Just when you started to enjoy writing code again!
This is from last fall and in the "McPaper" no less, but I noted this snippet:

But they face an uphill battle, says Mr. Miano, as business groups are far better organized and funded than the smattering of programmer groups. "They have the best legislation money can buy," he says.

Thus confirming the adage, "It's not what you know....it's who..."

USATODAY.com - Endangered species: US programmers

Just when I started to let this get me down, I found out about this contest. It sounded sounded like a lot of fun, show off your coding skills, win prize money... things were looking up -- The Google Code Jam. This year's winner -- an Argentinean.