> those outrageously high FAANG salaries occurs because of ... 2) Excessive surveillance...
This is an absurd and lazy take.
There are plenty of high paying software jobs in the US that have nothing to do with surveillance (e.g. the AWS part of Amazon, Apple, SpaceX, all sorts of robotics companies, etc).
Europe's concerns in this area are a strength that they should be taking advantage of.
FWIW I think the surveillance itself is lazy. People just collect stuff because it's cheap to do, but the evidence that it is that useful in most cases is scant. If the FTC took a reasonable position that just having that info is a liability to be managed, most companies would stop and their businesses would do fine.
The point was, if I read it correctly, that comparing salaries is only part of the picture.
There is a yawning cultural divide between the USA and the rest of the world. Especially the non-English speaking world.
I am in an English speaking country that slips under the shadow of the cloud cast by the cultural hegemony of the USA (Aotearoa) and when I look around at my lifestyle, my friends, community, and the problems we have as a country and society - salary would not be enough to move me.
I am grossly underpaid by any standard (working on it) but the compensations of lifestyle and culture are well worth it
>I am in an English speaking country that slips under the shadow of the cloud cast by the cultural hegemony of the USA (Aotearoa) and when I look around at my lifestyle, my friends, community, and the problems we have as a country and society - salary would not be enough to move me.
There's nothing wrong with making such a decision. Many others make such a decision, whether in an English-speaking country or not. In the US itself, many make such a decision to stay in their home cities and states as opposed to moving to Silicon Valley.
But you also must recognize that you are in the minority. It is a fact that FAANG and comparable companies' Canadian offices are almost entirely staffed by non-Canadians that are parked there because they are either waiting for, or cannot receive, a US visa. Yes, there are some Canadians who want to stay close to home in Toronto or Vancouver, but they are very, very, very few.
Canadians have, thanks to treaties, a pretty simple path to working in the US. I think Australians also have a unique treaty in this regard. All other nationals have, to greater or lesser degree, various hurdles to clear before moving to the US. If tomorrow New Zealand signed a treaty with the US that made moving to the US for work as easy as it is for Canadians, how many of your coworkers and peers would stay?
This is an absurd and lazy take.
There are plenty of high paying software jobs in the US that have nothing to do with surveillance (e.g. the AWS part of Amazon, Apple, SpaceX, all sorts of robotics companies, etc).
Europe's concerns in this area are a strength that they should be taking advantage of.
FWIW I think the surveillance itself is lazy. People just collect stuff because it's cheap to do, but the evidence that it is that useful in most cases is scant. If the FTC took a reasonable position that just having that info is a liability to be managed, most companies would stop and their businesses would do fine.