The thing about the widget makers is, there are other people in the world the same age making more or less money then they are. In the world of widgets guy A is doing great, guy B not so much. But in the world as a whole, guy A might just be doing meh.
Kinda like the big fish in a little widget pond, but a smaller fish in the big world pond.
I make decent money compared to the other people I work with, but I'm sure most of CR makes more than I do at their day job. I would be guy A in your scenario.