Is blog open for unrestricted comments?…

On September 21st, 2007 at 7:06 pm, gayle said:
If this passes, won’t it be discrimination lawsuits waiting to happen?

I say, LET IT ROLL!

Sorry to yelling, but we have become a complacent party – always trying to be diplomatic and it seems to NOT work.

I hate to say it, but this really is true. It goes along with something I’ve been saying for years and years: call it being too gentlemanly in the face of harsh and unappreciative adversairies, the “Bob Dole Syndome” (what I call it), whatever. We don’t need to adopt the liberals ideologies, God forbid, but a good helping of their passion and commitment wouldn’t hurt. Just no dressing up as pink bunnies.

When calling your congressman, remember a very important line of attack that worked well the last time: talk in terms of any senators who cast a yes vote being replaced – seriously replaced – in the next election, and don’t be shy or “too gentlemanly” about it. You’ll be surprised how many senators will suddenly get an epiphany.

Pandering to Hispanics gains Hispanic votes, and since both parties are corrupt on illegal migration, in general concerned voters cannot vote against pro-illegals since there is no choice on the matter, so for congressmen a pro-illegal stance is win-no loss game.

Similarly an anti-abortion stance is safe since it wins Catholic and Evangelical votes, while not alienating pro-abortion voters too much since they already have Roe versus Wade.

Gun control wins the zealous gun control vote, while the gun people remain relatively apathetic since they still have the 2nd amendment.

All are great for raising funds.

Sure, it might impact you adversely, but thats creative destructon for you.

It isn’t likely to affect me either way. I think creative destruction is an important principle, and winning companies tend to be the ones that have the foresight to engage in it.
I was responding to the notion that we should limit immigration to constrain the candidate pool in the hopes that it will mean higher wages and more jobs for those who are already here. I don’t believe that to be sustainable.
With the ability to move millions in funds and product around the world in a few seconds, the software market has a small and ever decreasing amount of friction.

I’d worry about our software industry ending up where our auto industry has.

Why? If our software industry cannot compete then it does not deserve to exist. It’s not the governments role to step in to try to give it a competitive advantage. Sure, it might impact you adversely, but thats creative destructon for you.

The same applies to all the other industries where the government is bending and breaking the law at the behest of business people, including agriculture. If its cheaper to grow a tomato in Mexico than here, then they should be grown in Mexico.

There is no economic theory under which is the role of government to ship in cheap foreign labor at the request of business owners.

H1-B jobs are unlikely to be moved offshore. Once a U.S. company has gone through the overhead of establishing an offshore relationship in India, Russia or China the marginal overhead cost of bringing on one additional resource over there, rather than the US, is not a problem.

dedalus

Not if America demands our Government change the tax code and provide incentives for Companies to stay in America instead of allowing our manufacturing base to be shipped offshore.

Offshoring is not trade, free or otherwise. It is labor arbitrage. By replacing US labor with foreign labor in the production of goods and services for US markets, US firms are destroying the ladders of upward mobility in the US. So far economists of Milton Friedman ilk have preferred their delusions to the facts.

It is a mystery how a people, whose economic policy is turning them into a third world country with its university graduates working as waitresses, bartenders, and driving cabs, can regard themselves as a hegemonic power even as they build up war debts that are further undermining their ability to pay their import bills.

I am not alone in this view. People like Sloan Foundation President Ralph Gomory has just recently written a book on the subject: Global Trade and Conflicting National Interests.
http://www.manufacturingnews.com/news/07/0917/art1.html

Agree:
1.) Age is a big negative for a developer
2.) Business are looking for cheapest labor that can get job done
3.) There is a 10-1 productivity range among programmers
4.) Legal work for H1-B’s often make them more expensive than Americans

Disagree:
1.) Any developer can be retrained since “Programming is programming is programming” (Some language changes are equal in complexity some are akin to moving from checkers to chess).
2.) Dr. Matloff uses a salary test to dispel the “best & brightest” case for H1-B’s, but does so after demonstrating that H1-B’s are systematically undercomp’d.
3.) “Telecommuting doesn’t work” (It does, at a cost. But that cost is decreasing with improved video conferencing tools that are now basically free, with something know as SOA and other tools that enable teams to share functionality with some isolation, and increases in bandwidth).
4.) H1-B jobs are unlikely to be moved offshore. Once a U.S. company has gone through the overhead of establishing an offshore relationship in India, Russia or China the marginal overhead cost of bringing on one additional resource over there, rather than the US, is not a problem.

If we had term limits all this political posturing for what has become a never-ending campaign for re-election would come to and end because they would be forced out of office regularly …

Perhaps that would put more pressure on the Congressional membership to actually do what the people want as opposed to catering to the lobbyists and and special interest groups …

Congress has to crack down on this, or the country will disintegrate. And where will dedalus be then?

Here is a study that proves what I am saying about the phony issue of labor shortages in the software business.

Debunking the Myth of a Desperate Software Labor Shortage

In addition, this website will help get you up to date on the fraudulent use of H1B visas.

Job Destruction Directory

On September 21st, 2007 at 9:50 pm, dedalus said:
The last number I saw at the end of 2006 for the IT unemployment rate was 2.2%. I’m not disputing that you have friends who are not finding the right jobs.

Those statistics are wrong because most have exhausted their unemployment benefits. They do not keep track of people that are not unemployment!!

My next door neighbor used to work for Microsoft and was replaced by an Indian H1B Visa holder that he was asked to train BTW.

They told him initially he would be working for my neighbor then it was announced he would be replaced taking over the department.

He had 20 years in the programming business and now cannot find work and has just used up his unemployment benefits. The Indian Computer programmer was started at just shy of 40k 1/3 of what my friend used to earn.

Do not tell me there is any US worker shortages as Microsoft and others are actively lobbying congress on this issue.

Do a google on how Bill Gates in going to use its subsidiaries in Canada to get around hiring Americans with the experience and education.

You really need to bone up on the H1B issue. It is just like illegal immigration. The big multi nationals are systematically replacing the workforce with cheaper foreign labor. If they cannot outsource their business operations to a foreign country they are using H1B’s to insource cheaper foreign labor. The multi nationals are trying to eliminate the middle class in America which has always been a thorn in their budgets.

6 Million American jobs have been replaced under George W Bush and still counting. Many of those jobs are high tech and engineering jobs which used to comprise the middle class in America.

If we do not stop this we will not have a middle class any longer.

On September 21st, 2007 at 4:24 pm, katieanne said:

I just called Missouri Senator McCaskill’s office and they told me that the Senator hasn’t made up her mind yet. I gave them my support for a resounding no vote and hope that’s what she does. They had to put me on hold for a while, so hopefully, she is getting calls about this issue.

GGggrrrrrr … I called her office the mornings of 9/20 & 21 and was told both times by the staffer who answered that she was voting no and that they were getting lots of phone calls from constituents frustrated that she hadn’t yet said that publicly. And then a few hours later they tell you that she is undecided. I’m not happy!