This is true in many of the developer communities. But I work for a local government agency as a programmer. So, I have long term benefits and a retirement plan, and I assume there are lots of programmers in this category, they just aren't publicized like the start-up and web community.
I am thankful for the influential programmers that live more risky and work at start ups, but there is also a place for programmers that have a secure job, working at companies/organizations with specialized software. However, I know that many bad workers have been created from these environments...there is always a group that will ruin it for everyone.
And that's just vehicles that travel on the roads, there's also rail air and water vehicles.
Covering a lot of verticals does not exempt you from price competition.
Also, programmers (unlike auto workers) have not locked in long term benefits that hamstring a company. In fact, we've embraced taking on the risks of the company and staying nimble, hopping around and trying new things. If Google's whole workforce were guaranteed some sort of long term compensation for retirement, we might worry, but their long term promises are only via their stock price.