I believe Patrick was suggesting he negotiate with potential future employers for a fair salary, not with his current employer.
Incidentally, I would never suggest that anyone negotiate with the goal of getting a "fair" salary. I think that is our inner serf talking. Find your inner hedge fund trader and send him instead. Sure, $60k might be a marked improvement in your standard of living, but if you think "Oh yeah, that is fair", you're probably not going to say "That offer is interesting. Can you do better?" and get $5k extra (plus compounding on your annual raises, plus a higher peg on every future position in your career) for two sentences of work.