I'm not going to deny that Ageism happens, but everyone needs to define their value to a company, and simply saying "I have experience" doesn't cut it.

Experience is a threshold, and if someone who's 20 years younger (earning less) and less still has enough experience to do the job, then that's who should be hired.

Americans think they should get paid this year based on what they were paid last year, plus a couple of percent, but it doesn't work that way. At some point you have to compete with the market, even if the market is willing to earn less than you are earning.