I'm not sure there's much point in discussing salaries. I don't really feel there's any interest from the BBs in doing anything other than tiny adjustments. I think its too big a change, and too much possibility of mass complaints about salary rises to change it radically or at all even. BB-Marin has used the word riots on more than one occasion to explain his risk averse approach to change.
FWIW I agree with just about everything you said there. It was a disappointment when I saw salaries were dropping further. I realise the difficulty in raising the price of some skills, what with players having already been trained to a different formula, but I feel it would be better, especially in the case of IS, as you've highlighted. People aren't stupid, and they love free stuff, especially when it works so well.