May 2, 2013

Mark Zuckerberg's conservative sock puppet site: Lindsey Graham has "our back"

As part of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's complex, multi-faceted plan to get Congress to pound down computer programmers' salaries further, the Big Zuck recently launched the FWD.US immigration deform advocacy umbrella group (a.k.a., the National Association for the Advancement of Billionaire People). Now, FWD.US has launched twin Republican and Democratic subsidiaries: Americans for a Conservative Direction and Council for American Job Growth, which are running ads supporting politicians backing the Gang of Eight's plan. 

Yes, I know this sounds like I've been dipping into Umberto Eco again, but it's true

The two subsidiary websites have identical little symbols come up on tabs in your browser, just red for the Republican "Americans for a Conservative Direction" and blue for the Democratic "Council for American Job Growth." The Republican site has headlines in red and subheads in blue, while the Democratic site has headlines in blue and subheads in red.

Try it and see for yourself!

Zuck's Republican sock puppet website has videos up of ads it made for Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio. The site's text reads:
Fixing a Broken Immigration System 
Our country has a broken immigration system and a broken border, both of which present huge obstacles to the businesses, job creators, and legal immigrants who have played by the rules and will help continue to grow our economy. It’s well past time for Congress to get to work on real solutions to secure our border, hold those who have broken our laws accountable, and improve our legal immigration system to meet our country’s needs and boost America’s competitiveness in a global economy.

Here's Zuck's Rubio ad:
And here's Zuck's Republican front men:
Our Board 
Haley Barbour 
Former Governor Haley Barbour served as the 62nd governor of Mississippi from 2004 to 2012 and served as Chairman of the Republican National Committee in the mid '90s. 
Sally Bradshaw 
Sally Bradshaw worked as former Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s Chief of Staff from 1999-2001, and served as a Co-Chair of the Republican National Committee’s Growth and Opportunity Project. 
Joel Kaplan 
Joel Kaplan is currently Vice President of US Public Policy at Facebook.  Joel also served as Deputy Chief of Staff to former President George W. Bush. 
Dan Senor 
Dan Senor is former chief advisor to Representative Paul Ryan on the Romney-Ryan 2012 campaign 
Rob Jesmer 
Rob Jesmer worked as the former Executive Director at the National Republican Senatorial Committee from 2008 – 2012. 

Meanwhile, Zuck is also funding for the Democrats the Council for American Job Growth, whose boilerplate reads:
Commonsense Principles to Create Jobs 
The U.S. has been built on the ingenuity and drive of immigrants – but right now, our broken immigration system and broken border are stalling job creation, hurting families, and hindering America’s competitiveness in the global economy. Congress must act to reform the legal immigration system to help small businesses continue to create and fill good jobs, and strengthen communities and American families. 

Here's Zuck's ad for Sen. Mark Begich (Democrat-Alaska).

Both the Graham and Begich ads are triple-bankshots intended to burnish their respective recipients' conservative, economic populist, patriotic credentials in the eyes of their Red State voters to give them cover to ram through amnesty and guest workers. For example, Zuck's blue ad credits Begich with wanting to open Alaska National Wildlife Reserve to oil drilling, a stance popular with blue collar Alaskans voters. Meanwhile, Zuck's red ad has Lindsay! pointing out that Obama is against the Keystone XL pipeline. Neither ad mentions immigration.

But the Sierra Club is mad at Zuckerberg for his attempt at finesse. From ABC News:
Less than three weeks after Mark Zuckerberg officially launched his pro-immigration reform group, the billionaire technology mogul seems to be experiencing the Facebook equivalent of a liberal de-friending. ...
Those television commercials led the Sierra Club to post a message to the environmental group's Facebook page on Monday urging Zuckerberg to "re-think his priorities." 
"Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg is bankrolling political ads that push dangerous, dirty projects like the Keystone XL pipeline and drilling in America's pristine Arctic Refuge," says the message accompanying a thumbs-down graphic dripping with oil. 
"Just last week, the Sierra Club announced our support for a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants -- so we know how important immigration reform is to the future of our country," Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, said in a statement to ABC News. "The way to achieve reform, however, isn't by pushing dirty fuel schemes that threaten our future and our families. Mark Zuckerberg has made comments in the past recognizing that we need to pursue a clean energy future, and there is no reason he needs to trade those principles for a few political points."
 "Maintaining two separate entities, Americans for a Conservative Direction and the Council for American Job Growth, to support elected officials across the political spectrum -- separately -- means that we can more effectively communicate with targeted audiences of their constituents," FWD.us spokeswoman Kate Hansen said in a statement.

In contrast, when the Sierra Club's stance on immigration gets bought, it stays bought.

In other news, Bill Gates (net worth $66 billion) and Steve Ballmer ($15.9 billion) have just joined Zuck's FWD.US umbrella group to reduce programmers' wages, because you can never be too rich or too low-paying.

Oh, that reminds me to ask you for more money, because I can only afford to have one entity.

First: you can make a non-tax deductible contribution to me by credit card via WePay by clicking here.

Second: you can make a tax deductible contribution to me via VDARE by clicking here.

Third: You can mail a non-tax deductible donation to:

Steve Sailer
P.O Box 4142
Valley Village, CA 91607-4142

Thanks.

61 comments:

Anonymous said...

perh"Fixing a Broken Immigration System"

They broke it, then they act like it wasn't broken intentionally and we need to give them more laws to "fix" the problem that they created. By "fixing" it they mean make the problem worse.

Anonymous said...

We already have Haim Saban and Shelodn Adelson.

Just a nobody said...

"Maintaining two separate entities, Americans for a Conservative Direction and the Council for American Job Growth, to support elected officials across the political spectrum -- separately -- means that we can more effectively communicate with targeted audiences of their constituents," FWD.us spokeswoman Kate Hansen said in a statement.


* * *

They actually intend to speak with a forked tongue.

Dave Pinsen said...

"Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos."

Anonymous said...

Sam Francis called the Democrats the evil party and the Republicans the stupid party.

He was wrong.

The Democrats are the Jewish party.

The Republicans, in stark contrast, are the Jewish party.

rightsaidfred said...

That is all pretty slick.

I'm reminded of the opposition to legalizing drugs on the grounds that we don't want the big money marketers in on the game of shipping drugs by the container full onto our people (or what's left of them).

We're suffering Zuck the master marketer shipping new ethnics onto our people (or what's left of them) by the container full.

Dahlia said...

Very good, Steve. Nice catch.
Average Americans just don't think like these people. Take everything at face value.

My mom the other day would not stop repeating that jobs were sent overseas because the unions got too greedy (back in the '60s); poor babies were forced to import and export labor. She's 56 and gets all her news from the t.v.

Anonymous said...

Bill Gates is worth $66 billion dollars?

In the words of the incompetent and fired HR feminista Adria Richards, those are some big dongles.

Hunsdon said...

Wow, that web design is just . . . phoned in. I don't know how much Zuck is funneling into this thing, but he's not getting his money's worth. Maybe he needs some more subcontinental programmers.

Anonymous said...

Well, the Bay Area which is more Asian is growing the fastest in Ca. This means that the tech vistas are being used in the Bay Area. The Bay Area lower on kids population than the Inland Counties of California which are more Hispanic is growing more. Theory, Hispanics are growing faster in the kids population in California and slower in the adults population. For example, Anaheim is the slowest growth city of the large cities in California while Irvine is a high flyer and a city which is below the average for kids since Asians have less babies. When Hispanics hit adulthood they moved away from Anaheim and moved Inland since they places with 40 percent or more Hispanic populations with growth are Inland like Imperial City in Imperial or Lake Elsinore or Indio. Illegals well moved to Anaheim to get a job in the Hotel industry or Resturant Industry and their kid will moved to the Inland Empire since Riverside grew about.9 to OC's .8. The faster growth of the Bay Area does confirmed that immirgation has shifted to the Asian countries while Hispanic immirgation to California is lower as well.

Harry Baldwin said...

I like that term "the Big Zuck" for Zuckerberg.

It is reminiscent of
"the Giant Sucking Sound" Ross Perot warned us we'd hear as our jobs disappeared across our borders when NAFTA passed.

Of course, Clinton won that election and there were sucking sounds aplenty.

Anonymous said...

Haley Barbour

Former Governor Haley Barbour served as the 62nd governor of Mississippi from 2004 to 2012 and served as Chairman of the Republican National Committee in the mid '90s. Barbour reminds me of Boss Hog,anyway, Miss is use to cheap labor it use to be blacks and now when they can Mexicans. A manufactoring company in Miss was found to have hired illegals to make RV parts.

Anonymous said...

The two-headed beast is comically deceptive, but that's a cheap shot on Gates.

Gates has sold most of his Microsoft stock, and in any case is giving away his wealth in highly effective philanthropy. His personal consumption is not going to be affected one iota either way.

It's almost as absurd as people who claim Gates is giving his wealth away to make money on tax deductions (no, Virginia, tax rates are below 100%, so even with charitable tax deductions you wind up with less money than you started with when you give it away).

And cheaper programmers mean cheaper and better software for the vast majority of Americans, who have lower aggregate income than software enginers.

Aaron said...

Both sites say "Created with NationBuilder". They saved money by splitting a single license between the two of them, very smart! They are also sharing the same web server, 64.22.108.27 (ping both URLs in command prompt).

Anonymous said...

Sally Bradshaw

Sally Bradshaw worked as former Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s Chief of Staff from 1999-2001, and served as a Co-Chair of the Republican National Committee’s Growth and Opportunity Project.

Joel Kaplan

Joel Kaplan is currently Vice President of US Public Policy at Facebook. Joel also served as Deputy Chief of Staff to former President George W. Bush. Noticed they worked for both Jebba and Dubyna.

Anonymous said...

Well, the Republican Party seems to be control by Kern County California, home of Kevin Mccarthy. Kevin opposed e-verify and Kern is the home of the religous right with a lot of cheap labor Agricultural which gives the Repubs a lot of money. The Repubs hate California but their politcs seem to be out of Kern County.

Anonymous said...

Steve,

Slightly OT. But check out this article from the Daily Mail featuring a photo spread of Central Americans riding on top of Mexican trains traveling all the way through Mexico towards the US border. These is ridiculous. The Mexican authorities are not even trying to stop this. And these are not computer programmers. These are people who will be a permanent underclass.

These photos represent the real face of immigration, and if shown to the American public would surely enrage a great many into contacting their representatives.

Mark said...

Steve,

You don't need to publish this but I just wanted to let you know that the proprietor of the site Habitable Worlds seems to harbor an anti-Sailer grudge.

See comments:

http://habitableworlds.wordpress.com/2013/05/02/violence-and-history/#comments

..

Anonymous said...

Looks like Zuckerberg rates his fiduciary duties to his shareholders far more highly than his civic duties to his fellow citizens. Steve: on the assumption that Zuckerberg is a liberal, does this not conflict with your theory that liberals tend to prioritize the duty with the widest scope? Perhaps there is an exception when money is on the line.

Mark said...

And also Habital Worlds refuses to link to Sailer under the HBD blogroll.....

Anonymous said...

The idea that there is some desperate shortage of American STEM graduates is often cited as the reason why we need ... NEED, I say... more open borders to foreign tech workers.

But the reality is that "For every two students that U.S. colleges graduate with STEM degrees, only one is hired into a STEM job."

Aaron said...

"the site Habitable Worlds seems to harbor an anti-Sailer grudge."

nah. Scharlach's comment isn't really pro or anti Sailer. All he's really saying is that if an argument is presented in a certain way or linked to a particular type of source that it then gives the audience an emotional license to ignore or misinterpret whatever information you're trying to present. This occurs because of political tribalism and things like the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_fallacy>genetic fallacy</a>. Scharlach wants to bypass right vs. left because of all the baggage it carries. (I think, not that I want to put words in his mouth).

Anonymous said...

It is reminiscent of
"the Giant Sucking Sound" Ross Perot warned us we'd hear as our jobs disappeared across our borders when NAFTA passed.

Of course, Clinton won that election and there were sucking sounds aplenty.

5/2/13, 8:42 AM
Believe it or not, the biggest Mexican boom was pre-Nafta, under Ronald Reagan and early term of Bush H, over 4million Mexicans and under Clinton over 3 million, the left uses Nafta as an excuse for high levels of illegal immirgants, sure they were Mexican farmers hurt but a lot of illegals came in the 1980's. Bush also attractive a lot with the housing boom post Nafta at about 2.7 million but the recession cut them down under Obama until now with the legalization process under 2 million.

Jim Bowery said...

I don't believe Gates and Zuck are being greedy -- at least not anymore. Perhaps they were once motivated by greed but now they are surrounded by a moat of foreign sycophants that have totally insulated them from the reality of what is being done to the rest of society. Those sycophants are capable of amazing feats of mind control the likes of which Steve Jobs, with his famous reality distortion field, would be most envious.

Anonymous said...

•In 2011, Mexican immigrants had a comparatively lower rate of naturalization, 36% of those eligible, compared with 61% for all immigrants and 68% for all non-Mexican immigrants.
•Mexican naturalization rates are also lower than those of immigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean—36% versus 61% in 2011.
This is another reason why Republcian are pushing for legalization since lots of Mexicans don't become citizens like certain Asian groups or othres. They can get the cheap labor but not get hurt as much since they states they dominate whites vote heavily for them. It is called the Texas effect. A lot of illegals moved into Texas under Rick Perry's governorship to do construcation jobs and service jobs while white vote moved rightward because Texas got a lot of whites like Chuck Devore conservative politican that use to be in Orange County to moved to Texas as a low tax and regulate state and they the conservative whites could afford to live in areas not as Hispanic because the housing is cheaper.

Anonymous said...

cheaper programmers mean cheaper and better software for the vast majority of Americans


There is no reason whatsoever why "cheaper programmers" have to live in the US. In fact if "cheaper programmers" are the Holy Grail then they should NOT live in the US. In the interests of the "vast majority of Americans" we'd be better off exporting virtually all programming jobs abroad to counties with a much lower standard of living where the programmers can be paid much less.

Of course you could say the same thing about every job done in the US.

Anonymous said...

Yea, nice "find." When you outsource your immigration beat to Kaus it amazing how many posts you can spend on teeny bob terrorist.

Cail Corishev said...

And cheaper programmers mean cheaper and better software for the vast majority of Americans, who have lower aggregate income than software enginers.

No it doesn't. The cheapest (and often best) software is free/open-source, which is created almost exclusively by European and American white guys who can spell engineers. That's not a coincidence.

But even if what you say were true, is that a good enough reason to turn an entire industry over to foreigners? Is there any job that no one might do cheaper overseas somewhere? When Mexicans grow all our food and Chinese build all our stuff and Indians do all our thinking, how are we going to earn a paycheck so we can buy it all from them?

Do we really think we can have a sustainable society full of politicians, bankers, and performance artists? Douglas Adams wrote a book like that once, but I'm pretty sure he was kidding.

FWG said...

Funny, I always thought I had to watch my back around Graham! *rimshot*

Dave Pinsen said...

"Both sites say "Created with NationBuilder"."

Meet the founder of NationBuilder, Jim Gilliam.

Anonymous said...

Zuckers zucking up to Zuck oughta zuck off.

FWG said...

Steve can be found under "The American Front" on the Habitable Worlds page.

Cail Corishev said...

I don't believe Gates and Zuck are being greedy -- at least not anymore.

I think it's often said that at that level, the money is just a way to keep score. I agree, it's not greed for them; it's social climbing and having the right attitudes to mingle with the right kinds of people. It's about having reporters and biographers throw you softballs and lionize you instead of demanding explanations for your positions. They'd do it even if it cost their companies money -- but it sure doesn't hurt that they profit from it.

ATBOTL said...

Haley Barbour is an especially disgusting specimen: a big, fat, old, pompous, back slapping, good old boy, country club, Southern plantation owner wannabe type with no principals whatsoever.

Raimond Vernunft said...

The Zuckster is not in good odour on the other side of the Atlantic either.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22368287

Some of the comments (e.g. #243) are eyebrow-raising.

Anonymous said...

http://www.theoccidentalobserver.net/2013/05/the-new-immigration-assault-on-white-america-the-hostile-elite-on-steroids/#more-18933

TontoBubbaGoldstein said...

I, a proud native of South Carolina, respectfully request that you never again use the words "Lindsey Graham" and "has 'our'back" in the same sentence.

Paul Mendez said...

Zuckerberg's attempts to influence the immigration discussion are so blatantly lame that it must mean one of two things:

1) Nouveau Ruling Class Elites like Zuckerberg just aren't as intelligent and subtle as the Old Guard Ruling Class Elites used to be.

2) The Ruling Class Elites just don't think we Nouveau Peons are as intelligent and subtle as the Old Guard Peons used to be.

Anonymous said...

Between 2000 and 2011, there has been a net increase of 9.3 million in the foreign born population, largely from Asia and Latin America, with these newcomers accounting for about two out of every five new residents of the nation’s 51 largest metropolitan areas. And these immigrants show a growing preference for more “suburbanized” cities such as Nashville, Charlotte, Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth. An analysis of census data shows only New York—with nearly four times the population—drew (barely) more foreign-born arrivals over the past decade than sprawling Houston. Overwhelmingly suburban Riverside–San Bernardino expanded its immigrant population by nearly three times as many people as the much larger and denser Los Angeles–Orange County metropolitan area

Anonyia said...

The sad thing about Zuckerberg's ploy is that most white American computer programmers, being libertarians, have no problem with it. I haven't met a single programmer who wasn't a huge proponent of open borders.

Anonyia said...


"My mom the other day would not stop repeating that jobs were sent overseas because the unions got too greedy (back in the '60s); poor babies were forced to import and export labor. She's 56 and gets all her news from the t.v."

Dahlia, my blue-collar grandparents repeat the same lines. This is despite the fact that the many of the jobs my grandfather once held are now held by illegals getting paid half as much. But a decade of retirement and Fox News has removed them from reality.

Roland said...

Anon 3:23 AM said:

"They broke it, then they act like it wasn't broken intentionally and we need to give them more laws to 'fix' the problem that they created. By 'fixing' it they mean make the problem worse."

So true. This bill is a pernicious load of crap. The only hope seems to be that the greedy whiners will overreach and destroy it themselves through their infighting.

Anonymous said...

Construction is set to begin on the first phase of a massive housing development that is part of the city of Irvine's long-awaited Great Park project.

A total of 726 single-family homes and detached condominium units are planned for Pavilion Park, which will be the first part of the Great Park Neighborhoods development. This week, eight major home builders bought land in this first offering from master developer FivePoint Communities Inc. Construction of the new homes, priced from the high $600,000 range to $1.2 million, is expected to begin this month.

"Look, this is for real. Anybody who was wondering whether this was going to happen or not, hopefully this answers that," FivePoint Chief Executive Emile Haddad said. "When you have eight builders investing, this should tell everybody that this project is moving, and the next phase is going to happen very quickly."Hispanics built where Rich Asians , Irvine grew about 3.2 percent and is the only city to grow big in the OC since its about 40 percent Asian, the great parks is being described as mufti-generational and Lambert Ranch another Irvine home project was mutli-generational and appeal more to Asians-American and Foreign born than to Whites.

FWG said...

What does it say when the two South Carolinians on the thread joke about Graham's sexuality? No one I know really talks about it, but I dont think I'm alone in my suspicions.

kudzu bob said...

the site Habitable Worlds seems to harbor an anti-Sailer grudge

What Aaron said, not to mention that Habitable Worlds includes a link to Sailer, which shoots down your interpretation.

Either you need to get eyeglasses or to pay attention.

Anonymous said...

If Sailer was worth 20 billion and if Zuck was worth $50,000, politicians would be heeding Sailer's advice.

Politicians are prostitutes as they don't win elections without big money and big media(controlled by big money).

Politicians have ALWAYS been prostitutes.

So, we can't blame Graham and Rubio for being what they are.
We should blame ourselves for being dumbasses who failed to make the kind of wealth made by Zuck and Brin.


Had we done so, politicians would be lining up to suckle our toes.

Semi-employed White Guy said...

The sad thing about Zuckerberg's ploy is that most white American computer programmers, being libertarians, have no problem with it. I haven't met a single programmer who wasn't a huge proponent of open borders.

Most of my fellow senior software engineers are NOT open borders advocates. The younger guys tend to more sensitive, multi-culti-PC, Obama-supporter types than libertarians, and are probably more pro-immigration. But then it is much easier for these junior engineers and IT workers to find new similar low-paying jobs, than it is for senior engineers to find new jobs at similar pay levels. Also, us older guys tend to have a family to support, where they do not.

Dave Pinsen said...

"My mom the other day would not stop repeating that jobs were sent overseas because the unions got too greedy"

You know, it's possible for these two statements to both be true:

1) American unions got too greedy.

2) American management in non-unionized businesses got too stingy.

Mickey Kaus, who is no fan of importing cheap labor, has written extensively about the role UAW the had (in terms of costs as well as inflexible rules) in driving 2 of the Big 3 US automakers into the ground.

It's not a cut & dried question of whether unions are good or bad. German companies make great, highly-profitable products with highly-paid unionized workers (they also make great, highly-profitable products with lower-paid, non-unionized workers in US factories). But unions and management haven't had as constructive relationships in the US.

Anonymous said...

If Sailer was worth 20 billion and if Zuck was worth $50,000, politicians would be heeding Sailer's advice.


Tell that to the Koch brothers.

Harry Baldwin said...

FWG said...What does it say when the two South Carolinians on the thread joke about Graham's sexuality? No one I know really talks about it, but I dont think I'm alone in my suspicions.

Really, you have "suspicions"? That's like having suspicions about Liberace.

Anonymous said...

Anyone who thinks that conservatives identify with the MSM "red" symbol doesn't know Jack.

Mr. Anon said...

"Anonymous said...

And cheaper programmers mean cheaper and better software for the vast majority of Americans, who have lower aggregate income than software enginers."

Yeah, that's why a copy of Vista Home cost $199 and sucked wang.

Anonymous said...

It's not a cut & dried question of whether unions are good or bad. German companies make great, highly-profitable products with highly-paid unionized workers (they also make great, highly-profitable products with lower-paid, non-unionized workers in US factories). But unions and management haven't had as constructive relationships in the US. They also use low wage Turkish guestworkes in Germany as well. As for wages I think most of the Eurpoean jobs actually are not high paying they have the government health care added into the benefits. In fact, i was shocked to find out that Sweden average income is not much higher than blacks in the States, its just that people ger more benefits in Sweden, also housing is more expensive in Europe, so people tend to be renters anyway.

Anonymous said...

And cheaper programmers mean cheaper and better software for the vast majority of Americans, who have lower aggregate income than software enginers. True, programmers as people pointed out can just have a high school education that has a lot of programming classes, or community college or trade school not always a four year degree but in Texas unlike California they probably make more than some school teachers. California and New York are known to pay high money for teachers that stay in for over 10 years.

Mr. Anon said...

"Anonymous said...

And cheaper programmers mean cheaper and better software for the vast majority of Americans,....."

No, this is not true. You keep repeating this lie, hoping it will become truth by repetition. It doesn't.

Anonymous said...

cheaper programmers mean cheaper and better software for the vast majority of Americans


While cheaper programmers mean cheaper software, they do not necessarily mean better software.

And if "cheaper and better software for the vast majority of Americans" is the goal, the solution is obvious - fire all American=based programmers and do software development overseas.

An Indian, Chinese or Russian programmer living in the US will always be paid much more than if they were living and working in India, China, or Russia. So stop bringing them here and paying them American salaries. Let them do the same work in their own low-wage countries. That is the true logic of the "cheaper software is better" position.

The argument to bring foreign tech workers to the US has jack to do with "cheaper and better software for the vast majority of Americans" and everything to do with a small number of very wealthy Americans getting even richer.

If Zuckerberg is so attracted to Indian software programmers, let him move to India and try to run his business there.

Dave Pinsen said...

Steve,

FYI, FWD.us is starting to get push back from open borders advocates in the tech community who don't like the triple bank shots that support the conservative side of other issues. See: FWD.us Breaks Its First Promise.

David said...

>[Gates is] giving away his wealth in highly effective philanthropy<

Pushing seed-and-small-farm-destroying GMO to grow millions of IQ-70 (pdf) Africans so that Monsanto can profit until Africa is turned into a ecological dead zone sounds like a smart use of $264.5 million...if you're insane.

>We should blame ourselves for being dumbasses who failed to make the kind of wealth made by Zuck and Brin.<

All 315+ million Americans should castigate themselves for not being billionaires. If each one of them had invented a search engine program or a social media template, then the aggregate wealth of the US would be at least 315 million billion dollars, i.e., 315,000 trillion.

(If these quotes are typical of the thinking of programmers, then perhaps programming really ought to be phased out of the US as quickly as possible.)

rob said...

I gots me a Gladwell-esque theory about subcon Indians and their history of rice farming. Selection over dozens of generations as peon farmers for the majority, and recitation of memorized nonsense for the witchdoctors at the top has turned Indians into people who can grind out truly amazing quantities of low quality work. It's surprising for whites, because our dumbs tend to be lazies as well. The Indian inclination to do and do and do without being able to think about whether doing is actually worthwhile leads to bloated, crap software which they produce at rock-bottom prices per line of code. For the Indians themselves, their tendencies produce the unbelievable misery of India.

I also wonder what's so impressive about facebook techwise. It seems to be a better-marketed version of Myspace or any other social network.

SFG said...

Steve: do us a favor and take screenshots of the almost-identical websites? They may get wise and change them in a little while.

irandom419 said...

I actually think it might backfire on them. I keep hearing that a lot want to come here make good money compared to home and start a business once they return. Also there aren't that many competent programmers out there and eventually they'd exhaust the supply. Another thing I hear is that some Americans make good money fixing all that bad code. A lot of the programmers are passing themselves off as having a Masters of Comp Sci when it is a Master of Comp Sci which is something like a one year certificate.