Are Silicon Valley's Glory Days Over?

Hugh Pickens writes "Pete Carey writes in the Mercury News that there are 'clear warning signs' that Silicon Valley has entered 'a new phase of uncertainty' in which its standing as a tech center is at risk and that decisive action by business, government and education is needed if the region is to retain its standing as the world's center of technical innovation. 'It could be that Silicon Valley has a different future coming,' says Russell Hancock. 'It's not a given that we will continue to be the epicenter of innovation.' Among the troubling indicators in the Silicon Valley Index (PDF): 90,000 jobs lost in the last two years; the influx of foreign science and engineering talent has slowed; venture capital funding has declined; per capita income is down 5 percent from 2007; and the number of people working as contractors rather than full-time employees is rising. Adding to the valley's problems is a malfunctioning state government that is shortchanging investment in education and infrastructure."

Christopher Walken had it right

[Nidi62]

Just flood it, and we can turn it into a lake.

Re:Outsource to Detroit

[Yergle143]

I also write poetry. :) My bad.

Re:Fewer jobs? More H-1bs!

[Baldrson]

That's right... nothing like Google would have been invented without immigrants. Nothing like Sun workstations would have been invented without immigrants. Indeed, when John Bardeen gave a talk at Altgelt Hall at the U of IL while under the impression his health problems were terminal hence it may have been his last opportunity to tell the history of the transistor, he claimed that Shockley ordered he and Brattain to stop work on semiconductors, forcing them to hide their work on germanium from him by placing it on a "rollycart" so they could roll it out of a closet at night to work on it while Shockley wasn't around and back in before morning. This is clearly sour-grapse symptomatic of the "lazy American engineer who should be working at Starbucks".

Re:We never needed foreign workers

[dilinger]

Nah, cast. Surely they were referring to changing pointer types. Hindus who perform type-safe casting tend to look down upon those who use unsafe casts.

Re:Fewer jobs? More H-1bs!

[Baldrson]

OMFG!!! Just imagine if Microsoft moved to India!

The Horror!

The Horror!