People have been maintaining living standard despite falling (relative) wages by increasingly getting in to debt for almost a generation.
But why? Are they simply unaware that their relative wages are falling? Are loans to easy to get,
All of the above I suppose. There used to be a time were people bought their cars and often even houses with money they had saved. Today thats impossible for the majority of people. There used to be a time when you didnt get 29 credit cards in your mailbox without even asking. When you didnt need loans to get through college. Where households got around nicely with just one income. Ask your parents or grand parents, they might remember.
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should they be harder to get? Is it a matter of educating a culture of savings?
Perhaps, but the real solution can only be to increase wages. The current wealth inequality is back to the levels from just before the great depression:
Fixing that by at least taxing the rich IMO is not a matter of fairness, its a matter of economic common sense.
So you propose taxing the rich and what? Giving the money to the poorer people to spend? Using it on infrastructure? Government creating jobs?