This was pretty interesting. But the part I didn't get is where its stated that things got more expensive, but we consume more of them because we got richer.
Is this not just inflation? If everyone got paid more and everything got more expensive, are we not essentially level?
It seems maybe you mixed up non-fungible value-bottlenecking human services with "everything".
Many things can get cheaper, some things get more expensive, and median person gets more wealthy and buys more of both.
In reality, yes, inflation plays a role in this, but the article is pointing to other patterns layered on top of it.
On average, over long term, despite inflation, people can afford way more good and services.