You are seeing an inevitable dilemma with a modern economy like ours.
When you have the highest standard of living in the history of mankind, you have reached a point where: (1) your citizens have all they really need and don't have to buy more, and (2) your citizens can no longer afford to pay the cost of buying what they produce.
You end up with a completely untenable and unsustainable environment where everyone wants to pay Walmart prices while working for $50/hour. The only way to keep this charade going is to have more and more people employed in jobs that don't actually involve producing things that people buy voluntarily. Instead, these people must work in jobs where they "sell" to "customers" who have no interest in buying what they sell: through government, regulation, mandates. etc.
Simple solution is really high import tariffs and lower income taxes.