Coworkers get together, and in their spare time reimplement entire system, but 10x better. They love their work and are "true" hackers... all very romantic. That is not how it works. Today it is about politics and preventing other people from ruining your work.
In ideal world incompetent managers would get fired, and workers would get their salaries. But that is not how it works. Just the fact they are called "deviants" or "rebels" tells it.
So if you are 10x at something, start your own consulting business. Do not work for morons.
Is it a good thing for US? In 90ties we only knew American culture from sitcoms like Baywatch and Friends. Now your political culture turned into Southpark and US is a joke.
There absolutely is an option to skip career and family. It is 2021, social reality is that women can be breadwinners too. And it will be more and more difficult for women to find a breadwinner.
One more reason to skip uni. Remote only experience for full price with orwelian nightmare included. All documentation and lessons are online for free. You do not need human text to speech engine that costs 30k/year.
For most people the goalpost has moved so far, it is not even visible. Maybe it is time for another goalpost: do not take student loans, do not get married, and you will do fine.