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We Shouldn't 'Hire American' (Restricting H-1B visas for foreign workers amounts to protectionism)
Forbes ^ | Feb 25,2009 | George A. Pieler

Posted on 02/26/2009 5:43:58 AM PST by SeekAndFind

Can you stimulate the economy by shutting out foreign workers? Sens. Bernie Sanders and Chuck Grassley think so. And for all his anti-protectionist rhetoric, President Obama has shown surprisingly little interest in stopping them.

The stimulus bill the president signed into law restricts the use of bank bailout funds (money banks get from the Financial Stability Plan, formerly known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program) to hire skilled foreign workers under the H-1B visa program.

This slap at open labor markets is downplayed as a dramatic but toothless gesture in favor of "Hire American," nice companion to the "Buy American" provisions of the same bill. Anyone who finds either of these two concepts a good idea in times of crisis has not learned anything from history. This superficially patriotic protectionism is a knee-jerk reaction, the politicians' equivalent of kids scratching a wound when they should really know better.

Even in its present form, this clause can do great damage. In this case, the Sanders-Grassley strictures mean nearly all major U.S. banks and financial institutions--all recipients of bailout cash--have to demonstrate that when they hire foreign worker, they tried to, but couldn't, hire American worker instead.

Aptitude, training and skill level become, at best, secondary concerns, and the door to lawsuits is opened wide. The restrictions don't bar foreign hires (who can legally work in America with H-1B visa), but makes them cost-ineffective in most cases and imposes prohibitive burdens on recruitment of needed talent. Banks are not the only targets: the Big Three automakers, for example, are all on the Financial Stability Plan's dole, too.

The real problem, though, is the underlying principle of the law. The idea that native Americans (or Poles, or Koreans, or Egyptians) deserve special status in hiring is deliberate slap in the face of globalization.

(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cheaplabor; economy; h1b; hireamerican; immigration; jobs; protectionism; visa
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To: sausageseller

Confirmation from the same government that provided the docs in the first place?


81 posted on 02/26/2009 11:01:06 AM PST by steve8714 (They tuuk ahr jahbs!)
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To: Lloyd227
According to my understanding of the law, every single H1B hire is supposed have been due to the inability to locate a similarly skilled American to fill the position.

Sure, and if they are hiring Indian or Chinese nationals with PhD's in Computer Science from US universities when American-born equivalents simply don't exist in sufficient numbers, that's one thing. That's the story Bill Gates and others always tell Congress and it's perfectly plausible. But the question someone should be asking the lawmakers is why there seem to be so many generic, low-paid network engineers and software developers occupying those H1B slots. It suggests that maybe the number of H1B visas is actually far too high, and once the 5,000 or so brainiacs are divided up among tech firms each year, they are using the rest of the slots to save money on generic job functions.

82 posted on 02/26/2009 11:04:49 AM PST by Mr. Jeeves ("One man's 'magic' is another man's engineering. 'Supernatural' is a null word." -- Robert Heinlein)
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To: nnn0jeh

ping


83 posted on 02/26/2009 12:33:55 PM PST by kalee (01/20/13 The end of an error.... Obama even worse than Carter.)
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To: SeekAndFind; dirtboy; Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus; Roger_Wildcat; bill1952; cripplecreek; ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XGJq8wrw5I

Funny, but then again, not so funny.


84 posted on 02/26/2009 1:45:15 PM PST by Drango (A liberal's compassion is limited only by the size of someone else's wallet.)
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To: Gondring
"Atlas gets restless with such things."

Only traitorous, libertine, citizen-of-the-world pansies would rather hire their preferred slaves in and from communist and Islamist regimes than their own American neighbors, and you're referring to them as "Atlas." That's funny! Pride goes before the fall.


85 posted on 02/26/2009 2:01:28 PM PST by familyop (combat engineer (combat), National Guard, '89-'96, Duncan Hunter or no-vote, http://falconparty.com/)
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To: sausageseller
"H-1B workers are low wage ,drug free, cleanbackgound employees."

We wonder as to why spoiled rotten, whore-worshiping drug addicts would want foreign or American workers who disrespect them so much. We work for them, but we don't respect them.


86 posted on 02/26/2009 2:03:59 PM PST by familyop (combat engineer (combat), National Guard, '89-'96, Duncan Hunter or no-vote, http://falconparty.com/)
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To: steve8714

Screw Forbes...

H1BS Visas are a scam to get cheap labor

they used the excuse that America was short on these Skills...as they replaced Americans with cheap labor...

Sometimes I side with the democrats when these greedy scumbags make excuses for screwing Americans.....

You know....??? screw the Republicans. I want out.

Go sell your “Conservative” crap somewhere else.

You let Ramos and Compean Rot in prison...You aren’t for US

You are for YOURSELVES.

Greedy RATS.


87 posted on 02/26/2009 2:05:21 PM PST by LtKerst (Lt Kerst)
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To: LtKerst

You know what?? I am Glad the republicans are out of Power...

When The Democrats trash America...and the Riots start...

We will be ready for the New World Order.......

and it will not be Forbes....Marie Antonette was “Forbes”

Like the Joker said..”This Place needs an Enema”


88 posted on 02/26/2009 2:08:56 PM PST by LtKerst (Lt Kerst)
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To: Drango
"

Funny, but then again, not so funny.
"

LOL! It's hilarious, because the "professionals" didn't put on proper work attire before showing up to wait for work. ...not to mention that they were begging to be mugged.


89 posted on 02/26/2009 2:16:02 PM PST by familyop (combat engineer (combat), National Guard, '89-'96, Duncan Hunter or no-vote, http://falconparty.com/)
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To: Drango
Oops...getting that URL in the quote here.

"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XGJq8wrw5I

Funny, but then again, not so funny.
"

LOL! It's hilarious, because the "professionals" didn't put on proper work attire before showing up to wait for work. ...not to mention that they were begging to be mugged.


90 posted on 02/26/2009 2:17:24 PM PST by familyop (combat engineer (combat), National Guard, '89-'96, Duncan Hunter or no-vote, http://falconparty.com/)
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To: SeekAndFind
They were bringing in 240,000 H-1B workers during the 2002 IT slump. Shameless.

And how many are they bringing in today ?

All the work visa programs together bring in 140,000 foreign workers per month, or 1,680,000 per year. This does not include the millions of illegal aliens who slip across the border.

91 posted on 02/26/2009 2:18:55 PM PST by meadsjn (Socialists promote neighbors selling out their neighbors; Free Traitors promote just the opposite.)
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To: LtKerst
"Like the Joker said..”This Place needs an Enema”"

Below, you'll see another tagline that I've been using. And yes, the prevalent anti-American, business-government-academic interests have gone too far, but their vanity won't let them realize it, yet. Granted, by the hysterical campaigns, headlines and rants we're seeing these days, they feel something about it in the backs of their twisted minds.


92 posted on 02/26/2009 2:23:41 PM PST by familyop (As painful as the global laxative might be, maybe our "one world" needs a good cleaning.)
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To: ecomcon
I’m giving you an example of how globalization is not free trade, free market, or anything else but taking advantage of artificial, government created, local situations, and is nothing but another tool used to tear this country down to the level of the lowest common denominator.

I still fail to see how that follows from your story.

What's the magic that's supposed to keep competition out of the market?

93 posted on 02/26/2009 4:39:04 PM PST by Gondring (Paul Revere would have been flamed as a naysayer troll and told to go back to Boston.)
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To: dmartin
I am sorry I am dense this morning. What does this acronym stand for?

See http://www.geoffmetcalf.com/lunch_20010625.html

(and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TANSTAAFL)

94 posted on 02/26/2009 4:45:55 PM PST by Gondring (Paul Revere would have been flamed as a naysayer troll and told to go back to Boston.)
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To: cripplecreek
So which is it clown?

I'm not it clown. You said your uncle was in IT. Maybe you're calling him an it clown?

He should be forced to keep them or forced to fire them?

No.

Apparently you would be happier if he had kept the company open and running at a loss so he could go beg congress for money

Apparently you can't read.

Again, was it his obligation to keep them at a lower wage?

Nope. But it's not any ethical high ground to lay them off rather than offer them to keep the job at a competitive wage.

The fact that you call it dumping is a real fine indicator of what you think of Americans.

I'm not the one who treated the workers like pawns. Talk with your uncle. He's the one who decided to leave them without work, not even giving them an opportunity to keep their jobs. If you think that it's wonderful to lose a job, you're clueless.

Certainly far more ethical than importing labor to put Americans out of work.

What about importing labor to keep a company afloat?

But of course, that's not the only solution...there's the conservative one, which is to have wages match the market.

But you run from the market like a vampire from daylight.

It is kind of amusing watching you globalist clowns running in circles trying to plug all the new leaks.

Please give your definition of "globalist"...not a description, but your definition.

95 posted on 02/26/2009 4:53:39 PM PST by Gondring (Paul Revere would have been flamed as a naysayer troll and told to go back to Boston.)
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To: familyop

If you learned to read better, you might have better career opportunities.


96 posted on 02/26/2009 4:57:41 PM PST by Gondring (Paul Revere would have been flamed as a naysayer troll and told to go back to Boston.)
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To: gdani

Why, they should be ashamed for being so productive and such good investments for their employers!


97 posted on 02/26/2009 4:59:29 PM PST by Gondring (Paul Revere would have been flamed as a naysayer troll and told to go back to Boston.)
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To: dmartin
There is a vast difference between what we would consider a highly skilled and qualified developer and what is coming through the H1-B system.

For a given wage, I don't know if that's true.

But even if that's the case, it just argues that you should be able to outcompete them without damaging protectionist schemes.

Is importing cheap labor any different in this case than just offshoring the work?

Yes. A worker here contributes to the American company, which contributes to the tax base and that scam called the "GDP" (not that the GNP is a better measure).

98 posted on 02/26/2009 5:06:34 PM PST by Gondring (Paul Revere would have been flamed as a naysayer troll and told to go back to Boston.)
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To: SeekAndFind

george, you’re an idiot.


99 posted on 02/26/2009 5:14:58 PM PST by Dr.Zoidberg
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To: Campion

What you’re saying is...Americans want benefits, but they don’t want to pay for them.


100 posted on 02/26/2009 5:16:22 PM PST by Gondring (Paul Revere would have been flamed as a naysayer troll and told to go back to Boston.)
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