> Regardless of what the ultimate consequences would have been of any price fixing scheme, do you or don't you believe it is wrong? You can argue all day about the hypotheticals of how much or how little this all actually affected wages, but if you believe in principle that some general free market mechanism should be the determining factor in private sector wages, then you should disagree with what happened.
I know it isn't a popular view, but I see nothing morally wrong with two companies agreeing not to hire each other's employees. I see no rights being violated. Apple employees have no right to be hired by Google, and vice versa - therefore Google and Apple not hiring the other company's workers does not constitute a violations of rights.
Nor do I think it violates any free market ideas, at least not mine. What Google and Apple essentially are doing is disadvantaging themselves compared to their competitors. Any company that does not enter into a no-poach agreement is at a competitive advantage compared to all the companies who do. Let's say Samsung is not in this agreement, the result is that Samsung can hire both Google and Apple employees, while neither Apple nor Google have this privilege. The talent pool for Samsung would be greater than that of both Google and Apple, and it will be at a better position to hire the people with the qualifications they need.
Now, if Steve Jobs start making threatening calls to Samsung's CEOs, then we would have something that would constitute criminal activity. That is not acceptable. Steve Jobs cold-calling Brin/Page/Schmidt (can't remember who it was), and telling them in an agitated manner not to hire his employees is also on the verge of being criminal, at least if threats were involved. But my impression is that Jobs knew at least Schmidt fairly well privately, which makes it another matter than cold-calling some CEO at some company you've never heard of, and shouting at them not to hire your employees.
I know it isn't a popular view, but I see nothing morally wrong with two companies agreeing not to hire each other's employees. I see no rights being violated. Apple employees have no right to be hired by Google, and vice versa - therefore Google and Apple not hiring the other company's workers does not constitute a violations of rights.
Nor do I think it violates any free market ideas, at least not mine. What Google and Apple essentially are doing is disadvantaging themselves compared to their competitors. Any company that does not enter into a no-poach agreement is at a competitive advantage compared to all the companies who do. Let's say Samsung is not in this agreement, the result is that Samsung can hire both Google and Apple employees, while neither Apple nor Google have this privilege. The talent pool for Samsung would be greater than that of both Google and Apple, and it will be at a better position to hire the people with the qualifications they need.
Now, if Steve Jobs start making threatening calls to Samsung's CEOs, then we would have something that would constitute criminal activity. That is not acceptable. Steve Jobs cold-calling Brin/Page/Schmidt (can't remember who it was), and telling them in an agitated manner not to hire his employees is also on the verge of being criminal, at least if threats were involved. But my impression is that Jobs knew at least Schmidt fairly well privately, which makes it another matter than cold-calling some CEO at some company you've never heard of, and shouting at them not to hire your employees.