Posted on 02/01/2009 3:44:41 PM PST by Steelfish
Can somebody explain what this is all about? Not much concrete info. The article deplores protectionism, as it should, but doesn’t explain what argument it is making in terms of concrete policy and not just goals or ideals or vague cultural googams.
And the economics of free trade for goods and free trade for labor are pretty much the same. People shouldn’t complain about jobs being sent overseas or foreign workers taking jobs in their country (provided the foreign workers are there legally), since it is in everybody’s general interest for labor to be divided up in the most efficient way. This division of labor is the most fundamental aspect of economic growth. The only problem is that in the short run it can work against certain special interests, i.e. those American workers whose jobs were replaced.
But economically this is an illusion created by national borders, no different than if a factory in Michigan is closed and reopened in Kentucky for labor cost reasons. Yes, those Michigan workers are out of a job temporarily, but they are now freed up for a more valuable use (provided the government allows the economy, with its profits AND losses, to function, rather than try to artificially shore up losses everywhere).
Not to mention that there is a difference between lower labor costs PER UNIT OF TIME and lower labor costs PER UNIT OF OUTPUT. If the latter is lower, as it often is in wealthy, developed nations where the workforce is better educated, better at using the newest equipment, more experienced in managing businesses, etc., then you would expect capital-intensive jobs to stay here while more labor-intensive jobs to go abroad. Surprise, surprise, that’s what happens when we open up to free trade, and both our economy and the economy of poorer nations IMPROVE as a result.
Check the reading list in my profile for more information. :-) Especially Sowell’s “Basic Economics.”
Wait until the 401(k)s are outlawed and the money dumped into social security. The well educated who happen to actually produce things will tear the roof off.
Funny, the H1B's I've been working with lately are all entry-level to mid-level programmers and/or office support personnel. And, due to the terms of the H1B program, they are working basically as low paid indentured servants.
One H1B'er I was working with lately was required to fly cross country for a one week project on the very evening that his wife had miscarried twins (and had yet to see a physician to deal with the aftermath).
No, the H1B program is just another national disgrace in a very long list of national disgraces that have become the hallmark of globalism.
Pffft, the global corporation I work for does it all the time and by the dozens, if not hundreds. I've worked for managers that were foreign nationals here on H1B visas and there was nothing unique about their qualifications.
H1B visas were widely abused by some employers.
Also the L1 “training” visa was abused - someone would set up an IT contracting company as a branch of a company in, say, India, then bring in foreigners ostensibly for “training” but in fact contract them out to replace gringos.
There are many stories of IT folk being told to, in effect, train their replacements and to not make a fuss if they ever wanted to get any severance.
bttt
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