President Blames Unemployment On Lack Of Tech Skills

IEEE ^

[lelio]

Part of being a conservative is in the belief of the free market.

Blind belief in anything isn't a good idea. Is it a good idea to sell a gun to someone that's yelling at his wife? Its the free market, you're free to do what you want. Is it a good idea to be at the mercy of foreign countries to get anything done in yours?

[luckydevi]

Sigh, this is a populist board not a conservative board

[wesdale]

I agree, I give up.

[Regulator]

You do not have a right to a job because you were born in America

Now there's an outstanding campaign slogan for the Republican party! Why don't you e-mail them and proudly take ownership of this line. I'm sure it will attract tens of millions of new voters to the party, and grateful Bush functionaries will shower you with gifts and free cash.

[StolarStorm]

Explain please. I'm not an expert on constitutional law so you may well be right.

[harpseal]

Why would the companies choose H1-Bs and L1s and over American workers unless the Americans are demanding more pay or benefits for the same (or less) work? I'm sure the H1-Bs aren't working for a poverty wage since they have to live here too.

Well by law they are not supposed to give lower pay or benefits to H1-B or L1 visa workers but the H1B workers do often live at a much lower standard of living in this nation. They have no immigration status and must return to their native land. Now absolutely no one is arguing that they provide a higher standard of work than the americans who they replace (illegally) and who usually have to train them. So clearly it makes no sense to replace an American who is doing the job with an H1-B or L1 unless there is a savings ad such savings are by definition illegal and someone from the hiring company must fill out a sworn staement that the pay is the same as it would be for an American worker and that no Americans were displaced from a job by the hiring of the H1-B worker.

But like WJC said it all depends on the meaning of is.

[dirtboy]

I missed that one. When and where did he say we should be training out-of-work manufacturing folks for tech jobs that were most likely to be outsourced?

That solution is inherent in what he said:

"I fully understand what you're saying. In other words, as technology races through the economy, a lot of times worker skills don't keep up with technological change."

But the problem nowadays is not worker skills, it's the fact that jobs of ALL skill levels are being lost here. We have some highly skilled tech workers, engineers and managers who can't find work or can only find work at a significant pay cut. All the training in the world, all the improvement of skills can't change that - instead, they are being asked to compete with someone who, in all likeliehood, was trained at an American university and is overseas with much lower living expenses. The tech worker in his mid thirties can't exactly call his mortgage company and have his mortgage reduced to reflect the lower living standards of his competition. This is a gut-wrenching change - but the government should be working to staunch it, instead of increasing the bleeding with policies such as H1-B.

[ravingnutter]

And I'm sure your mortgage company will follow suit and cut your mortage by 90 percent. As will GMAC on your car loan.

Knowing GMAC, if you lost your home, they'd tack on a mortgage payment for living in your car.

[clamper1797]

They are actually preferred to American workers not only for the substandard wages paid them but because the company can force them to work exhaustive hours knowing that the H1B can not complain for fear of losing their sponser (the company) and being sent back home. The companies also know that the H1B CANNOT seek employment elsewhere. H1B's are little better than indentured servents and are treated as such

I find very little that's AMERICAN in the above ... unless you're a re-incarnated slave owner

[lelio]

Sigh, this is a populist board not a conservative board

And what's a "conservative" boards opinion on this? That its just the "free" market and to leave it alone? The government has to be involved in international trade -- its the only one that can.
If being "conservative" means watching all the manufacturing and white collar jobs leave the country as you have some blind faith then I'm not a conservative. What does being conservative mean to you?

[TheSpottedOwl]

Part of being a conservative is in the belief of the free market. Welfare is anti-capitalist, not pro-capitalist. Are you sure you are on the right board?

Been on this board for a long time. I resent the fact that Kalifornistan is belly up because we are supporting Mexican Nationals. I resent greedy corporate bastards who are shipping living wage jobs overseas. I resent people with the attitude that I got mine, tough crackers for you.

No one saw the wholesale plunder of the IT jobs coming. These folks who are out of work are losing their homes, their cars, and everything else, just so their former employers can hire Rhajapurn in New Dehli for 2 bucks an hour.

Screw that. For the people that have to eat and need a roof over their heads, give them welfare.

[harpseal]

Since you two Marxists PRC mouthpieces will not discuss realities your calling this a populist board is just more name calling. when given facts and historical references you ignore them and have resorted to assertions directly contradicted by facts.

[Dane]

BTW, your "[insert Dem presidential candidate] campaign worker" is getting really lame - maybe your mom can help you come up with a new insult to use come August

Nah don't need to. As long you you jump into threads that obviously misconstrue what the President said with your democrat rhetoric the facts of your kneejerk demo reatction stand.

BTW, mom is doing great maybe she can send you some M&M cookies to help tide you over during your infinite period of doom and gloom.

[oceanview]

the "populists" are trying to save whatever piece of conservatism is left in the US, because we understand that if the American middle class is gutted, you will have a permanent, socialist, Democratic majority in this country. And at that point, its over. So don't be so harsh to trash talk us, we are looking ahead and see where this is going. Who do you think all these displaced middle class workers are going to vote for? They are going to vote for the candidate promising them the most "stuff" to replace what they have lost by being dis-employed by the private sector. And what party do you think is going to offer up the most "stuff" to buy their votes?

[dirtboy]

As jobs requirements change, we all need to change to keep up with them or we will get left behind.

Look at the job market. I was out in it last year. There are millions of tech workers who are highly trained who simply cannot get jobs now, or are facing pay cuts in excess of fifty percent. And it's even worse for manufacturing workers - if they were to get training for technical jobs, they would graduate that training into the tech sector that is facing the greatest job loss. So training is NOT the answer. Doing something about H1-B and L1 visas, however, is a good start, as well as offering tax advantages to companies who keep jobs in this country - because it's better to the government to get less tax from an American job than it is to get NO tax on that job after it's gone elsewhere.

[Myrddin]

It's not hard to understand the phrase "technology is taking over jobs". That refers to automation, not some lack of skill. The question was clearly aimed to address the plight of the unskilled worker.

The suggested remedy is to attempt to retrain with a $3000 government handout. There are hundreds of thousands of people with 4 year degrees that are out of work. Good technical degrees. They are not unskilled, yet they can not find employment. If people that already have the skills can't find a job, what hope does an unskilled worker have?

[luckydevi]

I agree it is a bad slogan. Tell me one thing that is wrong with it however

[dirtboy]

Nah don't need to. As long you you jump into threads that obviously misconstrue what the President said with your democrat rhetoric the facts of your kneejerk demo reatction stand.

You have yet to say anything to prove your premise, Dane, but we're all quite used to that.

BTW, mom is doing great maybe she can send you some M&M cookies to help tide you over during your infinite period of doom and gloom.

Just make sure she doesn't mix some of your Ritalin in with them by mistake.

[StolarStorm]

I've always thought that the real benefit for a manager hiring an H1-B is that they don't compete for promotions within the management ranks. A hot shot American techie may well be threatening to a poor manager, an H1-b isn't.