There's no delusion or confusion or misunderstanding anywhere. They know they need to raise wages immediatly.
It's simple: the people making those decisions don't have to worry if their company fails. We're in a highly monopolized economy so there's little threat of competition. Even if these companies do collapse they will take their severance pay and just go elsewhere.
That's it. That's all there is to it.
WE are not real people to them. We're office equipment. Period.