Agreed, money is indeed a big part of this. Ramirez even said that he came here because "we would pay him lots of money". It might be that because of Ramirez' high wages and so everyone else doesn't feel at unease, key players like Lambert, Lallana, etc get wage increases. If we want to become a truly established team, players will want high wages, regardless of whether they've been with us in L1/the Championship or if they're being purchased.
Ambition, working harder and achieving success should go hand in hand with being paid more. Plenty of times it doesn't happen like that. I know of several instances where a talented person has performed extremely well, going out on a limb in their commitment, has been praised by the ambitious company they were working for, and got paid a pittance.
Does it read like it's a personal experience..?