There's a lot of this in play, there are truly terrible programmers all over the world, but most of those in the US aren't doing freelance contract work, they're buried in some giant organization turning out awful code nobody will ever see.
Still, there is a certain change in flavor on places like Stack Overflow when India wakes up and starts asking questions. Maybe this isn't a sign of "bad programmers" so much as it's a sign that there's a lot of people in India that speak English and are trying to learn how to program better. There could be just as many in China or even Brazil but there they prefer to ask questions in their native language instead.
Yes, on the whole, we somehow learn broken English pretty soon to ask questions on the internet :) (we take ages to learn good English). I guess everything is governed by survival instincts when it comes to such a big population.
One reason is also the outdated Computer Science courses in India that teach wrong things to start with (The 90's Turbo C++ anyone? - That's the defacto "C++" that an average Indian is taught in schools even today). Then as you said, so many outsourcing companies want manpower (not talent) - and they (Indians) start to find it as one lucrative job, mostly not out of interest, but to earn a bread and butter for their families.
Still, there is a certain change in flavor on places like Stack Overflow when India wakes up and starts asking questions. Maybe this isn't a sign of "bad programmers" so much as it's a sign that there's a lot of people in India that speak English and are trying to learn how to program better. There could be just as many in China or even Brazil but there they prefer to ask questions in their native language instead.