H-1B

Buy American

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By now you would have to live in a cave to not experience the blow back in the simple act of buying U.S. steel. This is the Buy American provision in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

This is not even the real issue. The question really should be why are not U.S. taxpayer funds to be used first and foremost to create jobs for U.S. workers?

Banks receiving massive U.S. taxpayer funds are firing U.S. workers while keeping temporary foreign guest workers. Why? Because they are an important conduit to offshore outsource and they are cheaper.

Offshoring and Outsourcing Commentary for the New Year

It is clear to me that the root cause of many of the economic ills of 2008 was the "government subsidy" of immigration levels about ten times greater than our nation's immigration tradition. See Roy Beck's short YouTube video here: Our Immigration Tradition

When labor markets are glutted by an alphabet soup of work visa programs and the costs of the necessaries of life are bid upwards by the tidal wave of immigration, the "banker class" are the most significant beneficiaries. The U.S. middle class and lower class are the losers in this zero-sum game

Here is a collection of some of my published writings on these topics. I'm anticipating that there will be a big push for increased immigration in 2009, since both McCain and Obama's campaigns called for increased H-1B visas, for example. I wonder out loud if the voice of the middle class will be heard over the "soft rustle of lobbying dollars."

Why You Should Be Thrilled the WTO Doha Talks Collapsed

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There is something stinky in the the WTO trade agreements. Very Stinky.

The United States is trading away American jobs. This isn't by proxy, this is literally trading away American jobs to be done by foreign guest workers.

You've probably never even heard about it. There is this little something called GATS, mode 4 under WTO trade rules. What is GATS mode 4 you ask? Well, click on the link where I overview it. In a nutshell the WTO thinks it's a grand idea to trade education and services. Services means people. Yup, trading people.

Friday Movie Night

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hot buttered popcorn

It's Friday Night! Party Time!

Time to relax, put your feet up on the couch, lay back, and watch some detailed videos on economic policy!

This week, I found some original reports on worker displacement through insourcing from the 2003-2004 time frame. Insourcing is when corporations bring over cheaper labor via guest worker Visas and displace US workers. In other words, the jobs exist, US workers are simply swapped out for cheaper counter parts. I think to believe it, and get your head around this practice, you just plain have to see it.

This story rarely gets out but when you see the real people this is happening to, it makes the unbelievable real. It is real.

DHS CIS Circumvents Congress - Extends F-1 OPT

Tuesday April 8, DHS CIS (Citizenship and Immigration Services) issued a Final Interim Rule to extend F-1 foreign student OPT time limits to 29 months without public comment and without Congressional review. Public comment was requested, after enactment, as a slap in the face. CIS has grown accustomed to re-writing immigration law without due process - last year an additional 20,000 H-1B visas were handed out in this manner.

Here is my comment in the Federal Register.

DHS CIS F-1 OPT Final Interim Rule (.pdf)

April 9, 2008

Dana Rothrock comments on:

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
8 CFR Part 214

DHS NO. ICEB-2008-0002

ICE NO. 2124-08 RIN 1653-AA56

AGENCY: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; DHS.

ACTION: Interim final rule with request for comments.

Even with an interview cheat-sheet, an over-40 American Citizen can't get the job

I went in for an interview for a job last week for which a recruiter from a local recruiting firm had submitted my resume. The recruiter had already placed someone from India in this particular downtown Seattle company about a month before. In fact, the Indian made note of all the interview questions that he was asked in order to get the job, and forwarded those questions, with the answers, to the recruiter in an email. This cheat-sheet was then forwarded to me via the recruiter, and I was even given contact information for this Indian so that I may get a first hand interview prep if desired.

April -- H-1B -- Fools

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April -- H-1B -- Fools

The law of supply and demand still works!

The National Science Foundation has published a document entitled, "Science and Engineering Indicators 2008." One very interesting point for 2006, was that computer-related H-1B workers with a Bachelor’s degree, earned on average, $400.00 more per year than those with a Master’s degree.

2006, was the first year of the 20,000 visa H-1B exception for postgraduates of American colleges. The media made a big fuss about the base 65,000 visa running out quickly in 2006 and 2007. I suspect that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce had to do some arm-twisting to get the 20,000 postgraduate cap exhausted.

Also

Stuart Anderson's, National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) study of unfilled positions is being quoted as a reason to raise the H-1B caps. I took the liberty of looking at the size of each company in the NFAP, "30 U.S. Companies With Most Job Openings For Skilled Positions."

"Jobs for Us, Jobs for Our Kids" - a Close Encounter of the Senator Cantwell Kind

You may wonder why congressmen and senators seem to be so out of touch with the reality that middle and lower class Citizens face each and every day. In fact, you may wonder why they seem to completely ignore any message you try to get to them via email, phone calls, or even smoke signals. Nothing seems to work.

From what I observe of Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), she is a recluse to the middle and lower classes. I have never seen her do a "town hall meeting" like Congressman Jay Inslee frequently does. I also find that when she visits a city within Washington State, she is more likely to be visiting with the Chamber of Commerce than a local labor council.

Bill Gates is at it again

What is it with the super wealthy in this country? They make their billions in this country and instead of just retiring and disappearing, they keep pushing economic policies that continue to run the middle class into the ground? And they continue to do this even though the economy is going into the tank.

Bill was up in Canada claiming Microsoft forced to look for talent in developing countries. Once again Gates spreads the "technology worker shortage myth" claiming that poor Microsoft, the alleged victim of the "strict government H-1B policy" cannot hire enough technology workers in the U.S. This is his big lie that he continually repeats.

If hiring talent was a problem for Microsoft, I would probably be working there right now, instead of working temporary contract jobs with weak benefits and no hope of being able to save for retirement. If Microsoft has a problem hiring talent, it is due to the age discrimination that they practice, along with all the other big corporations based here in Washington State (and across the country). Also, they need to fix the way that they deal with contractors. They hire thousands of contractors, which make up most of their workforce now days. The contractors also have a limit of 1 year on the job, after which they are forced to leave Microsoft and seek employment elsewhere. If Microsoft was really having trouble hiring, they would put a stop to this practice as well.

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