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Silicon Valley Has Learned to Love the Bust
An anonymous reader writes "Fortune's David Kirkpatrick interviews scores of valley execs who have stopped worrying continued innovating. He writes: 'The underlying tech boom that began the bubble actually has never stopped. It just stopped paying off. Says Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, the company that has emerged as the head of the new class: "If anything, the rate of innovation in technology has increased in the past couple of years. But that doesn't necessarily make it a good business. The beneficiaries are the end users." Agrees Rob Carter, the CIO of FedEx: "The sound we heard wasn't the bubble bursting; it was the big bang."'"
the bust was bound to happen. what goes up must come down, and the faster it goes up, the faster it seems to come down. but at the same time, there was no danger of the technology disapearing. its not like i'm typing away on a typewriter, or a pen and paper, or a rock and chizel. the bust was just economical evolution, shaking off the weak and wasteful companies that wouldnt have made it very far. fp
YOU SUCK BALLS!
By contrast, the grunt workers, of whom most are Americans, will need to scramble for the next job. In this climate, the next job does not appear for more than a year. When a potential job does arise, the grunt worker will need to fend off droves of H-1B workers.
But then all that big-bang innovation will make up for the months of unemployment ....
So, yes, the engineering grunts are having a hard time. Read "Will code for food" by C|Net. The CEO of Google and the CIO of FedEx are living incredibly well on their million-dollar salaries, but the grunt American engineer is not doing well at all. There's mortgage payments, clothes for the kids, insurance bills, etc. The high-tech sector of the overall American economy is going through its worst recession in almost 3 decades.
No. We don't need any more H-1B workers.
No, I am not bitter that the job I just took is far beneath my skill level and pays less than half of what I am used to making. At least I can work from home at my new job. This allows me time to work on my own company. God willing, I will never be at the mercy of accountants again. Long live the geek!
its called finding the silver lining in the cloud.
My industry (very not related to tech) has been down 30% a year for a few years. We have grown in excess of 40% per year during this time. We found a way to grow in turbulent times. This doesn't make us bad, or the fact that we did hogwash. It means we are playing the game smarter.
The top 25% and the top 1% are generally there for a reason. I don't begrudge anyone who is more successful than I am, and would rather emulate them than bitch. That may be why we succeed where other just complain.
No one wants to interview an unsuccessful person. Failing is easy, just complain and don't try. Kicking ass in this economy is hard, and worth looking at.
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
Breakfast served all day!
I've always believed Heinlien had it right - you know that the economy is in danger when too many of the 'little people' get directly involved.
Sure, you have some issues with economic power being concentrated in a few institutions, but I'd rather have 1K investment houses than 10M sheep using online trading.
I've seen a tech office where every manager had an online trading program running in the background so he could make trades based on the latest Nortel ticker news. Of course, all the other sheep watched the same ticker, and made the same decision - making uninformed decisions based on other sheep's uninformed decisions was a recipe for disaster.
- The market is finite.
- At some point, someone will come up with a better equation (to selling), displacing the current market leader.
- Arrogance in a large corporation, in conjunction with utter greed, two negative virtues that have a tendency to come to those in power, will cause the downfall of even the most powerful entity.
One day, people will figure out the sorry fact that what goes up must come down.Some corporations in silicon valley have figured out what small business owners have always known and used to their advantage: In a time of economic bust, one of two things happen:
- You go miserably out of business.
- You innovate so that when things turn around, you have a head start against the competition.
Don't worry, though... They'll forget this lesson long before the next economic downturn.Rich people (and rich people wannabes) always say that wealth is created by hard work, and benefits the best people (i.e. those who work hard). But really, all they're doing is slapping each other on the back and cheering "rah, rah for me, I'm rich and I deserve it!" Right. Like their rich family and friends had nothing to do with it -- like joe sixpack down the street gets the same investment advice and opportunities as the son of a banker. Suuuuuurre.
Poor, working, and middle class people, who work MUCH harder than any rich man, know that the game is really about a) who you know, b) being in the right place at the right time, and c) dumb, stupid luck. Rich people make other rich people richer, ok? If you're not in the club, you're on the outside looking in.
Even if you're a "self-made man" you're likely to be on the lower levels of wealth in America. You don't see too many people zipping up to the "top 25% or 1%" just by hard work, pal. Out of 256 million people in this country, there are very few who've done that. Probably only a few hundred, total. Most of us just have joe jobs, man. We work harder than any rich guy, but we get paid bupkiss, IF that is, we don't get laid off.
Save it. Just keep it to yourself. It's a pile of dung, and it stinketh.
Farewell! It's been a fine buncha years!
According to the IRS, the top 25% make over $55,225 for the calander year 2000.
The top 10% of taxpayers are people who make $92,144 or more for the calander year 2000.
The top 5% of taxpayers? To qualify, you have to make $128,336
Now, to be in the top 1% of all taxpayers, you must make $313,469, a pretty good jump. Thats a difficult club to join. Once again, all for the calander year 2000.
Surprised? Its all at the IRS website. Why do people think that you have to make a million bucks to be in the top 25%, or even top 1%? That should tell you how BAD most people are doing, very often by their own bad choices. You probably work hard, and are in the top 25% easily, but just did not know it. Most hard working people who get laid off find good work again, the cream always rises to the top.
The middle class IS the top 25% of income tax payers.
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!