There are nominal wages, real wages, and real real wages. Real real wages have drastically reduced. Economists think that being able to afford six iPhones and a 4K TV offsets not being able to afford rent, but it doesn't. Economists will also assert that since a 4K TV (with 25 times as many pixels as SD) costs $200, an SD TV costs $7.99 for the purpose of inflation calculation.
Definitely. Also they point out that houses are bigger now but at the same time we stopped building small ones so it’s not like buying a cheaper thing is actually an option.