Excellent summary of the problem, and yes, the end of the tunnel, and its light, recede further and further away as wages continue to stagnate. My "day job" is a freelance gig where I am still charging the rates that were considered normal a decade ago — and it's not really feasible to charge more. Higher prices for food, fuel, and housing definitely hurt, but you're totally right that they hurt all the more when you're living on increasingly outdated buying power. :-/

Regardless, I'm hoping that things can change for the better, just not sure how. Time will tell. Thanks for reading. :)