Tying a candidate's desire for more pay with the decline the US economy is...um...creative. And saying "I do not want to know you" to candidates you deem to be

Tying a candidate's desire for more pay with the decline the US economy is...um...creative. And saying "I do not want to know you" to candidates you deem to be greedy is disingenuous, considering that you're starting a company presumably to make money, right? While I can understand wanting to be frugal, I still don't see how paying rates that most engineers would consider mediocre will attract the top candidate you presumably want as an early hire.