Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
Posted on 02/04/2006 4:38:34 AM PST by Tyche
Making a strong pitch for America to stay competitive in the face of emerging economies such as India and China, President George W Bush has urged the Congress to raise the number of H-1B visas that allow companies to hire foreign workers for scientific and high tech jobs.
"Congress needs to understand that nations like India, China, Japan, Korea and Canada all offer tax incentives that are permanent. In other words, we live in a competitive world. We want to be the leader in this world," Bush said in a speech in Minnesota on Thursday.
To fill vacant jobs in the US, Bush urged the Congress to lift current limit on H-1B visas that allow foreign workers to get jobs in the United States. The Congress in 2005 capped at 65,000 the number of H-1B visas, a third of the 195,000 allowed during the technology boom.
"I think it's a mistake not to encourage more really bright folks who can fill the jobs that are having trouble being filled here in America, to limit their number. So I call upon Congress to be realistic and reasonable and raise that cap," Bush said, but did not say by how much he wanted the limit lifted.
He said that one part of the agenda to stay competitive was to study math and science, a theme he touched on in his State of the Union Address on Tuesday.
"It's one thing to research, but if you don't have somebody in that lab, well… And so I got some ideas for the Congress to consider. The first is to emphasize math and science early, and to make sure that the courses are rigorous enough that our children can compete globally," Bush said in a speech at the 3M Corporation.
He said there are more high-tech jobs in America today than people available to fill them. "So what do we do about that? And the reason it's important -- and the American citizen has got to understand it's important -- is if we don't do something about how to fill those high-tech jobs here, they'll go somewhere else where somebody can do the job."
"There are some who say, we can't worry about competition. It doesn't matter, it's here. It's a real aspect of the world in which we live," he said.
"And so one way to deal with this problem, and probably the most effective way, is to recognize that there's a lot of bright engineers and chemists and physicists from other lands that are either educated here, or received an education elsewhere but want to work here. And they come here under a programme called H1B visas," Bush said.
He said America should not fear competition. "It's important for us not to lose our confidence in changing times. It's important for us not to fear competition but welcome it."
Senior administration officials noted that the number of H-1B visas has fallen to 65,000 which in their estimation was 'too low' and that it was imperative 'to bump that up.'
". . . some of reports have called for increases of 10,000; others between 20,000 and 40,000. So there is a number of options on the table to be considered. But we'll work with Congress on that," said Claude Allen, assistant to the President for domestic policy.
Meanwhile, college grants and loans for American students fell.
I wonder just how the President considers a foreigner taking a job in the US "good" for American citizens? It may be "good" for the business, for the import, for government - but the American citizen is shut out.
The reason you buy a car - to move people from point (a) to point (b) quickly, in comfort and safety - was well met by those cars. That may be 80% of the value of a car. It would be interesting to see what the market price of a new '68 Buick would be today, if they sold for 50% of the price of a '06 Buick do you think there would be buyers? 75%?
What would it cost GM to make a '68 Buick today?
Dang spell checker, I'm getting dyslectic. (Never mind).
Unfortunately your assessment is right on target. However notice the opposition from main stream America. Get used to it? Definitely not in this decade.
I believe that the factory owner does bring value to the product, as do executives and managers, of course - but in today's economy I believe that company executives and managers are taking a disproportionate share of the produced wealth. Even the owners of widely held public companies are being sacked by this group. They are out of control.
"programmers will start getting huge salaries again"
So the plan really is to bring the US down to the rest of the worlds standard of living? My husband works IT, and several of his friends have been let go and replaced with people one can barely understand(presumably for lower wages.)
Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
"Falling Down" was a stark reminder of how one's reaction to bothersome things, normally contained, can quickly escalate into unrestrained violence. It was frightening.
I'm afraid you're right.
I don't understand why this president, one who 'champions' education, is so quick to give in to businesses demands for a quick fix...
Excellent ideas!
We have to do whatever we must do for the short term as we are where we are but I never suggested that working harder in order to earn more money was a solution to anything! In fact, that is part of the problem rather than the solution! We DO need to work harder at properly supervising our employees in government. MUCH harder!
It has been said by others long before now much better than I can say it. Read the following and point out to me where these folks were wrong.
"When you become entitled to exercise the right of voting for public officers, let it be impressed upon your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers, 'just men who will rule in the fear of God. The preservation of government depends on the faithful discharge of this duty; if the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made, not for the public good so much as for selfish or local purposes; corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the laws; and the rights of the citizens will be violated or disregarded. If a republican government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the divine commands, and elect bad men to make the administer the laws." Noah Webster, 1832
“It is the highest impertinence and presumption, therefore, in kings and ministers to pretend to watch over the economy of private people, and to restrain their expense. …They are themselves always, and without any exception, the greatest spendthrifts in society. Let them look well after their own expense, and they may safely trust private people with theirs."--Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations [1776]
And then there is this:
"A people may want a free government, but if, from insolence, or carelessness, or cowardice, or want of public spirit, they are unequal to the exertions necessary for preserving it; if they will not fight for it when it is directly attacked; if they can be deluded by the artifices used to cheat them out of it; if by monetary discouragement or temporary panic, or a fit of enthusiasm for an individual they can be induced to lay their liberties at the feet of even a great man, or trust him with powers which enable him to subvert their institutions; in all of these cases they are more or less unfit for liberty; and though it may be for their good to have had it even for a short time, they are unlikely to long enjoy it." - John Stuart Mill - Essay on Representative Government
ARTICLE: "Congress needs to understand that nations like India, China, Japan, Korea and Canada all offer tax incentives that are permanent. In other words, we live in a competitive world. We want to be the leader in this world,"
Apparently we dont want to lead. If we did, we would do like Ireland does, and encourage entrepreneurship, and high tech.
THINK.....
TAX REFORM
LEGAL /TORT / LIABILITY REFORM
REGULATORY REFORM
EDUCATION REFORM
Instead of real reforms, (which means a hard fought pitched battle with the liberal establishment), we play PC nicey nice, we d*ck around with some tax cuts for consumers, and settle for givebacks to selected industry groups, negotiated in smoky backroom deals...H1B is a perfect example of this.
I guess Im just an "unappeasable". So be it.
Lets set some goals here, then achieve them; ones which favor ALL the people, and ALL business. Lets not divide and choose one group of constituents over another, thats not the role of government as envisioned by our founding fathers.
The people in DC have the power given to them by the people, to make the US a much more attractive and competitive place to invest in and do business in.
H1Bs are not the way to do that. They are at best a band-aide. At worst, they will reduce, then eliminate, over time, the engineering labor market for native born AND NATURALIZED (including people of Indian ancestry too) American engineers.
If you believe that the United States can long survive as an isolated entity cut off from the rest of the world then you are completely deluded and there is no point in talking with you further.
This is clearly true with respect to the $750 Billion U.S. Trade Deficit...and the policies of FDR's push for unilateralist "free" trade.
But it will become understood then when that deficit (well over TWICE the governmental deficit) hits over a trillion dollars... that we have been piloted straight onto the rocks.
Those with an understanding of the industrial realities of production, however, realize that it will not be so easily reversed. If at all. China will be the the Super-Super Power. And the U.S. will be a has-been. Just like England. And it was all avoidable but for doctrinnaire, blinded zealots who harbored too much hubris, and were too full of themselves to care about their country.
$750 Billion U.S. Trade Deficit. Annually.
Amen and AMEN!
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