> You see this in upper management all the time; execs are friendly and graceful with each other because their material success is guaranteed, and promoting collegiality among execs is usually an orgizational goal.

i assume this is some sort of very subtle reductio ad absurdum?

> When people feel like good compensation is difficult to achieve, they put more effort into zero-sum internal politics, maintaining appearances, and so forth.

i was working at a place where the salaries were flat across the board, and set at a perfectly reasonable level, and it still didn't eliminate concern for appearances and bickering.