Chiming in, absolutely not. My grandfather, excellent engineer, who was learning all his life (and still is) was getting a salary merely twice the level of low-

Chiming in, absolutely not. My grandfather, excellent engineer, who was learning all his life (and still is) was getting a salary merely twice the level of low-skilled manual labourer (and not a high-skilled factory worker even). The only way to get a decent living was to climb social hierarchy of different government structures (government or the party, probably latter). This kind of system is nothing but broken.