I feel like you've deliberately missed the point at multiple levels to get some snark in so just to jump right to the core: Silicon Valley salary is the utopian

I feel like you've deliberately missed the point at multiple levels to get some snark in so just to jump right to the core: Silicon Valley salary is the utopian society you're so snarkily describing, and as OP has pointed out it's coming to an end. The majority of the world is not on SV wages, so yeah they pay "as well as knowledge workers" in that none of the above pays nearly as much as you're thinking outside of your utopian society bubble. Trade jobs (electrician, plumber, etc) can earn equivalent or more in the real world :)