Actually, once upon a time we had a functioning social and economic system. A substantial number of families could survive comfortably on the husband's income. The wife could stay at home and help raise the kids. There was enough money to employ a cleaning lady or maid. That in turn provided employment and income for those further down the ladder so they could better themselves and improve their situation.

Under the Socialist Democrat system as it presently works, the cost of living is so high both husband and wife must work. Sometimes more than one job each because no full-time work is available any more because of costs, especially Obamacare, which has made hiring full-time workers cost-prohibitive.

Although both husband and wife work, their standard of living is lower than when only the husband worked. Partly this is because it takes almost one full salary to cover paying the total amount of taxes and other exactions taken by the government. However, much is also taken by childcare costs, since the wife can no longer afford to stay home. So the kids now grow up without exposure to their parents, because they have to work all the time and are never home.

The maid and cleaning lady are long gone. They, along with their kids, are permanently on the dole. They spend their time collecting welfare and other government benefits, doing drugs or getting drunk, and having children out of wedlock to maximize their government benefits. Those higher up the ladder who would have hired them once upon a time cannot afford to, but are still paying for them indirectly through paying exorbitant taxes to the government (which then takes a healthy cut to satisfy all its hanger-on bureaucrats before redistributing the money to those on the dole). There are no jobs for those in the lower classes, because they have been all exported to other countries because of costs, and because employers can no longer afford to hire them because of Obamacare, government regulation and taxes.

Then you have the other parasite government class, which are those who "work" for and owe their allegiance to the government. They push papers all day, siphon money out of the system to pay for their comfort, and administer government make-work programs to make it look like economically the U.S. is not a basket-case. They are also expected to kick back part of their income to the Democrat Party, the government unions, and their bosses in the form of union dues and political contributions, and during election season are expected to spend part of their time campaigning and maintaining the system.