At the core of PG's post are two related errors (1) that US companies, without immigration barriers, would choose to recruit these top 5% programmers, and (2) t

At the core of PG's post are two related errors (1) that US companies, without immigration barriers, would choose to recruit these top 5% programmers, and (2) that these 5% would want to move to the US. Whether companies even can select out this 1-in-20 person is implausible, especially from overseas. The top 25% maybe. I can only ascribe (1) to an unreasoning faith in American capitalism and (2) to a lack of travel and living overseas. In my experience the 5% programmers are already taken. America does need to reduce the immigration admin burden to encourage innovation, but its only a part of the problem. And maybe American companies should try harder to innovate in other countries.