writes:

The middle class, once a vast section of the population, is
shrinking. The airplanes they flew--the older, plain-panel VFR stuff--
doesn't use NavCanada services. No transponder, no IFR flight, not
even many flight plans.
In place of that shrinking middle class we have a growing
wealthy class that flies airplanes that cost as much or more than a
house, and those things use all of NavCanada's services. At the other
end of the scale are most of those that used to be middle class, now
the working poor, who, through various changes in the economy, find
themselves making little more than they did 25 years ago, which is a
lot less when adjusted for inflation. Lots of jobs with no benefits,
jobs that are part-time, non-union, temporary. And wiith little
opportunity for advancement. College or university becomes more and
more important.

An excellent summary of why GA is in trouble. The threshold of income that
makes GA as a hobby practical has gone from middle or lower middle class to
upper class, cutting out a huge chunk of the potential flying population.

Of course, these effects are not limited to aviation.