Offshore city idea floated to help Silicon Valley
The heart of capitalism is genius. Unfortunately, it’s sometimes evil genius.
Baywatch, it is not. (Rendering courtesy of Blueseed)
Take Blueseed, a new startup in California that’s floating the idea of an offshore city that can house 1,000 skilled, non-U.S. tech workers in international waters.
According to a USA Today article, the ship would be close enough to Silicon Valley for ocean dwellers (who would pay $1,200 a month) to hop a quick ferry over to meet with potential Silicon Valley employers.
Considering the prices of real estate in that area, $1,200 is a bargain. And the views would have to be amazing.
The company’s founder is hoping find investors that will pony up $10 million to build the floating city. Seems like he could get an old cruise ship a lot cheaper; those ships already have lots of rooms, casinos and bars. There’d have to be a strip club or two as well, since I figure the population of Blueseed will be 90 percent male.
Amazingly, billionaire’s are interested in helping out. USA Today reports Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal, is on board with the plan.
Immigration officials refused comment.
The Blueseed site lays the marketing on pretty thick: “Because of the United States’ current immigration and regulatory regime, bold and creative entrepreneurs from around the world aren’t given the chance to come to Silicon Valley and develop the technologies that could be creating jobs and propelling the economy forward.”
Too bad the U.S. education system doesn’t produce the “skilled” labor Silicon Valley demands. It might save the Coast Guard a giant headache.
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13 comments Add your comment
Truth Squad
December 28th, 2011
4:33 pm
And who pays to keep North Korea from coming and hauling their behinds to Pyongyang? What a nice terrorist target that would make as well. Who are they expecting to protect them? International water means they are kind of on their own.
I think it is telling that they want the benefits of Silicon Valley without having to pay for a society that enables it to exists in the first place.
OneFreeMan
December 28th, 2011
8:27 pm
The idea that Americans are not smart enough is not true at all. The thought that government regulations are forcing the jobs overseas is more like it. And it’s the regulation in tax policy that allows US corporations to make profits elsewhere and not pay taxes heree.
I’ve worked in the information technology field for the past 30 years and have yet to meet anyone that was technically sound because of their ethnicity. I have seen many people from other countries that could perform the task without major assistance. Many of the largest companies in ATL have outsourced or hired all of their techs from outside the USA.
One of the big companies hires one H1B and gets another H1B for free.
OneFreeMan
December 28th, 2011
8:28 pm
The idea that Americans are not smart enough is not true at all. The thought that government regulations are forcing the jobs overseas is more like it. And it’s the regulation in tax policy that allows US corporations to make profits elsewhere and not pay taxes heree.
I’ve worked in the information technology field for the past 30 years and have yet to meet anyone that was technically sound because of their ethnicity. I have seen many people from other countries that could NOT perform the task without major assistance. Many of the largest companies in ATL have outsourced or hired all of their techs from outside the USA.
One of the big companies hires one H1B and gets another H1B for free.