At the risk of over flogging this issue, let me state this. Employees are hired for the value they bring to the company and the point of remote work is that geography is irrelevant. FAANG paying 'local rates' does not make it right. It simply means FAANG is as exploitative as other companies. Consider the other end of the spectrum - international expatriate workers. These folk have great leverage and they get paid multiples of the local wage. How do you justify that ?