>because what other people are making or can afford says absolutely nothing about my financial situation
No offence but I don't care about your financial situation. I care about the financial situation of most people, and if they increasingly can't afford necessities like housing or food I also really couldn't care less that the numbers going into their bank account have gone up since last year.
My point is material goods and economic markers can increase on paper whilst people can increasingly be restricted from the housing market, career prospects, and other factors not easily reflected in said markers. If you are interested in defending the fact that those markers are indeed doing fine then you're in a debate with yourself. The relevance of those markers is not obvious, or trivial to justify in relation to the actual world people are living in