That one part is key. Acqui-hires are justified because the teams display high performance, not low cost. If the truth is that they happen for the second reason, expect a lot of fighting back against it once the word gets out.
> the teams display high performance, not low cost
Performance is relative to cost; you can't have one without the other. Trying to spin it as being only about performance is an attempt to deceive the labor.
If it helps, add "abnormally" before "low" and "high".
As of now, I don't have any certainty that there is any mass deceiving going on. Creating a team with very high performance is not easy, and it makes sense to reward it. But if there is deceiving, it is of one of the worst possible kinds.
And teams is the important bit - not individuals. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts etc.
They might all be top tier workers but there's a benefit to getting a fully functional team with institutional knowledge and processes rather than starting from the ground up.
