..because the engineers have created things that the company can continue to profit off. They're not factory workers, they don't need to be there on the day-to-day to add that value, so it's a little disingenuous to suggest the impact would be seen "tomorrow". Still not having those engineers 6, 12, 24 months down the line might not look so happy, though.
You wouldn't attribute much of the value created by a Boeing 747 to the mechanic the maintains it, so why would you do so with the mechanics that maintain the AdWords money machine built ten years ago?
I'm not really sure what to make of this analogy. Are you suggesting that the mechanic maintaining a 747 is on the same level as the design and fabrication team who built it?
The design and fabrication team who built AdWords years ago are rich. The engineers they're hiring today at 150-200k are akin to the mechanics hired to keep it running.
