I have debated this topic on other forums, but it never gets old. The reason why prices are going up right now is not only inflation, but mostly the lack of supply.
With the costs of living going up, increased awareness about the sex trade, and girls having better options to commercialize their pussies, you have the perfect recipe for a shortage of supply.
The costs of living we have discussed and we all agree. COVID and the supply chain shortage as someone aptly said it here, is being blamed to increase the prices of everything so the costs of living are going up for everyone.
My second point, increased awareness, means that girls today have so much knowledge of the sex industry that they aren't going in blindly trying their luck. If a girl goes indy today, she will do research on twitter and other sources and arrive to the conclusion that she should charge something similar to what she sees other girls charging. It is not a secret, like say 20 years ago, when the escort agency rates were still a mystery to even us clients. Nowadays everyone and their grandma knows how much an escort gets paid, how much the agency takes, and so on and so on.
My last point, and perhaps the most important one, I am talking about girls having "better" options on how to "commercialize" aka sell their pussies. Look at seeking arr*ngements for example, a girl there can get guys to "date her" for $600-1k per meetup. Why on God's green earth would a hot girl choose to fuck 12 strangers a day for a meager $100/fuck, when she can get a sugar daddy and fuck 1 guy for a somewhat equivalent monetary amount. Much less risks of contracting STDs, being robbed or raped by exposing herself to a lesser number of "clients" as well.
In short, my friend, the prices of escorts will keep going up because we aren't going to suddenly get rid of the internet or abolish websites like s*eking Arr*ngements dedicated to linking hot pussy to willing buyers, the only thing that agencies can do is raise the price so they can offer girls more money, Guess what is going to happen when agencies start raising their rates? Independents will follow.