You are correct: money went very far in the 80s and still went far in the early 1990s but wages and salaries were knocked down then due to the crash at the end of the 80s. Since then, wages and salaries have stagnated for most and the cost of everything has exploded (real estate, rent etc.). The people who have done well are the professions and business/financial services/civil servants. Effectively, these groups have enslaved the rest of the population to extract wealth from them. But bleeding that stone has come to en end, thus they now need to chase Chinese money and Muslim money.