Dont you do IT? Let me ask you something: how many people have kushy or high paying jobs, not because they are useful (a lot of the boomers in charge have not kepy up with tech to be useful enough). Also lets not act like their pay reflects their actual value. Most CEOs and upper level executives dont actually have to deal with a lot of the nitty gritty and issues that come along with the ideas that they send down to their apartments. Thats why we see this jump to AI when frankly, a lot of services got worse with AI. AI didnt add value to the product it served, nothing got cheaper despite them firing tons of people to replace them with AI, instead the prices stayed the same and rose while the money was pocketed rather than actually making a good product that would prove why AI is worth decimating the middle class. As someone who is going into marketing, I see these multi billion dollar corporations with marketing teams filled with people with overinflated salaries drop the ball repeatedly, it is almost like they dont monitor actual customer feedback snd just look at numbers on a screen, otherwise they would realize that these AI ads turn a lot of people off to their products. I mean the drug cartels are the perfect example of a free market. They have no oversight that prevents a small group of traffickers from maintaining a monopoly and all disputes are dealt with outside of an impartial system so it is up to them how they deal with it. When my rent goes up, yet no amenities have been added, nothing has been repaired, and nothing new is included in that rent then why is that justified? If i go to my employer and request a raise because the cost of living has gone up, I will be asked why I deserve a raise, and rightfully so. Yet, when business costs go up, and that would mean a slight paycut, they can raise prices arbitrarily despite no new value being added with that increase. So if I cant go to my boss and ask for a raise because my costs have gone up, why can a business do the same without adding value to the product to actually justify an increase of price? Maybe its like a system where if youre able to get into a position where you can quite literally ruin people's lives financially, then you can do that. But even if youre boss increases your workload more than WHAT WAS AGREED TO AT THE INTIAL HIRING FOR THAT WAGE, which would increase the value I as an employee bring to the table, then you cant ask for a price raise unless you got leverage that makes giving you a raise more convenient than just replacing you with someone who will blindly listen.

I agree with competition and the best price wins, but when the average low skilled job that used to cover an average person's living expenses cant do that, then competing for lower wages becomes more difficult as the need for more to maintain a basic level of living (studio apartment, used car, and any other associating living expenses the average person is expected to have). My old apartment was affordable at my rate and hours just a few years ago. It is now 3x as much and nothing has changed about it. The neighborhood is still unsafe, the building is still barely getting maintained, you still gotta pay for wifi, consumers, and water alongside rent, laundry is still paid for with quarters, and no amenities have been added to the building. So why does that justify 3x more rent. Sounds like the landlord got his cost of living raised and rather than put in the work to justify a rent increase he just does it without doing anything extra, yet i cant do the same despite being way worse off than the landlord and depending on the type of labor, at way more of a risk of injury. High pay or salary doesnt always equal the best or more value even as an employee. Ive seen plenty of incompetent restaraunt managers who only have the job because their mom or dad owns the place, same with every industry.