Also, the trades have a lot of grabass associated with them. After getting out, I was not pleased to learn that, for better or for worse, blue collar working culture is interchangeable with enlisted military working culture. And not the fun Stripes/Down Periscope part, I mean the G.I. Jane/Jarhead parts.

Of course, there's also the issue of finding the right trade. If you did pneumatic controls or drywall, well, sucks to be you! Should've picked lighting systems, idiot. Oh, wait, Lutron owns everything and underpays its lighting techs. Well, you should've invented a time machine, idiot.

But yeah, trades solve everything. If everyone did a trade, the wage stagnation that happened with liberal arts and STEM totally won't happen with blue collar work. You see, by picking up a wrench or a multimeter, you put up an anti-job competition field that can permanently deflect any number of hungry applicants, no matter how much you get lowballed.