From 2005 to 2008, first year analyst/associate salaries at Wall Street banks, consulting firms, and law firms jumped 30% or more. In neither case was there a real shortage of people across the industry. Instead, it was just a matter of a few top firms bidding up salaries for the top young graduates in response to a temporary boom. Certainly nobody was calling for increased immigration to address any perceived "talent shortage."
This is exactly what is happening in Silicon Valley right now. You're seeing a spike in salaries for the few top people at the few top employers as the result of a temporary boom in the sector. You're not seeing a long-term trend of the industry needing more CS graduates than our domestic institutions can provide.
1) I left MSFT around 2006, but the offers I made to (admittedly, mostly blue chip) candidates in 2002-2004 were closer to 80k and not even at the top end of the L59 level band. I'm not sure those early year numbers are quite spot on.
2) The initial offers are set for the middle of the L59 compensation range/band. As those bands went up, so did all of the others - I guarantee the L59 band is not above the L60 band. If you got hired in 2006, you're at least L62 by six years later (or you would have been managed out, in any non-disfunctional org). Even if you'd been camping and never made L63 (which is a big bump), you would get raises as the midpoint for the band moved over the years. Otherwise, it raises very serious issues with your group's HR generalist about why you have a L62 who's being paid outside (below or above) the acceptable range around the salary band and the manager would have been encouraged to either motivate or manage out the employee, if they really didn't deserve raises to take them back into the correct compensation range.
Microsoft is disfunctional about many things, but the HR generalists were pretty good at tracking and running numbers and asking very hard questions about people who were over/under-compensated or stagnating at a low level (sub-L63).
The company changed significantly since then. Bill left. There was a layoff (well, a couple, but the first was a black swan nonetheless). There is a new review system and new rules about comp.
It's not the same place you remember. I really liked the MSFT around 2006, too :)
What's tragic is that Microsoft people who started in 2006 and had 70% careers are often making similar money as the entry-level folks. Combine that with a toxic environment and stagnant products, and it's pretty easy to understand why great people leave the company. It's also pretty easy to understand why Microsoft wants to import H1Bs that often are terrified of getting deported back and will do anything to keep their jobs.