If that accountant was working for someone else's accounting firm and had a $47 per hour pay cut over a five-year period, they probably would have been very upset, quit their job and gone to work somewhere else.
The courage to raise your prices/rates
Business owners are often afraid to increase their prices or billing rates. They're afraid they'll lose all their customers if they increase their prices or billing rates. They also feel sorry for their customers during economic hard times.