i appreciate all the discourse here. it's surprising to me how many people are like "that's not how business works" and obviously that's the problem. if i can't live somewhat comfortably with the money my employer provides, why should that employer be allowed to run a business? or further live fruitfully off of family and other accumulated, passive wealth. my problem isn't with millionaires, it's the sheer audacity of this small organization of which i am one of two employees, the rest are contractors, to tell me they can't afford to pay me more and maybe they truly believe that, but it seems like such bull shit standing down here with poor credit score and empty bank accounts.