My problem with PG's original post is that there's no easy way to identify the so-called exceptional programmers, and he seems to disregard that. We can't magic

My problem with PG's original post is that there's no easy way to identify the so-called exceptional programmers, and he seems to disregard that. We can't magically find the "other" 95%", and give visas only to them. And, in most cases, you won't know for sure till many years later. Also, I dislike the ideological debate of H1B's, which seems to be OP's main point. H1B's are used to increase supply, which has the collateral effect of lowering wages (or keeping them at reasonable levels). Per PG's post: "I asked the CEO of a startup with about 70 programmers how many more he'd hire if he could get all the great programmers he wanted. He said: We'd hire 30 tomorrow morning". What, exactly, is holding this CEO from hiring 30 great developers, today? They simply can't afford them. Particularly being a small-ish startup, that can't compete head-to-head in terms of wages/benefits with Google, Facebbok, Apple. Of course a massive influx of talented immigrants (100x or not) would be a blessing. This is not a bad thing. It's possible that this startup would create even more value, more jobs, and pay more taxes, if they had the 30 additional programmers. H1B's or not. But let's not pretend the reason why this CEO is not filling the open positions is because they're not available in the US, and immigrants would be the only solution. Above all, I think the US needs a better immigration policy for the talents that will supply demand in the next 5, 10 years. It's insane that our taxpayer dollars go to fund education to bright foreign student, and we (forcibly) send them home after graduation. This is the dumbest use of taxpayer dollars, ever.