And yet isn't it just slightly odd how software consulting rates were the same 17 years ago as they are now? And there was all that inflation in the interim...hmmm...
In terms of consulting, credit/loans are harder to get for smaller businesses and most software ends up being targeted toward large businesses, and so do most consultants.
It's harder to be a small business than to be a large business; therefore it's hard to pay more and since you're already as efficient as possible it's harder to get those rates up.
(Also there was wage suppression by Google and Apple and other big companies for around 5 years, that's a HUGE damper on the maximum salary which also translates into a damper on consulting rates.)
Anecdotally one guy I know quit embedded to do rails development and doubled his paycheck.