there aren't a whole lot of people that manage to pull down 100k per year with only a high school education I know plenty of people who earn a lot more than th

there aren't a whole lot of people that manage to pull down 100k per year with only a high school education I know plenty of people who earn a lot more than that with "only" a HS education. It's about what you can do, not what you supposedly learned at uni - I don't quite understand what people think is so awesome about university anyway. I think what you're trying to get at is that he has no marketable skills outside his narrow experience as a senior machine operator at a specific company. That was indeed a pretty big bet, and looks like he lost. It's a pity, but the days of expecting lifetime employment are over.