"The market rate"

So, Auckland City Council pays its chief executive almost $800,000 a year, and supposedly left-wing mayor Len Brown defends it as "the market rate".

Bullshit. The "global talent pool" is a self-interested myth, created by rich greedy sociopaths to benefit themselves. CEO's don't get poached internationally, and appointments of foreigners as CEOs is laughably rare. In other words, the threat we are supposedly paying these high salaries to defend against doesn't exist. And Len Brown is a fool for falling for it.