looking for the time you can quit the job you hate
I think the OP's question is a good one, and it's one I ask myself all the time, especially while reading these forums.
I do believe most Americans (yes 50%+) hate their jobs and would give almost anything to get free and still meet their needs and obligations. This observation is based on what I have witnessed over 30+ years at dozens of companies all over the U.S. I understand you may see it differently, but I have to call it as I see it.
I'm a big believer in free markets, including a free labor market, so why the sorry state of affairs? This is what I think:
1. College is a big, illusion-dispensing bubble. Animal House ain't the real world. Not even close. Even if you didn't live in Animal House, the nature of higher education is such that it bears absolutely no relation to the day-in, day-out experience of going to a real workplace full of real coworkers and real superiors.
2. Work isn't about work. It's mostly about dealing with difficult, and sometimes seriously deranged or vindictive people. Being a teacher isn't about teaching. It's mostly about dealing with difficult students, parents, and admins. Being a dentist isn't about dentistry. It's mostly about dealing with difficult patients, employees, and insurance companies.
3. Positions of power, including corporate management, attract flawed personalities.
4. Positions of power, including management, manufacture flawed personalities.
5. Workplaces change. The workplace-experience you love today may become the one you despise tomorrow. There is absolutely no way to know when or if this will happen, although the longer you are there, the more likely you are to experience it.
6. People change. That goes for your co-workers and bosses (see 5, above), but also for you. Even if you love your J*b today, your interests and tolerance levels are likely to change with time, resulting in a severe mismatch between you and your j*b/career.
7. Changing j*bs doesn't help. Eventually you realize that different workplaces are just different manifestations of the same phenomena.
8. Our modern society is like a pressure-cooker or a meat grinder. Eventually you sense your mortality and want a few gasps of freedom before you go. For me, that's what FIRE is about.