So I read this article about a San Francisco coffee house. This one house charges eight dollars per cup of coffee. That’s just one example of Silicon Valley’s wealth inequality problem.
Silicon Valley, greater San Francisco and San Jose, have some of the worst wealth inequality in America. In fact, the San Francisco area ranks third in the highest wealth gaps between rich and everybody else. Then take the San Jose area, just down the road. They rank sixth highest in the highest wealth gaps between rich and everybody else. But that’s just where this tragic comedy begins.
Because between 2014-2016, the highest wage earners see raises averaging $60,000. Meanwhile, everybody else saw wage increases of only $2,000. So $2,000 is hardly enough to match inflation, especially in that part of the country. But wait…isn’t technology helping stop Silicon Valley’s wealth inequality problem? No it’s not. In fact, though I hate to say it, IT support is making wealth inequality worse. Some experts say Silicon Valley companies reward those who already have higher salaries. Meanwhile, a third of the population depend on assistance just to survive. The billions of dollars the high tech industry makes just isn’t trickling down to the rest of the community.
Over the last several years, I witnessed protests from maids, waiters, and drivers making minimum wage serving tech leaders making billions. Also, I read stories where 20-somethings tech employees get fired for daring to complain about their low salary. Silicon Valley/San Francisco is the home of: Google, Facebook, Salesforce,? NetApp, Apple, and Ebay. It’s also the home of Cisco, Intel, Synmantic, etc. I don’t know if they’re doing anything to curb this problem. But it is a problem. And they need to do something. Because if they don’t, I fear Silicon Valley will collapse on it’s own weight and greed. I shouldn’t blame Silicon Valley though. In Boston, home of our computer service shop, we have our battles with wealth inequality.? Companies and people are already leaving Silicon Valley because of this. What do you think, if anything, can be done?