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.
I am all for an "Americans first" policy, but I have to disagree with this statement. I would stack some of my Indian colleagues against any American IT programmer. They're just like anyone else; there are good ones and there are not so good ones. Just as with any potential employee, you have to do a good job screening when you hire.