Democrats choose trial lawyers over Silicon Valley

[Sbane]

When has Silicon Valley complained about taxation? People across Silicon Valley, including the richers (look up precinct data), voted for Obama twice even though he wanted to raise taxes on families making more than $250,000.

[traininthedistance]

There's also the super-discriminatory and all-encompassing brogrammer culture, where job interviews are conducted more like fraternity rushes, and all manner of racism, sexism, and classism is justified with that magic phrase "culture fit".

[Sbane]

There's also the super-discriminatory and all-encompassing brogrammer culture, where job interviews are conducted more like fraternity rushes, and all manner of racism, sexism, and classism is justified with that magic phrase "culture fit".

Yeah, I thought so. You have no clue about what you are talking about. As someone who has multiple friends and family in the tech sector, including startups, that stereotype has no basis in reality.

[traininthedistance]

There's also the super-discriminatory and all-encompassing brogrammer culture, where job interviews are conducted more like fraternity rushes, and all manner of racism, sexism, and classism is justified with that magic phrase "culture fit".

Yeah, I thought so. You have no clue about what you are talking about. As someone who has multiple friends and family in the tech sector, including startups, that stereotype has no basis in reality.

That's nice.  Care to explain this or this or this or this or... oh, f**k it, I could go on all day.

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I dunno, maybe your circle is lucky.  Maybe it's so much already a fit with that culture that it can't see the problem with it.  But don't try to tell me there aren't problems.

And for what it's worth I'm not even all that anti-SV compared to many folks here.  I'll take their hegemony over the ExxonMobils and the WalMarts anyday; I don't go in for the misinformed knee-jerk pseudo-populist opposition that prefers million-dollar taxi medallions to plentiful mobility and thinks that restricting housing supply will magically make San Francisco cheaper.  I'll defend tech when it deserves defending.  But come on, it's obvious to everyone everywhere that tech does have a culture problem, and is actively hypocritical on several fronts.

...

ETA:

From that same article (mods, feel free to cut down if I'm quoting too much, but preferably keep this bit):

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Care to defend that?  Care to explain it?

[Beet]

There's definitely ageism in SV. One of my aunts has worked for just about every technology company in the Valley for the last 20 years and she said she had to retire because at her last job, at Google, the kids would make fun of her for not understanding the abbreviations they used, e.g., they never communicated with each other using complete words. When she tried to ask the supervisor the meaning of an email, he got mad. After that she knew it was her time to go. Fortunately for her she was near retirement age anyway.

That's not the only industry this sort of thing happens in, of course. It's just that SV gets a lot of attention because it's success level is through the sky. I'm sure the Wall Street boiler rooms of the go-go Clinton/Bush years were just as bad.

[Antonio the Sixth]

read this piece from the WSJ.

How about no?

On the main topic, Lief said everything that needed to be said.

[memphis]

When has Silicon Valley complained about taxation? People across Silicon Valley, including the richers (look up precinct data), voted for Obama twice even though he wanted to raise taxes on families making more than $250,000.

The number of people with adjusted gross income (after all deductions) greater than $250,000 is pretty damn small even in places where you might think otherwise. All those people in California are deducting an enormous amount of mortgage interest, student loan interest, 401(k) contributions and so on.

[Deus Naturae]

So...does anyone actually have an argument in favor of software patents other than "trial lawyers donate to Democrats?"

[Sbane]

I agree there is ageism in Silicon Valley, but it's present in many other industries as well. As for the low number of blacks and hispanics, that shows a problem with our education system. Perhaps with our society as well but it's unfair to blame it on tech companies. And startups with sh**tty cultures do exist but that doesn't mean all places are the same.

[memphis]

I agree there is ageism in Silicon Valley, but it's present in many other industries as well. As for the low number of blacks and hispanics, that shows a problem with our education system. Perhaps with our society as well but it's unfair to blame it on tech companies. And startups with sh**tty cultures do exist but that doesn't mean all places are the same.

The problem with our education system is that blacks and hispanics (not all of them, but a disproportionate number, and we are speaking in statistics not in absolutes) refuse to make the slightest effort to apply themselves in school and are instead often not just disruptive but outright hostile. The schools aren't failing these kids. These kids are failing the schools. Every teacher in America goes out of her way to help and accommodate these kids anyway because that's part of the job, but you can't fault business, especially ultra competitive information driven business for not doing the same. It's not part of their job.

[Linus Van Pelt]

This story is fairly misleading. Here is a more neutral story on this, from the Washington Post, at the time the bill failed. It appears that the IP lawyers' association had actually come around to accept a compromise bill, but the stauncher opposition from universities and biotech and pharmaceutical industries convinced the relevant senators to drop it.

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Universities tend to be strongly pro-patent because their scientists' research has profitable applications but they don't manufacture anything themselves, so they recuperate some of the costs of the research they fund by licensing the patents to companies, and using the licensing fees to subsidize education or further research. Without this, the profits from publicly funded research would go just to corporations. Pharmaceutical companies are also very pro-patent, since they depend on patented drugs but the high capital costs of manufacturing make them less vulnerable to patent trolls.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Making sure immigrant workers are paid the same as native born workers, and most importantly, that these "immigrants" aren't just being trained here only to be shipped back to their country in a couple of years are the most important things to be done to reform immigration as it relates to high tech/highly skilled workers. That could easily be a part of immigration reform, and my guess is that it will.

Did you miss the election last night? The Republicans won. There's not going to be any immigration reform.

Republicans will certainly pass their version. It remains to be seen if Obama and the Republicans can agree on a final bill. Or maybe Reid will filibuster it to death. We shall see.

Obama will sign his executive orders, the House will pass a border bill that may contain some changes to the legal immigration system as a means to reduce incentives to immigrate illegally, but certainly no path to legalizations since if Obama won't enforce the current law, why he be expected to be any different then the last three PResidents when it comes to enforcing the new ones and how long berfore they are labeled "broken" and further enforcement should be halted until it has been "reformed" once again (You are halfway there in terms of recognizing the scam, man you said so on the first page ).

The Senate passes a comprehensive bill with 61 or 62 votes (thoguh it might fail if the debate gets absolutely nuts as most of the seat pickups direclty flip Ayes to NAys on this issue). The conference produces nothing and both chambers attempt to go border security first with some moderate Democrats.

In short, likely nothing happens.

[Simfan34]

I agree there is ageism in Silicon Valley, but it's present in many other industries as well. As for the low number of blacks and hispanics, that shows a problem with our education system. Perhaps with our society as well but it's unfair to blame it on tech companies. And startups with sh**tty cultures do exist but that doesn't mean all places are the same.

The problem with our education system is that blacks and hispanics (not all of them, but a disproportionate number, and we are speaking in statistics not in absolutes) refuse to make the slightest effort to apply themselves in school and are instead often not just disruptive but outright hostile. The schools aren't failing these kids. These kids are failing the schools. Every teacher in America goes out of her way to help and accommodate these kids anyway because that's part of the job, but you can't fault business, especially ultra competitive information driven business for not doing the same. It's not part of their job.

This is excessively categorical, even I have to admit.