Living outside of the Bay Area has consequences as well. For example, I'm an out-of-work developer currently living outside of SF, and I can therefore only really apply to positions that allow for remote work (which are much rarer than HN would have you believe).
To me, the most important distinction between a "junior" and a "senior" developer is that a senior developer isn't afraid to work with and maintain legacy code.
When I first started out, I was obsessed with only using the latest and greatest technologies, but I've come to realize over the course of my career that this is simply infeasible for many organizations.
I have to disagree with the last part of your post. Some languages are actually better in quantifiable ways; for example, shorter development time, better performance, etc.
While I don't doubt the veracity of this article, it is wildly presumptuous to characterize an entire nation based on one or two isolated, anecdotal incidents.
How would we feel if the rest of the world characterized Americans by the antics of single individuals, like Lindsay Lohan or Miley Cyrus?
Why don't they just start charging for it? Personally, I'd much rather run software that costs money but is high quality than software that is free but riddled with adware.