise the lowest wages, only raising the already high. Combine that with lack of education, there’s your cheap ass labor force.