Wages are nothing like stagnant over a 100 year timeline, they've grown massively. Also, when you say "wages stay stagnant and cost of living rises," you make

Wages are nothing like stagnant over a 100 year timeline, they've grown massively. Also, when you say "wages stay stagnant and cost of living rises," you make it sound like real wages have gone down. That's not the case. Nominal wages have increased, but nominal cost of living has also increased, so real wages have been stagnant (on a 30 year, not 100 year, timeline).