[Mr. Bird]

How is it protectionism to curtail the H1-B visa program, which was predicated on a condition that is no longer true, namely that there is a shortage of qualified IT workers in this country?

I'd be all for doing away with H1-B. But then what will the 2 million techies that are still unemployed complain about? There are entirely too many IT workers in this country, and the number is growing, thanks to the morons who keep saying the future is in "high tech", like plastics in The Graduate.

[dirtboy]

I'd be all for doing away with H1-B. But then what will the 2 million techies that are still unemployed complain about?

The point is, that's a start. Next, we should offer tax advantages for companies that keep jobs here. Even the dimwit government should realize that a lower tax rate on a job here is better than the current tax rate on a job that has gone elsewhere and can no longer be taxed.

[Elliott Jackalope]

You make an excellent point, and one that I was making twenty years ago when the factory jobs were diminishing, and everyone was saying "hi-tech is the future." Now there are far too many people chasing after too few jobs in IT. If the manufacturing and factory jobs were still here there would be a lot fewer people looking for jobs in hi-tech.

The original idea was for automation and robotics to replace low-skill jobs, and create new high-skill jobs for people to do. I liked that idea, and worked to help make it a reality. The new idea seems to be just ship all of the jobs overseas and let the rest sort itself out. I don't like this idea at all, and I don't understand why we are supposed to support it.