Whether software engineers making $750k/year is a bubble has nothing to do with my argument at all. The average annual wages in the US are ~$77,000, compared to ~$55,000 for France or the UK.
For software engineers, it absolutely matters. For the same reason it’s going to be a pretty weird discussion about Actor/Actress pay if you just ignore Hollywood.
The bubble means you currently get more in San Francisco, sure, but take the bubble away and you'd still expect the US average to be higher than the EU average as it is in other industries where there isn't a bubble.
