Ah, let's see if we can explain this to you.
Corporations solicit the government for a program to allow them to import labor under the guise that there is a shortage of qualified workers, when in fact there is not nor was there ever. The government then eases immigration restrictions in specific classes of labor in response to this request even though there has never been a shortage of labor.
The end result is that the cost for labor is reduced. Which from a corporate standpoint is fine, however from an individual standpoint, it sucks.
The free market that so many in corporate America claim to revere appears to not apply to the labor market.
The H1-B program can be summarized as nothing more than SCAB LABOR.
Think of it in these terms, for every H1B laborer in this country that holds a job, there is one less job available for a graduating college student, unemployed technician, or engineer.
Now just what don't you understand about this?.
---max
Their philosophy of the free market system is unhibited, unfettered access to labor not just in the US but in the world. There are plenty of programmers in this country to do these jobs, and many more who'd be willing to do them if not for the competition of cheaper foreigners.
What escapes the grasp of these corporations is that without a strong, viable working middle class who's going to buy their products? Henry Ford was an anti-semite and a fascist. But before that stupidity infected his brain, he understood the concept of giving his employees a livable wage. Who was going to buy his cars if people couldn't afford them? There are actually many in the corporate world (and some in Congress) who would like to do away with minimum wage laws. If only they didn't have that pesky standard to meet, then think of how much more money they could get at Christmas?
If India is such a smart country with so many brilliant programmers out-programming us, then why is their country a third world hell hole? Because they don't require of their companies what we do here, a fair wage for a day's work. The same goes for Mexico and most other countries in the world.
These suicidal policies of "bring in the world" to compete in the labor force is going to do nothing more than eventually turn us into the same kind of country these people are leaving.