Silly...
Oh come now, theft is the perfect capitalistic transaction. When someone finds a good deal they call it a "steal". When a salesman finds a sucker they call it "killing". When you find out you've fallen for a salesperson's ploy you claim that you've been "robbed". Theft is the ideal in the capitalist society where the zero sum is perfection and people who make and sell products will allways strive to make it as cheaply as possible and sell it for as much as possible. They will cheat employees asmuch as they can and they will rob the consumer when they are able, is this not theft as well? Is there some higher sense of morality in this action where you rob more people by your actions as a business than a bank robber would when robbing a bank?
See, there is little difference and a salesperson would gladly just take your money without giving you a thing in return if it were allowed. Robbery and the current mode of capitalism in the US are one and the same, there is little, if any, moral difference here.
The mobility of a workforce protects them from abuse so long as they are mobile. If their mobility is taken away then they are open to be exploited. It is my contention that businesses are attempting to limit the mobility of IT professionals and thus exploit them, you can see evidence of this by the decline of salary levels for IT people and the layoffs of late.
You and I agree that the government should stay out of the mix, but they should do so both ways and stay out of the worker's way when they decide to strike back at the company when they go too far in their exploitation of the worker. Right now I would say that the government does more for business than it does for the worker so if you lke business you shouldbe happy to have a government right now.
