Where I live, pretty much if you want an IT job you can have one. Other software fields are the same. Most people I know have very little problem finding a job or getting a different one. Maybe we're in a weird bubble though I'm not convinced of that. I have friends all over the US that say they have little trouble finding software jobs.
    Most of them aren't open source though. However there are some.

Considering someone has patented 'Method of swinging on a swing': patent: 6,368,227), single-click, etc. It's safe to say having a patent no longer means anything regarding your technical skills.

Sorry to nitpick. I agree with your premise that experience counts, I just hate when someone thinks patents actually mean anything. Luckily, one bad example does not negate your point.

Bull. There are no new ideas. The details may change, (language, processor, ...) but the over all concepts don't. I just had this discussion with my wife and friends a couple weeks ago. They're doing pretty much the same thing they did 10 years ago. Half of IT (and software and harware) is ooohhhhh shiny new language. Let's rewrite stuff. Don't kid yourself, there really are very, very few new concepts. Experience matters.

This! 100 times, this!

I lived there for a while, went to Uni there, am married to a Chinese person and have many Chinese friends, both here and in China. I'm very comfortable saying that Chinese people do not innovate very well. In general, creativity and innovation are not traits that are encouraged in Chinese society. The culture encourages conformity and the like. In school, they study very, VERY hard but it's route memorization not creativity. They are much better at copying others' ideas than coming up with their own. That's not US marketing speaking, that's my own observations.

Whereas without regulations, everything is happy-happy koombaya land?

Note: I'm not disagreeing with you, but not having regulations doesn't work either.

If this article has any bearing in reality, then no. The courts will say this infringes advertisers' freedom of speech and will be struck down.

Article summary: Freedom of speech is becoming a large stick with which corporations and let-the-market-decide type folks can beat everyone into submission.

Are you German, do you live in Germany, do you speak/read German and can follow the news? If yes to any of those, I will listen to what you say. If not, then, well, you are welcome to your opinion. While I don't outright dismiss it, austerity is not high on my list of guesses on Germany's economic situation. And let's be honest, we're all guessing.

No, Germany is doing well because of all the exports to China.

Note: I speak and read German. I've had this conversation with German friends of mine who currently live in Germany so I dont' feel I'm completely the economic equivalent of a 72 hour journalist. (A 72 hr journalist is someone who goes somewhere for 3 days and thinks he understands everything about the place. )

I would not put 'austerity' and 'China' in the same sentence. The Chinese government is spending money like a sailor on a 3 day leave at port. The amount of money their spending on infrastructure along is embarrassing. Highways, bridges, dams, ...

Also, China's move to a market economy can be more aptly described as 'Ooooh, capitalism brings in lots of cash. Let's do that but with 'Chinese characteristics' (read: capitalistic but not democratic.)

Also note: I speak and read Chinese as well and lived there. I've also had this conversation with Chinese people in China.

Disgruntled employees of all the other OS airlines decide to start their own airline. They build the planes, ticket counters, and pave the runways themselves. They charge a small fee to cover the cost of printing the ticket, but you can also download and print the ticket yourself. When you board the plane, you are given a seat, four bolts, a wrench and a copy of the seat-HOWTO.html. Once settled, the fully adjustable seat is very comfortable, the plane leaves and arrives on time without a single problem, the in-flight meal is wonderful. You try to tell customers of the other airlines about the great trip, but all they can say is, "You had to do what with the seat?"

However, I believe this more accurately sums up one of the big problems with linux:
Disgruntled employees of all the other OS airlines decide to start their own airline. They build the planes, ticket counters, and pave the runways themselves. They charge a small fee to cover the cost of printing the ticket, but you can also download and print the ticket yourself. When you board the plane, you are given a seat, four bolts, a wrench and a copy of the seat-HOWTO.html. Half of the passengers however decide that they dont like the #10 bolts used to fasten the chair down and that since Linux is all about choice they're going to improve the bolts. So they whip out their tap and die sets and proceed to 'do things their way'. They then proceed to tell everyone around them how good their bolts are. Half of the plane doesn't care because 'it's just a goddamn bolt' and the other half insists on doing it their own way because 'they can'. They then split up into 50 camps each with a slightly different bolt thread or length. The plane can't take off until all the chairs are fastened, so the plane never actually leaves the terminal. All the other airlines' passengers laugh as they take off because LinuxAir travelers insist on debating the same stupid shit over and over and over and over ...

+1

Remember when the argument was:
"But a person only uses 20% of MS Office features"
"But everybody uses a different 20%."

Bullocks. Push people on what features they actually use. Most people really do use the roughly the same 20%. The vast majority of people I've talked with and seen what they do, Office 97 is just fine.

Agreed, it's a totally different mentality.
    Being an engineer in China is an entry level position, and by that I mean it's just a stepping stone. Management is the goal. In the US you'll find people who want to be engineers their whole lives. It's a source of pride. Not in China. If you're not in management by the time you're 35, there must be something wrong with you. Do just enough as an engineer to get by and spend your time trying to become a manager. But then once you become a manager, you spend ridiculous amounts of time keeping that position because of all the up-and-comers that want that job. (Both of my sisters-in-law tell stories of the stress they're under all the time.)

From what I see:
    In the US, say you're an engineer and people respect you, say you have an MBA and people look at you like you don't have any _real_ skills.
    In China, say you have an MBA and people respect you, say you're an engineer and they look at you like you don't have any _real_ skills.

Examples on both sides.
  A counter example; HP.
    It used to be run by the engineers. Then 'proper' management took over. Now look at it.

WTF are you talking about? China's one-child-only policy is most certainly not voluntary. What hole did you pull this mis-information out of?

"There must be a return on such a significant investment."
    That return isn't necessarily monetary. If you major in literature because you really do appreciate the classics, you could still feel it's worthwhile, even though you will get zero monetary return.

    My issue is the for-profit colleges and universities are turning a higher education into very expensive job training. Churn out the cogs for companies and charge the student (directly or indirectly) throw the nose for it.