In my opinion, Bitcoin never provided a reliable way to earn money, especially since the early days of GPU mining over a decade ago.

If you mean earn money reliably when you say "make sense", IMO it never was since people start to mine BTC with tons of GPU more than a decade ago.

To troubleshoot the issue without further complications, I recommend checking the debug.log file to verify if Bitcoin Core is loading the same configuration and arguments. Upon reviewing my own node's log, I noticed the following output:"

Without additional ramification, i would suggest debug.log to see whether same configuration/argument loaded by Bitcoin Core. On my node, i see something like this.

Providing reliable customer service and support is crucial, especially when hardware issues arise. Unfortunately, few reputable brands offer satisfactory support. Canaan was once a prominent player, but their current status is unclear. Bitmain, however, has established itself as the industry benchmark for crypto mining hardware."

I don’t think it is as simple as this.

Customers need to have a decent customer service/support if something goes wrong with the hardware and I don’t think there are many reputable brands around that provide it. Canaan used to be quite big I don’t know if they are still in business but Bitmain is pretty much the golden standard of crypto miners.

So instead of choosing a brand you never heard of before, OP you should go with a miner from Bitmain’s lineup imo. (Unless you are feeling adventurous)

I completely agree with you on this point. The original vision of Bitcoin, as outlined in Satoshi Nakamoto's whitepaper, was to facilitate peer-to-peer transactions for buying and selling goods and services online. However, today, Bitcoin is mostly used for speculative purposes, such as buying, holding, and selling to other users. In its current state, Bitcoin falls short of being a global currency, as it is not widely accepted as a form of payment for everyday goods and services. Nevertheless, if Bitcoin were to become a widely accepted payment method globally, it could potentially lead to a reduction in inflation.

I applaud you on this point. Using bitcoin for buying and selling of goods and services online by the Satoshi Nakamoto Whitepaper p2p has been sidelined and taking over with buying, hodling and selling to another user. As it is now I don't think bitcoin is a global currency since it is not widely used for buying and selling of goods and services. The day when bitcoin will be used as payment for all the countries and all the shops inflation will reduce.