if they're putting selection pressure for downscaling salaries, all your future coworkers are going to be, well, cheap.

Also, the company will probably be less likely to buy you a decent computer for work, install a new server when your department needs it, or hire new people when there is more work than you can handle. Even if you somehow don't care about money for yourself, you probably do at least care about having decent working conditions. Maybe the just-world hypothesis makes you believe that lower salary will somehow be balanced by better working conditions, but it's probably the other way round.