salaries will not keep up with inflation, especially on the lower end where it will lag greatly
as companies struggle to keep afloat without the necessary capital, more and more people will become unemployed... driving up the ‘supply’ of available workers... while the ‘demand’ for workers decreases... resulting in reduced wages.
it depends on what type of skills you have.
of course, if you happened to pick up 200 ounces of gold in 2003, costing you about $60k, it would be worth about $800k if gold were to reach $4,000/oz. selling off a portion of the gold to pay off your debts would be an excellent move.
that... and moving to where the money is.
hong kong, japan, or the middle east (i predict north & south america, africa, europe and the former soviet states to all be broke... yea! socialism!!)
INflation does help correct the market imbalance caused by minimum wage laws.