People have been complaining about the death of GA and blaming one thing or another since well before I was a pilot.
GA is an optional extra. It's not a necessity. People use a disposable income to fly privately. Make it fun and people will come back to do it again. Blame the CASA, blame the price of fuel, blame whatever. When I turn up to fly from a local airport and an aircraft isn't back yet, or I have to wait an hour or more, or it doesn't have enough fuel, or the paperwork isn't complete yet, or it's not clean, or...fill in the blanks, and I have to remedy the situation to fly, then it's not fun. Combine that with having to swipe a credit card for this, that and everything else, planning on up-to-date charts 2 months in advance, getting security clearances, getting hit for nav charges after the fact and it's no longer fun but a chore. I did that when I was 20 something. I don't tolerate it anymore.
This aspect of GA hasn't changed. The trouble is the market for other options for spending the disposable income has. There are way more options available these days and GA sits back, doesn't change and continues to whine about it.