[rwallace]

I'd say it is consonant with it. Making salaries public has a strong flattening effect - it makes it much more difficult for people of the same rank to have different pay. Someone else said in Norway all salaries are public, which fits the Scandinavian idea that one person shouldn't be much wealthier than another. In America, there has traditionally been the idea that you as an individual might be able to get rich.

I'm not taking a position on which side is better or worse, just noting that whether you aim to get richer than your neighbour is probably going to be the main thing determining whether you think salaries should be public or private.