Ummm ... the cost of living has been going up. Would you work for what you did 47 years ago?

If and when the COL goes down a significant amount and for a significant amount of time you might have an argument.

It also has to be noted that while labor is constantly subjected to what amounts to a reverse auction, who will work for the least amount of money, the higher paying jobs are never subject to the same pressures. They get to claim that if you pay CEOs less money you get "less skill and talent". Common sense would tell you that the janitor could do better than some of those CEOs, the ones who lose billions, but the compensation packages seldom go down.

It also has to be noted that while a person building a business may work 100 hours a week and their income might, for a time, amount to less than minimum wage the simple fact is that the lower pay is, presumably, compensated for by ownership of the company. Hourly workers get a minimum wage but enjoy no potential payoff from ownership.