Assuming the debtor continues to make the same salary.

Okay so now you have a strong dollar and the corporation you work for needs to make cuts to fulfill debt obligations.
Oops you just got fired!
Now you're making $0.

Assuming the debtor continues to make the same salary.

Okay so now you have a weak dollar and inflation is going up.
Why haven't you gotten a raise to at least account for the inflation?
Surely the corporation can afford it because they can charge more for the end product.

The economy is a weird game of trying to take on as much debt as possible while spinning it into something more profitable than it was before. Those who do not participate in this game (most people) are the ones subsidizing it.

It's a very complex topic with a lot of variables.
However I wouldn't call it Smoke & Mirrors anymore than I would call building a computer from scratch Smoke & Mirrors. Just because something is extremely complicated and hard to understand doesn't mean it's a deception. There isn't some simple and transparent way that we could organize the economy but choose not to on purpose just to make it more confusing to fleece the lower class... although the tax code might be a good candidate for that.