[CanadianFella]

the proper thing to do here is to give CITIZENS priority, even if it contradicts short-term economic principles

if I have an idiot with an American passport, and a genius with an Indian one, how will I and my country benefit from hiring the moron over the genius?

[The Toad]

Huh? I have yet to meet an Indian that was a "genius" compared to most of my American IT friends. This issue isn't based on skills or abilities, it is based on short-sighted companies that would rather hire someone for $10-$20 an hour instead of $50-$60.

The entire point is that most of these off-shore programmers are of low quality. How do I know that? I've seen 3 such projects turn into diseasters. The dot-com collapse is an entirely different issue.

[norton]

To link the salary range issue with the "genius" statement:

I have a fairly bright (ties his own shoes - not genius) acquaintance who hired into a $125-$150K per year job out of college. Got married, bought over priced house, bought over rated automobile, got laid off. Wife supports family, neither knows what hit them.

The employer had a track record with me and had never done anything right, just expensive. They're in way deep trouble today.

Yes, salaries were inflated far beyond worth but, yes, priority should go to citizens. In fact, the "high tech needs more imported labor" just sounds to me like the other side of the "Americans won't take those jobs" arguement.