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I think the uncomfortable question for many here is, why should the SWE at Google get paid any more than the SWE at the NY Times?

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That's not an uncomfortable question at all. SWE (and all employees) should be paid to the point that the owners of their company, while well-rewarded, are not sucking up a large percentage of global wealth personally...and that's the less adventurous answer.

... right, because people start companies out of their philanthropic desires.

It is funny here how all the people are pro-union don't start their own companies to compete with the ones that exploit people and offer employees all the perks they ever dreamed of.

It's even funnier when they do start their own company and immediately crank up the back-pedaling.

Why is that an uncomfortable question?

Companies choose what they pay their employees (within the bounds of the law) and that might be influenced by what another company pays similar employees.

Imagine somebody at Google saying, “Sorry we won’t pay you more — just found out they pay less at the NYT.”

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