Servers can pull in way more than that, like $40+/hr at semi fancy restaurants and Inns. Obviously it’s location dependant, but $21/hr isn’t crazy if you’re on the US coast.
So by “in real estate” you mean you’re a flipper and a landlord.
In the building you were going to convert into apartments, how much were you going to rent these affordable apartments for?
They’ll squash a threat to Bitian and it’s reputation but I doubt they give a shit about the islands inhabitants, if they did they wouldn’t keep all of the money from .Io domains. I don’t know that potential security over having your own government is preferable. I’d say this is a great example of how British colonialism is still bad in the modern day.