A letter to President Bush regarding the Economy

Sir, I am writing today about what I and some others see as some significant problems with our current international trade policies. Specifically, our research has shown that the United States Government has agencies and policies in place that provide direct support to competitors of the USA. Specifically I am referring to The Overseas Private Investment Corporation as the first of these agencies. I realize this agency was created and expanded before your administration but it is a problem and it should be addressed by your administration. Policies in place that may harm American permanent residents include the H1B and L1 visa programs. As one of your supporters in the 2000 elections I appreciate many of the policies you have advocated over your term so far. I would hope that you are elected to a second term but I am concerned the economy may provide you with problems over the coming months until November 2004.

As I am sure you are aware unemployment in the USA is still rising despite the emaciated version of your tax cut that was passed and this continued rise in unemployment and underemployment may well threaten any economic recovery. A part of the reason that companies are not hiring is the effect of imports on the American economy. The Overseas Private Investment Corporation is an agency of the United States Government that provides American Corporations loans and political risk insurance for investing in nations other than the USA. Sir, this is not Free Trade or anything even close. This is government subsidy to the low cost labor of China, India, and other so called developing nations who are in direct competition with American workers for jobs. There is a correlation between productivity and capital investment. Simply eliminating this organization and its programs would help to stimulate investment in new plant and equipment in the USA since there would no longer be a subsidy to investing offshore.

Sir, another problem is the abuse of our immigration law that allows foreign guest workers who are willing to work for less than American workers in technical professional areas. I am referring to the H1B and L1 visa programs. The H1B program is supposed to provide temporary guest workers to help alleviate short term shortages within the American labor supply. Instead it has become a permanent short circuit around our regular immigration laws. As a result American engineers and IT people are out of work in record numbers. Sir, these people are American citizens and they vote. They need their government to enforce the laws for their protection. Curtailing the abuses of these programs will be a winning political issue because it is the right thing to do.

Sir the political implications of not doing anything about these programs are clear. A Democrat will run on the economy promising a government jobs program which will do little to help the economy really but may get enough votes to threaten your re-election. By taking a stand on these programs you will attract much of the traditional Democrat supporters in the next election. Your stand against government handouts will appeal to your base while driving a wedge between Liberals and the union member Democrats and independents. Thank you for your consideration

Sounds more like a first step to socialism.Actually it is just the reverse. What is about using taxpayer dollars to pick winners and losers in an economy that you find so anti-socialist. The letter addresses two specific issues First and primary is OPIC which is funding the development of private enterprise operations outside the borders of the USA. It is against that internationalist socialist program that the letter is about. Your attack on this is clear support of Socialism per se. Further it is clearly in support of other nations against the USA as it is for taking money by force from Americans to give to poor foreign nations.

I am truly amazed at the number of "conservatives" who see nothing wrong with robbing their fellow Americans by forcing those fellow Americans to buy their products regardless of the price.You see nothing wrong with robbing your fellow Americans to get goods and services for your to use. I am against robbery. You are saying robbery is fine as long as you are the one who personally benefits. You are not a conservative as a Conservative does not believe in using the power of the state to take money from some citizens to guive to others for no value recieved.

You seem to think that other Americans owe you something, that it is acceptable to use the power of the government to coerce other Americans to give up part of their paycheck, paying more for a product just so you have a job at the salary and benefits you think appropriate.

On the contrary I am against forcing anyone to give up a part of their paycheck to arbitarily benefit any other regardless of who if you are on the recieveing end or not.

How democratic, a "living wage" for IT professionals.

I did not mention a living wage for IT professionals you did. Let the wages be determined by a Free Market. I have pointed out a programs and policies which interfere with a Free market within the USA. You have set up a straw man and knocked it down. In the future if you are addressing this post please address the points raised. When you demand the government protect your job, you are, in effect, demanding the right to force other Americans to part with their money to support you. Explain how this is different from a Democrat demanding higher taxes to support some Democrat constituency, or a "living wage

I think this is a serious problem. I have a friend being laid off in a high-tech company. He is former military and a strong GW supporter. However he also has a family to feed.

It's American voters who are being replaced, and when the difference in salary is so stark, they don't have a chance.

Here's an article from Townhall.com, by Phyllis Schlafly (she is summarizing a Boston Globe piece that appeared in newspapers across the country, it's now archived so I can't reprint that:

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/phyllisschlafly/ps20030610.shtml

US Tech Workers Feeling Pinch of New Economy
Phyllis Schlafly
June 10, 2003

"The Boston Globe revealed why tens of thousands of information technology jobs have been outsourced overseas in the past couple of years, and why major U.S. banks, brokerage houses and insurance companies plan to ship 500,000 more jobs abroad in the next five years.

A graduate of the Indian Institutes of Technology with a master's in business administration can be hired for $12,000. Compare that to the average starting salary or $102,338 for a Harvard Business School graduate.

The figure of a half-million jobs was reported by business consulting firm A.T. Kearney Inc., which surveyed 100 major companies. It is all a matter of money; the big banks are following the trail to Asia blazed by Microsoft Corp. and IBM.

A study by Forrester Research of Cambridge, Mass., estimates that the rush to export U.S. jobs will accelerate, and that U.S. corporations will send 3.3 million jobs overseas by 2015. India is expected to get 70 percent because many Indians speak English.

The future is now. U.S. companies already employ Indians to do research and development, prepare tax returns, evaluate health insurance claims, transcribe doctors' medical notes, analyze financial data, dun for overdue bills, read CAT scans, create presentations for investment banks, and more.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. is planning to set up an equity research department in Bombay, India, and build up its Technopolis, India, office to 1,100 employees by the end of this year. Delta Air Lines has contracted with two Indian companies to handle some reservations.

Morgan Stanley plans to experiment with hiring stock analysts in India, and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup are studying the benefits of shipping research jobs to India. Industry observers say that every bank on Wall Street will soon reap the cost benefits of the inexhaustible supply of business graduates in India eager to work for as little as 10 percent of the market rate in New York or London.

General Electric Co. shifted software development and back-office jobs to India under Chief Executive Officer Jack Welch. Today, GE's Indian engineers are contracted for tasks as sophisticated as analyzing the materials for and the design of engines for new jet airplanes.

Not only U.S. steelworkers and blue-collar manufacturing workers are getting shafted by the global economy. So are smart college graduates. As one executive, who has no shame about replacing U.S. citizens with foreigners, said, "If it can be done by sitting at a desk in front of a computer, then it can be done abroad."

Some U.S. companies, such as American Express Co., are using Indians to service U.S. customers by telephone. The Indians adopt Western names (Sanjeep becomes Sam, Radhika turns into Ruth), learn how to avoid British colloquialisms and take speech therapy so that they sound like American.

Many U.S. companies subcontract with Indian software-serving companies, especially with the three largest: The Tata Group of Companies, Infosys Technologies Ltd. and Wipro Technologies. These companies transfer their employees to the United States on L-1 visas, which are supposed to be issued only to key employees.

Business Week reported that L-1 visas were the ticket of entry to take a U.S. job for half of Tata's 5,000 workers, for one-third of Infosys' 3,000 U.S.-based workers, and for 32 percent of Wipro's U.S. employees. L-1 visas enable Indian workers to replace U.S. workers. Many of these Indian workers bring their spouses and children to the United States on L-2 visas.

New Jersey residents were shocked to learn that state officials had hired contractors who in turn arranged for operators working in Bombay to handle calls from the state's welfare recipients. New Mexico residents were shocked when KOAT-TV reported that the state hired aliens as computer programmers in the Taxation and Revenue Department and paid private attorneys to process their work visas.

The large amount of taxpayer-paid computer work performed by non-citizens for at least 12 state governments and nine federal agencies is a scandal crying out for investigation.

Age discrimination is a significant factor in the layoffs of U.S. citizens. The termination rate for those over age 40 is generally 10 times higher than for those under 40, and even those as young as 35 are at risk.

Sun Microsystems Inc. is defending itself against a lawsuit alleging that it laid off 2,500 older U.S. workers and replaced them with young, lower-paid workers from India. The lawsuit alleges that Sun discriminated on race, national origin and age, and that Sun manifested an "institutional bias" in favor of Indian workers because they are "more compliant" and "less willing to make waves."

Not only is the claim made by many tech companies that the United States suffers a shortage of computer programmers and engineers a fraud, but so is the claim that the aliens they import have specialized knowledge that is needed to retain the tech industry's competitive edge. In fact, most foreigners coming in on H-1B or L-1 visas are ordinary workers making ordinary salaries."

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