My latter point was on the long-term stability of the status quo. In my view, the end-state of squeezing the middle class in a modern society may be a fertility

My latter point was on the long-term stability of the status quo. In my view, the end-state of squeezing the middle class in a modern society may be a fertility crises as individuals choose not to have children. With modern birth control, this is the simplest means of reducing your costs in a modern society. If the birth rate falls to .5-1.0, then the status quo will most likely end in economic crises as the future population can no longer support the liabilities of the prior population. While it's possible to print money and perform other games to hide this reality, I don't think it's possible to maintain the farse against the backdrop of a 3-4x population decline.