Death of the freeelance consultant?

One of my new co-workers told me that employers are really scaling back the amount they are willing to pay an independent consultant. He said one was only willing to pay $35 and hour! After being an independent for about 20 years, he finally had to “come in out of the cold”, and joined our firm. He has heard of others in a similar situation. Is this a couple of isolated incidents, or a trend in the making?