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The standard of living for Americans doesn't depend on the pay rate of software engineers. The profit margins of software companies are already astonishingly hi
by hannasanarion 5y ago
The standard of living for Americans doesn't depend on the pay rate of software engineers. The profit margins of software companies are already astonishingly high. No tech firm is buckling under the weight of their payroll, they are making bank.
Google's 2nd quarter financials show a 64% operating profit. Arguably there isn't enough money from these companies going back to the people who actually did the work to generate that success. They could start paying everybody double and still be making more money than any other market sector could dream of.
Depressing the wages of software engineers doesn't mean increased standard of living for Americans, it can only mean increased profit margins for stockholders.
- petersellers 5y agoThe point is that by allowing more highly-skilled immigrants into the country, it enables many other companies to make use of that high-skill labor and increase productivity (which would increase our standard of living, in theory). The lowering of wages is only a side effect of that.
- onlyrealcuzzo 5y agoWhy do the companies have to be in the US? Why can't they be in Mexico or India or Brazil - and US investors just invest in those companies and get the resulting dividends? Why does the company have to exist in the US for us to get any benefits of increased productivity?
- kwere 5y ago1) network effects 2) pro business rule of law & attitude 3) cash > "political" network
- jl2718 5y agoBut there is generational fallout from this policy too.