Obama Panders to the High-Tech Lobby at the Expense of Unemployed Americans

[get_involved]

"Jennifer was one of a handful of live video questioners, with the ability to have a back-and-forth with the President. She asked why the government continues to issue and extend H-1B visas while unemployed American engineers like her husband (formerly of Texas Instruments) remain part of the long-term unemployment statistics. The H-1B program issues more than 100,000 visas annually to ‘high skilled’ foreign workers on a supposedly temporary basis."

https://www.numbersusa.com/content/...igh-tech-lobby-expense-unemployed-americans.h


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[rdean]

"Jennifer was one of a handful of live video questioners, with the ability to have a back-and-forth with the President. She asked why the government continues to issue and extend H-1B visas while unemployed American engineers like her husband (formerly of Texas Instruments) remain part of the long-term unemployment statistics. The H-1B program issues more than 100,000 visas annually to ‘high skilled’ foreign workers on a supposedly temporary basis."

https://www.numbersusa.com/content/...igh-tech-lobby-expense-unemployed-americans.h


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Engineering skills constantly have to be upgraded. Companies find the best people they can. We have a PhD optics engineer where I work who just came from China. She is replacing another PhD Optics engineer from Ireland who just moved to Silicon Valley. No American applied for the position. You can't "train" someone for that job. They need to show up "trained".

 

[Dragon]

Dean, don't even TRY to justify this policy. You brand yourself as a partisan hack of the worst kind. This is no different from outsourcing: an attempt to hold down the cost of labor, in this case of skilled engineers.

The Democrats are wide open to criticism here. They do this because Silicon Valley is a big donor to their campaigns, just as the Republicans oppose green energy because the fossil-fuel industry is a big donor to theirs. It's a bipartisan political disease, taking different forms in the two parties sometimes, but always contemptible.

 

[rdean]

Dean, don't even TRY to justify this policy. You brand yourself as a partisan hack of the worst kind. This is no different from outsourcing: an attempt to hold down the cost of labor, in this case of skilled engineers.

The Democrats are wide open to criticism here. They do this because Silicon Valley is a big donor to their campaigns, just as the Republicans oppose green energy because the fossil-fuel industry is a big donor to theirs. It's a bipartisan political disease, taking different forms in the two parties sometimes, but always contemptible.

Democrats are NOT wide open to criticism on this issue. Like I said, you have to show up "trained". Republicans are slashing education in state after state from K1 to University level. You have an entire political party that calls science a "faith". Claims you can be "over educated". This attitude "trickles down" and contaminates society.
In the engineering department I work in, there's me, another white guy and a white girl. Everyone else is from another country, which includes:

Mexico
Russia
Pakistan
China
Bolivia
India
Germany

They are looking for another Mechanical engineer. I've been to lunch with 3 to talk qualification. This was from 7 or 8 resumes. Only 1 came from an American and I feel he didn't have the experience. I don't know what else to say. It's just the way it is.

Maybe because this is Chicago so there is a huge level of diversity. I went to a company a couple of hours drive away that specializes in refrigeration. Not just large size air conditioners, but refrig for meat lockers and trucks. Now this was away from Chicago out in a much smaller town. I was amazed that everyone that worked in the shop and the office and the engineering department were all white people. Just not used to that. Where I work is extremely diverse.

The bottom line is "You have to compete". You have to keep your skill level up. Republicans slashing education and undermining the educational foundation of the country is NOT the way to do it.