High Tech Execs Want It Both Ways...Surprise, Surprise

Here is one you absolutely must read.

Silicon Valley executives were in Washington a few weeks back asking for billions in federal spending to help U.S. tech workers remain competitive in a global market. Noble enough rhetoric, but as quick as they were to ask for taxpayer money, these same execs defended the accelerating practice of “offshoring” — sending tech jobs overseas.

While asking for government assistance to remain competitive is a time-honored tradition, the incongruence here is jarring. The heydays of the late 1990s recede in the rearview mirror, but an unfortunate Silicon Valley myth remains fixed in the region’s consciousness.

Stalwart and bold executives, venture capitalists and technologists took massive risks where others feared to tread, reaping rewards and building the Valley from ground up. So goes the story. Theirs was a world of unfettered capitalism that succeeded, in no small part, because of its independence from a stodgy and sclerotic government.

The execs’ comments in Washington contained echoes of this story. Government should know its place. Gives us tax breaks for research and development, spend more on math and science education and pay to retrain our displaced workers. But leave the innovation to us; we know what’s best.

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