Posted on 05/16/2003 4:49:38 AM PDT by harpseal
The job market for tech graduates is tight and getting tighter. People with years of technical experience are working at flipping burgers and saying “Welcome to Wal-Mart.” Outsourcing every corporate function except senior management to low wage nations such as India and China has become the latest fashion in the executive suites. There are many reasons why this has become the fad du jour but if the USA is to remain a livable nation it is time for Government policy to change in order to maintain the American economy. Those technical jobs that remain inside the USA are being given to low cost “Guest Workers” under the H1B program or if companies have gotten squeezed by the minor contraction of the H1B program they bring in people under the L1 visa program. In the interim totally qualified Americans are pounding the pavement looking for these same jobs. The means to maintain the American economy as the engine that drives the world are there but there are some government policies that must be changed. I am proposing a ten point program that will put the American economy in the front again.
First, and foremost the H1B visa program should be eliminated today. ALL H1B VISA SHOULD BE ENDED TODAY AND THOSE PEOPLE IN THIS NATION ON THAT PROGRAM SHOULD BE ON THE NEXT FLIGHT OUT OF THE USA. If this causes a hardship for some companies, oh well, the H1B program was based on the supposition there were NO Americans who could do the job. So they lied and they should pay a price for their misrepresentation.
Second, the cost of outsourcing should reflect its true cost to these companies. Revise the tax code so that the investment tax credit does not cover any development done outside the USA unless such development can not be done inside the USA. Fraud in such certification should be considered a felony and prosecuted.
Third, get rid of section 1706 of the IRS code that made it almost impossible for the independent IT consultants to do business directly with companies.
Fourth, the temporary visas for engineers coming into the USA to learn what the jobs of current IT workers are should not be granted.
Fifth, simplify the tax and regulatory environment so that contractors can be employed more readily. (See comments on section 1706).
Sixth, tighten the L1 visa program so that it is not used as way around the H1B program. In short no L1 visas will be issued to facilitate moving American jobs offshore.
Seventh, prosecute anyone who has certified falsely that they were unable to find American workers for a job when all they were doing was trying to save money by bringing in H1B low wage guest workers. A few felony convictions in this realm will do wonders for stopping future false certifications.
Eighth, repeal all government subsidies for foreign investment, and institute tariffs against those nations which only will purchase American products if we build facilities in their nations. Such restrictions by foreign nations are an infringement on the free market and must be fought. More factories in China will do nothing to improve the American economic condition. Now even Mexico is feeling the pinch the investment by American firms in the People’s Republic of China. In short access to the American Market should be dependant upon free access of American firms to the market in other nations. If guest workers from a nation are to be allowed in the USA then Americans must be allowed to work in that nation.
Ninth, the American system of higher education should be focused on Americans first and foremost. If foreign students wish to come to the USA to study that is fine if there is space available, but only on a space available basis. Priority must go to those students who will be graduating as American citizens and the public funding of higher education should not be expended on students from other nations who seek to come here study and take the knowledge back to another nation to compete with the USA.
Tenth, we as a nation must revise our overall tax and regulatory environment. We must get away from the soak the rich formulas. We must no longer have the legal system seek to micro manage every action of every person. Rule of law is important but the law should not concern itself with trivialities. We need to restore balance in our tax laws and regulatory system.
These ten points are based on come very sound principles and are a natural conservative agenda in my opinion. They are based on controlling our borders. They are based on not subsidizing foreign nationals at the expense of the basics of American citizens. They are based on demanding free markets from our competitors. They are based on returning sanity to our tax and regulatory systems. They are based on demanding responsibility and truth from our nation’s companies in their dealings with our immigration policies. They are based on holding companies accountable for their actions.
No, none of this is a giveaway program. They are not based upon taking away a free market but rather on expanding a free market. India and China in fact the entire world has a sound basis to become sound stable and prosperous economies at present. The USA should not experience deflation and depression to subsidize these nations.
The political implications of the above proposals should be clear to everyone. Advocacy of these proposals would appeal to a broad cross section of the American electorate. They could be enough to insure a long term governing plurality for the political party that adopted them. It is my hope that the Republican Party will take them to heart.
However, I have watched our PC society/governement force American companies become social service organizations. I watched it at Boeing and know that it goes on at Exxon-Mobil and IBM, just to name a few.
Mandatory ethics (that used to be taught at home and school didn't it - and was expected to be part of one's good character??), diversity training, etc. Women take 8 weeks off prior to delivery of a child under 'disability' and then get paid for 6 weeks or so after delivery of the child. Companies worry about being sued (and losing) if one of their management employees say or exhibit any behavior considered anti PC.
And lets' not forget programs like the Black Engineers Award (nothing specifically for Greek, Italian, etc. engineers) and the payouts to certain groups to satisfy PC claims that they were underpaid, passed over for promotions, etc.
Companies are either businesses or social organizations. If I was running a business, I would take my work where the company could concentrate on business and not have to incorporate the cost of implementing PC programs into my workday. After all, who pays for all these training sessions and the time the employees are not working?
As an employee I detest outsourcing, but as a logical, thinking person I can certainly understand why business is getting driven out of this country.
My ten points are merely a modest proposal to try to rectify the situation by taking some of the government off the backs of businesses and dealing with the legitimate Federal issues of control of our borders, international relations and an attempt to maintain free and open markets everywhere.
Our current aerospace engineers needed the chance to grow into their jobs and yes they hated the verification grunt work they were first assigned but without excelling on those projects do they think they would have gotten to where they are today. Likewise one of the things we found was our command and control in the recent campaign in Iraq was such that our military was markedly superior to the foe.
The software had a lot to do with that. Future generations of software will be needed and it does not make sense to go abroad looking for those developers. If we have no pool of software deveopers in the USA then we will not have new software.
Many on Free Republic do not wish to hear it but it is the truth. my paltry thread was merely a few steps on the road to getting us producing the things we must to stay a free nation.
Since Globalism is so "In", guess I'll wait till we're all "even" before I get have a better chance.
(cough...)
The creative people are a minority and this cannot be learned. The rest of the people who are not independently rich (ie who have to sell their labor) will have to live on the level of the poor in the Third World, if the nationality or borders are to be erased and labor is to become a mere commodity.
The new globalist world will be divided into three casts - those who own the wealth and hire others, those who are lucky or creative and can command high wages and the rest.
Those in the middle will live in constant fear to fall into the lower class and hope/struggle to join the upper privileged class.
The rich class will be cosmopolitan, corrupt and free from worry for economical survival, the middle class will be mobile, uprooted and servile, the lower class will be alienated, passive and demoralised.
To preserve such system the economical development will have to be inhibited in order to control the middle and to keep the poor down.
Marx wanted exactly such society to come.
"A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!" Rev 6:6
That's crap. Our company has been downsizing and outsourcing for the past two years. HR has been providing what limited assistance they can (or choose to) to provide the displaced workers with job leads. I help coordinate that program.
Not one former IT employee has gotten so much as a nibble. They are actively seeking employment, many on a nationwide basis. That is, those who haven't dropped off the map because they've been out of work for two years.
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