There is of course a different in 'lifestyle'/'downsizing' and not making enough money to survive working 16 hours a day. That last category might as well be so

There is of course a different in 'lifestyle'/'downsizing' and not making enough money to survive working 16 hours a day. That last category might as well be some pervasive form of modern slavery, but it all ends up with people living 'on the edge' in various forms. All it takes is one big thing that happens to a lot of 'on the edge' people and the bottom of society falls out. The solution seems rather obvious: don't construct a society where a large amount of people are forced to live on the edge while at the same time pretending they are replaceable. Once replacements run out (like is happening right now), we suddenly lost something we apparently depended on as not-on-the-edge consumers.