"we still have the H1-B visa program going when there is clearly no longer a shortage of workers in this country. It should be killed. Now."
That's true, and I agree that it should be killed, but you are missing the bigger picture.
The H1-B talent that is coming in, although much hyped, is substandard talent. I know. Firsthand.
But when substandard talent can come in and do the same job for less, what is really going on is that the Market is recognizing that it had over-valued those jobs in the past.
So here comes the correction.
Yes, killing the H1-B program (and the L1 program, and the TN visas via NAFTA) will delay the inevitable decline of the IT industry. So if delaying the inevitable is your goal, so be it.
But eventually the shakeout is going to happen no matter what, and jobs that can be automated (e.g. many system admin jobs, numerous QA positions, countless coding jobs, etc.) are going to be mechanized away.
The H1-B talent that is coming in, although much hyped, is substandard talent. I know. Firsthand.Me too. Worked with enough of them to know the subject quite well.
Yes, killing the H1-B program (and the L1 program, and the TN visas via NAFTA) will delay the inevitable decline of the IT industry. So if delaying the inevitable is your goal, so be it.
Actually, it's not inevitable. The company I work for is trying to insource everything now. So, in the end, this may be a competitive issue - which makes more sense in the long run, outsourcing or insourcing? Having looked at the future of IT, IMO, in the form of tools such as Ab Initio, I think insourcing will come out ahead. But we don't have to keep policies in place that make matters worse for American workers during that transition, that time of uncertainty. I don't think IT workers are looking for a handout, just some fairness.