> People truly good enough to get the employer to pony up $100K to pull them in -- presuming there isn't some kickback fraud happening -- will truly be the best of the best.

And what stops those people, best of the best, working somewhere else, with much better living standard(EU) ?

In the past, it's because of salary, but now, the 100k/year will either make company to lower their package, or try to extract much more from the employee.