Another big issue is, the programmers are getting nearly none of that wealth they create through these efficiencies. If I save the company $2m/yr that's the same as making them that money. I've made the company $2m/yr richer than they were. But I'll be lucky if I get a $100k bonus. Executives, in contrast, will capture a lot of that newly created wealth.
On a smaller scale, at my first proper dev job I saved the company around £20k/year with a few little hacks. Two days later I was fired for arriving at 9.30am and they withheld my pay for that month too (all 4 days of it!).
