It's how markets work when wealth is distributed incredibly unevenly, and a weak social safety net makes it intimidating to work for yourself instead.
In other words, markets work that way because that's how the bosses and capitalists want it to work, and have so far been successful at thwarting attempts to use the government to change things.
The simplest and most accurate statement is that it’s an emergent result of the principles of capitalism combined with human nature and not a plot to keep us down.
