So THAT'S Why Pay Raises are So Few and Far Between

I found this curious paragraph in Joel West's Engineering Entrepreneurship blog post "Japan's Engineering Shortage" (in response to a similar "crisis" in the US):

But I have to remind myself there are still engineers (or CS types) that just want a job. These are people paid not in founder’s shares, or qualified options, but in salary. The problem is that (as with nurses and teachers), the economy needs a lot of engineers, so raising salaries across the board is a lot more expensive than paying high wages to a handful of NYSE traders or MLB players.

It's amazing how Silicon Valley loves the free market when it comes to allowing their beloved entrepreneurial startups to do all of their wheelin' and dealin', but hates the free market when it comes to paying high enough salaries to attract desired workers.

I know! How about if we just get rid of wages and salaries altogether in our country and replace them with stock options? That way we'll be begging for the next bubble industry to emerge instead of demanding that Bernanke do something to stop the bubbles before they start.

(Cross-posted at Carrie's Nation)