Steve Jobs colluded with other tech co's to keep US employee compensation low

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18. This is an example of a broader problem associated with semi-monopolies.

This month's Harper's magazine discusses the collusion problem in Silicon Valley and describes other situations around the country.

By not enforcing the Sherman anti-trust act, these large corporations have finally reached a point where they can collude to keep wages low. This is in contrast to the 90s when engineers would often switch jobs in Silicon Valley (SV) to get higher wages. The collusion, according to Harpers has meant that SV corporations aren't hiring engineers that worked for other firms. Even though these engineers could bring valuable expertise to their firms, they're standing firm on this collusion.

Harper's describes a massive factory (owned by a huge Brazillian company) in the eastern U.S. that sells under the Pilgrim's pride brand. That company has set up a "standard" for the chickens they purchase from area farmers. However, they refuse to be transparent about what the standard actually entails. In essence, they set the price they pay at different rates for different farmers. They tell the farmers not to tell any of the other farmers what they were paid. They are removing the vaunted "transparency" of the market.

Harpers website (Harpers.org ?) has a small blurb on this but if you can, check out the actual magazine.