> Behavioral changes at the
top and bottom of society are most of the problem
(Added emphasis)
I agree with everything you say, lots of irresponsible people and culture. But that isn't the whole story.
The wealthy and asset owners also tilt the economy toward themselves and away from labor and the less wealthy in many ways.
Poor outcomes for young individuals do have strong correlations, with strong causal support, to low income districts with poor health and education resources, poor safety, and poverty level parents. That is a circular problem created by treating the education, health, and safety of children as a "local" issue, instead of what it obviously is, a national issue.
Also, housing is a problem for many working people, while the rich magnify the problem by using the limited availability of real estate as a useful financial instrument to park money, making profitable returns based on exclusivity and productive economic growth elsewhere which increases further investment in land, even if the land is underutilized.
This is due to the perverse incentive of taxation on total land and development value instead of just the land. (Development on land should be encouraged, not taxed. Other developent and property isn't "wealth" taxed. Whereas, the underlying land is limited, so taxing those who make it unavailable for others is a community neutral bargain - and makes the underutilization of land unprofitable.)
This goes on and on ... regulation capture, use of personal loans against personal property give wealthy asset owners liquidity events that fund high lifestyles without any taxes associated with it, taxes on labor that increase beyond tax rates on capital and for corporations, etc.
The rich and asset ownership classes use government policy to actively tilt things there way, on the backs of those who's primary "asset" is their labor value, throughout society.