The free market induced wage ceiling is generally a good thing. It keeps our businesses competitive compared to startups in other countries. Highly skilled workers can break through easily.

But the average tech salary is just 80k

Glassdoor says the average across the nation is 100k, so your argument is suspect right off the bat.

I feel sorry for all the guys graduating with CS degrees who will never get a job

Everyone I know with a CS degree is not only gainfully employed, but dealing with a constant stream of recruiters and headhunters offering more money and better perks.

Wages went up and up over time, then flatlined forever due to this program

I'm still getting raises every year. Maybe you should take a hard look at whether you are performing adequately at your current job?

when they hire most people from overseas simply because they are much cheaper.

If the cost of recruiting from overseas and offshoring is so much cheaper than hiring USA workers then why are Facebook, Google, Twitter, Microsoft and Apple all opening campuses in London where the rent is higher, the taxes are higher, the cost of doing business is higher and the developer salaries are at a similar level to the US?

If the cost of recruiting from overseas and offshoring is so much cheaper than hiring USA workers then why are Facebook, Google, Twitter, Microsoft and Apple all opening campuses in London where the rent is higher, the taxes are higher, the cost of doing business is higher and the developer salaries are at a similar level to the US?

Four reasons:

1. Outsourcing is a scam. Most businesses are only just starting to realize this, but since it's a scam invented by software/consulting companies it's not surprising that software companies would know it sooner.
2. They have no other expenses (no "real" expenses, like for example a car manufacturer who needs to buy parts), so they can afford this.
3. Prestige. It's not enough to have an office in Paris, it must be "right next to the Eiffel tower". It's not enough to have an office in Berlin, it must be next to the Brandenburger Tor.
4. They know that nothing lasts forever. The value of a company like Facebook is determined exclusively by the fact that there are enough idiots who consider posting every uninteresting detail about themselves on a website being the most important thing in the universe, and that there are enough idiots who believe that this is an ingenious idea and are willing to buy stocks (hoping that there is a bigger idiot who will pay them more than they paid -- the principle behind stocks).
   It's unlikely to happen any time soon, but for a company that has "no real values", it is entirely possible that everything goes down the drain over night. That's why they use their "worthless" money and stocks (which is only backed by an idea and a promise, but which they nevertheless have available) to buy as many other businesses as they can, too. If all their worthless stocks really become worthless one day and all their nice promises go up in smoke, they still own what they bought with the money that they never had. And they've still had an awesome posh office for years, which you can't take away from them any more.

The value of a company like Facebook is determined exclusively by the fact that there are enough idiots who consider posting every uninteresting detail about themselves on a website being the most important thing in the universe, and that there are enough idiots who believe that this is an ingenious idea and are willing to buy stocks (hoping that there is a bigger idiot who will pay them more than they paid -- the principle behind stocks).

This would be true if you were just talking about Twitter but Facebook on the other hand is a profitable company and already was profitable before its IPO. Also Zuckerberg has been very shrewd in making sure that none of the stock holders can actually hold a controlling stake in Facebook. In his words "We don’t build services to make money; we make money to build better services".

Also besides all the already profitable social networking BS Facebook also own Occulous Rift and several other tech companies.

I feel sorry for all the guys graduating with CS degrees

Of course, it's only guys graduating with CS degress because those H1-B aliens keep stealing all our women, too.

Microsoft layouts are indeed a hot topic in Finland atm. New government is all over the news giving their support.

In a small country it kinda kills the whole city of Salo.

http://www.helsinkitimes.fi/business/13444-microsoft-s-decision-a-bitter-blow-for-finland.html?ref=nl-hs-aamu

It's a common opinion in Finland that Stephen Elop came to Finland. Killed Nokia. Microsoft buys Nokia. Microsoft lays off ex Nokia employees.

.Everyone I know with a CS degree is not only gainfully employed, but dealing with a constant stream of recruiters and headhunters offering more money and better perks.

I'm still getting raises every year. Maybe you should take a hard look at whether you are performing adequately at your current job?

.

You are a "grey beard" in the industry.

Put away your own experiences for a moment, and put yourself in the place of some one who just graduated in 2015 in the United States.

Competition for entry level tech jobs is very brutal in the US, and many don't 'make it' . Latest figures show that over 30% of CS graduates end up at a job that does not require any college education.

Last I looked, over 62% of all US CS students end up working in a field that isn't related to CS at all.

Figures released last week show that there are 75% more 'STEM' graduates in the US every year , than there are jobs to fill.