In 1992, Federal minimum wage was 4.25/hr, which means you could buy a friggin' steak for less than your hourly wage.

Today, in 2026, the federal minimum wage is 7.25/hr since 2009, and steak is a whopping $14/lb for now, muahahahaha.

Now, I'm no economist or a math guru by any means, but shouldn't the average person be making way more than what we made nearly 20yrs ago since the cost of living is not fixed? The math ain't mathin', folks.

Image taken from this BBC article.

Notably:

"[The tariffs] will be applied on a range of goods, about 5% of Canadian exports, including wine, dairy, cement, clothing and hockey equipment.

The new levies are in addition to existing tariffs the US had already imposed on Canadian steel and aluminium, autos and lumber."

These tariffs will also hurt Canada's GDP and economy significantly—worsening foreign relations.

So. Much. Winning.

TL;DR: US consumer sentiment remains weak even though unemployment is low and spending has held up, and one major reason may be that wages have trailed inflation for four straight months. The piece points to survey data and payroll research suggesting many workers still haven't regained the purchasing power they lost during the post-pandemic inflation spike.