I have an acquaintance who is obsessed with cost cutting in their house and life in general. It's not much fun over there. It has become like an eating disorder; it is addictive. Cost cutting can be like that; it becomes the total focus and is often only good in the short term. Sometimes it ends up costing you more than it saves, but that might become apparent a short while in the future. However, with some intelligent forethought, it could have been anticipated and avoided. One other trouble with manic cost cutting is it is often perpetuated by the very top man who holds the power reigns. They go unchallenged and those around then watch as the body of the business starts to wither on the vine. The obsessive cost cutting reaped rewards and the profit curve rose upwards. It then started to turn over and downwards, but was not yet ringing any alarm bells. Those who could see the trend remained silent. When the bubble burst it was too late. The times when increased investment would have bought increased gains went un-noticed in the fog of cuts and more cuts. An addiction does that and then it's too late.
Will this happen here? The market will tell us in the future. It's more than sad that any company making continuing large annual profit over a 5 year period can see it as equitable not to increase its staff's remuneration over the same period. What will be required to spread some of the wealth amongst the workers? When will enough be enough in profit? An addict never knows that answer.