[aleph_minus_one]

> All those engineers and PMs need career paths, and shiny things with which to sway their managers into promoting them.

This mentality is very US-American. The cynic in me says: "Simply move the development to a different country to get rid of this problem." ;-)

[johnnyanmac]

Well, both are happening. Those remaining want to justify their jobs (because new initiatives are not even being considered). And Microslop wants to become the next IBM and move most development into overseas maintenance instead of innovation, as the competition slow passes them by.

The house always wins long term, though.