I agree with you and the math checks out
The challenge is that this is a hard argument to make to most people because they aren’t aware of the hedonic treadmill
I could easily afford the life my grandfather had in 1950, but I wouldn’t have a fuel injected motor, vaccines, a laptop or a job in computing.
My air would be full of lead and my drinking water would be cloudy and smell like sulphur.
That life is possible in San Angelo Tx today on ~15,000 a year, the equivalent of his salary in 1950