> A fast food job might be $17/hr, but the cost of gas is >2x what it was when that same job paid $8/hr

This is probably the worst example. In 2008 gas cost as much as it does now and fast food did only pay $8/hr. https://www.creditdonkey.com/gas-price-history.html

> Millennials are, if anything, brutally realistic

No, your entire post is an example of the dramatic doomerism waxing on the anxieties of normal life. Complaining about anxiety is one of the hallmarks of a millennial.