There are two issues here that you are not taking into account :
-The fact that inflation has been baked into the monetary system since the inception of the Fed, accelerating after Bretton Woods (1971 on), leading to a steady, incremental decline in purchasing power, further compounded by large transfers of wealth from the middle class to the banksters in the "bailouts" of 2008, 2020, with trillions printed out out of thin air funneling through Blackrock and charged by the Fed.
-There were enormous gains in productivity in the last several decades, generating great wealth, which should have resulted in similar wage gains but were almost entirely captured by the top .1% :
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We do our best, stay positive, but also be cognizant of the severe flaws in the system that have gotten gradually worse, as they can be sorted out by good leadership, not 50 year mortgages.
See Diversity is a strength - of the ruling/billionaire class.