None of the things you perceived are what I think the H1B should be for though

so I can see how we're talking past each other

in neither my model or the current model, a salary percentage over what the government publishes has nothing to do anything. that's not a factor.

your wage being lower than what a US candidate would be paid for that role is not a factor either.

regarding the talent pool, I think you have it backwards to rationalize how it benefited you, companies are often looking for candidates in many places and then retroactively decide whether to accomodate special circumstances such as visa sponsorship

I'm glad you felt valued, empowered, had a nice compensation package, and a naturalization path you were looking for

now to my model: in 2013 the minimum salary for the H1B with a master's degree should have been ~$113,000. Solely based on the 1989 $60,000 number adjusted for inflation. if the company wouldn't have justified that for their inability to fill the position domestically then it still shouldn't have occurred. or systems programming was that valuable and would have pushed up salaries faster because of the actual shortage.