[david_shaw]

Sure, I understand the thread's implication and I'm certainly not saying that it's never true.

But some companies have the choice of hiring, for example, one really great engineer for $500k, and one very solid one for $250k.

Another organization might want to hire three engineers for $250k.

A third, perhaps, wants to hire seven at $100k.

They're all spending the same amount of money, but not every company can "afford" that spend -- especially if they need several engineers working on unique feature sets.

I just think it's a leap to say that every company paying more than average market value is criminal.