Rules for wage negotiation for ordinary employees have generally much bigger impact.
Well then you are not reading it correctly. What does it say?
>> Google is the talk of the valley because we are driving salaries up across the board
Schmidt says as plain as day, in e-mails that escaped his admitted attempts to remove a paper trail, that this is about holding down wages. He says it as plain as you can say it. I can read this, and the other HN readers can read this in black and white. That people like you feel the need to deny this happened when they have been caught red-handed says more about you then it does about what happened.
Yes, I read it very well. Schmidt indeed mentioned holding the wages down, BUT from the context it's clear they mean those who are targets of employee poaching. And that's certainly not everyone - quite the opposite, only exceptional individuals or strategy hires.
Hint: It doesn't go down.