2nd month of the 4th quarter of the 7th year of the Clinton-Bush economic depression

 

My 4*great uncle's (captain William Scott's) flag for the Republic of Texas.

2006-11-01 - 6 Days Until Congressional Election

2006-11-01
_Dice_
Dice Report: 95,374 job ads

2006-11-01 03:01PST (06:01EST) (11:00GMT)
Rex Nutting _MarketWatch_
Body shop, Hudson Highland Group, claims US workers feeling better financially

2006-11-01 (03:06PST) (06:06EST) (11:06GMT)
_Monsters and Critics_
Calcutta became Kolkata, Bombay became Mumbai, Madras became Chennai, now Bangalore is Bengaluru... or maybe Bengalooru
Network World
"Bangalore is known as Bengaluru in Kannada, a Dravidian language spoken in the state...   Apart from Bangalore, Gulbarga would be known as Kalburgi, Shimoga as Shivamogga, Chikmaglur as Chikka-magaluru and Mysore would be known as Mysooru...   In 1995, India's commercial capital, Bombay, was renamed Mumbai.   India's southern metropolis of Madras was renamed Chennai a year later.   In 2001, Calcutta, the biggest city in India's east, was renamed Kolkata.   The Indian capital has also seen renaming its major landmarks.   In 1996, one of New Delhi's best known commercial addresses, Connaught Place, named after the Duke of Connaught, was renamed Rajiv Chowk, after former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi."

2006-11-01 04:00PST (07:00EST) (12:00GMT)
Rex Nutting _MarketWatch_
Weekly mortgage applications fell 3% last week, 11.2% in the last year, while rates drop slightly

2006-11-01 05:15PST (08:15EST) (13:15GMT)
Lou Dobbs _CNN_
The USA has the best democracy money can buy

2006-11-01 07:38PST (10:38EST) (15:38GMT)
Robert Schroeder _MarketWatch_
Construction spending fell 0.3% in September, private residential construction down 1.1%

2006-11-01
Marcus Yam _Daily Tech_
Epson to Off-Shore (Far-Shore) US Tech Support to Philippines

2006-11-01 10:00PST (13:00EST) (18:00GMT)
_Medical News Today_
Resveratrol extracted from red wine lets mice on high fat diet stay healthy
"Red wine and red grapes contain a chemical, called resveratrol, that can offset some of the effects of gluttony, say researchers from the National Institute on Aging, Harvard Medical School, USA.   Resveratrol does not seem to be able to get rid of the obesity, but it can lower glucose levels, help your liver and improve your heart."

2006-11-01 11:30PST (14:30EST) (19:30GMT)
Greg Robb _MarketWatch_
ISM factory index fell from 52.9% in September to 51.2% in October (with graph)
ISM press release

2006-11-01
_Creative Mac_
Indian body shop, Tata, has bought 75% stake in TKS-Teknosoft, SA for $80M
Houston Chronicle
Business Week

2006-11-01 12:16PST (15:16EST) (20:16GMT)
Marianne Kolbasuk McGee _Information Week_
Employers should invest in US employees' degrees
"One source for funding could come from hiking government fees that U.S. companies pay to employ foreign H-1B visa holders to $5K per worker, per year.   Right now, employers pay a one-time government fee of about $1,500 per H-1B worker."

2006-11-01
Jim Abrams _AP_/_Albuquerque Tribune_
GAO report rips IRS for out-sourcing extortion

2006-11-01
_The Age_
Conspiracy of Indian body shop executives, NASSCOM, to standardize test for job seekers
"Currently, only about 25% of graduates from [Indian] technical institutions and 10%-15% of [India's] general college graduates are suitable for employment in the out-sourcing industry, it said."

2006-11-01
Bill Steigerwals _Laurel Leader-Call_
Lou Dobbs is angry
"The namesake of CNN's business report 'Lou Dobbs Tonight' is hopping mad at both political parties, Congress, corporations, lobbyists, banks, the main-stream news media and everyone else he can think of for waging or supporting what he calls 'class warfare' on the middle class...   'The Number One issue that has to be confronted by about 250M middle-class Americans is their lack of representation in Washington, DC.   Nothing is more important than regaining political influence and representation for our middle class...   This has been going on now for about 15 to 20 years, but it has accelerated in the last five with free-trade agreements, with out-sourcing, with the importation of illegal labor, and the absolute influence of corporations over legislation.   Corporate America is spending over $2G a year to not only influence Congress but to actually write legislation, as in the example of the 2005 bankruptcy law, in which the credit card companies actually wrote the legislation...   More Americans own homes but they have the lowest amount of equity in their homes in history...'"

2006-11-01
Walden Bello _Inq7_
Chain-gang economics: Red China, the USA and the global economy
"'The world is investing to little.', [said] Raghuram Rajan, the new chief economist of the International Monetary Fund [IMF]...   [Red China] and the United States, however, appear to be bucking the trend, though GDP growth in the USA has flattened very recently.   But rather than signs of health, growth in these 2 economies -- and their ever more symbiotic relationship with each other -- may actually be an indicator of crisis.   The centrality of the United States to both global growth and global crisis is well known...   The [Red Chinese] government can mitigate excess capacity by expanding people's purchasing power via a policy of income and asset redistribution.   Doing so would probably mean slower growth but more domestic and global stability.   This is what [Red China's] so-called 'New Left' intellectuals and policy analysts have been advising.   [Red China's] authorities, however, have apparently chosen to continue the old strategy of dominating world markets by exploiting the country's cheap labor.   Although [Red China's] population is 1.3G, 700M people -- over half -- live in the countryside and earn an average of just $285 a year, according to some estimates.   This reserve army of rural poor has enabled manufacturers, both foreign and local, to keep wages down.   Aside from the potentially destabilizing political effects of regressive income distribution, the low-wage strategy, as Hung points out, 'impedes the growth of consumption relative to the phenomenal economic expansion and great leap of investment'.   IOW, the global crisis of over-production [actually artificially distorted pricing] will worsen as [Red China] continues to dump its industrial production on global markets constrained by slow growth..."
Global Imbalances: An Assessment

2006-11-01 15:02PST (18:02EST) (23:02GMT)
_KMBC_
ACORN workers indicted for voter fraud
"The Kansas City Election Board told KMBC they found suspicious forms, such as seven applications from one person and an application for a dead man.   'There is some motive behind it -- this is not accidental.', said Ray James with the Kansas City Election Board.   Election officials said some of the application cards had false addresses, signatures and phone numbers.   ACORN officials in Kansas City said they turned in the 4 people who were indicted."
 

2006-11-02 - 6 Days Until Congressional Election

2006-11-02 05:30PDT (08:30EST) (13:30GMT)
Subri Raman & Tony Sznoluch _DoL ETA_
un-employment insurance weekly claims report
current press release
"The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 300,091 in the week ending October 28, an increase of 8,563 from the previous week.   There were 294,376 initial claims in the comparable week in 2005.   The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.6% during the week ending Oct. 21, unchanged from the prior week.   The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,096,218, a decrease of 20,662 from the preceding week.   A year earlier, the rate was 1.9% and the volume was 2,378,680.   Extended benefits were not available in any state during the week ending October 14."

2006-11-02 07:02PST (10:02EST) (15:02GMT)
Rex Nutting _MarketWatch_
CGC says lay-off announcements were down 31% in October
"Big U.S. corporations announced 69,177 job cuts in October, down 31% from September's tally, Challenger Gray & Christmas reported Thursday.   October's unscientific tally was down 15% from 2005 October...   Lay-off announcements had surged in September, reaching 100,315...   For the year to date, job-reduction announcements as tracked by Challenger are down 18% to 708,406.   The automotive industry continued to slash pay-rolls, announcing 19,497 more lay-offs in October.   The retail industry announced 11,178 job cuts, many due to intense competition in the industry.   The auto sector has announced 131,139 reductions this year.   In retail, job cut [announcements] soared to nearly 3 times the normal monthly level..."

2006-11-02 07:02PST (10:02EST) (15:02GMT)
Rex Nutting _MarketWatch_
Productivity stable as compensation begins to recover
BLS data

2006-11-02 08:32PST (11:32EST) (16:32GMT)
Robert Schroeder _MarketWatch_
Factory orders up 2.1% in September, down 2.5$ if transportation orders are excluded
census bureau press release

2006-11-02 10:17PST (13:17EST) (18:17GMT)
Matt Andrejczak _MarketWatch_
Sanjay Kumar, former Computer Associates CEO, sentenced to 12 years in prison, fined $8M for fraud: Restitution to be set in February

2006-11-02
Steve Hamm & Dawn Kopecki _Business Week_
Tech globalization's threat to US security
"As combat becomes increasingly high-tech, Pentagon officials worry that 'accidental defects' or 'maliciously placed code' buried within a computer program could compromise the security of the Defense Department network and, ultimately, hurt its ability to fight wars, says Pentagon spokesman major Patrick Ryder.   A task force of the Defense Science Board is in the final stages of preparing a recommendation on how to deal with the fact that some of the software the military buys is produced off-shore.   While task force deliberations are secret, the conversations between its members and outside technology and security experts are raising concerns among tech industry groups here and abroad...   The worry is that the Pentagon might enact policies forcing tech suppliers to break off pieces of their global supply chains, making it difficult to deliver the most advanced products at affordable prices.   These days, computer builders, chip-makers, software publishers, and tech-services outfits all tap inexpensive programming talent in foreign countries -- sometimes assembling Lego-like chunks of code from different sources.   This includes not just software for computers and networks but, in some cases, programs for military aircraft, missile guidance, and battlefield management systems.   Industry [executive] advocates are concerned that efforts to fence out security threats could bring a return to the days when too much of the stuff the Pentagon bought was custom-made [and that they will have a more difficult time diverting large portions of the transactions into the executives' personal pockets]...   Just 3 weeks ago, the Commerce Department revealed that attacks by [Red Chinese] hackers forced one of its bureaus to cut off Internet access and discard virus-infected computers.   It was the second such major attack on U.S. government computers since July...   There are no easy solutions to lowering risk, since pieces of software made by foreigners are embedded throughout computing equipment and software packages—whether they're sold by U.S. companies or not..."

2006-11-02
Edwin S. Rubenstein _V Dare_
History of cheap Chinese labor in Canada
"Canada currently admits about 250K legal immigrants annually, or approximately 83 per every 10K residents.   By comparison, the U.S. is almost xenophobic: we admitted 1.12M legal immigrants in 2005, or roughly 38 per every 10K Americans [plus about the same number of illegal aliens, for a total of 76 per 10K].   On a per capita basis, Canadian immigration is the highest in the world...   '[Red China] does not accept any immigrants. We have a large enough population.   A foreigner can visit on a tourist visa that can be extended for up to 6 months.   Then you must leave.   To apply for a temporary work permit, you must first have an official letter of invitation from a company authorized by the [Red Chinese] government.'"
 

2006-11-03 - 4 Days Until Congressional Election

2006-11-03 06:45PST (09:45EST) (14:45GMT)
_CBS_
Mosque stand-off ends with rush of human shields, 2 of whom were killed
"Palestinian gunmen holed up in a mosque escaped Friday as Israeli forces fired at a group of women who streamed to the scene to serve as human shields, killing 2 and wounding at least 10, the army and witnesses said.   At least two of the escaping gunmen were disguised as veiled women.   The dead women were among several hundred who had heeded a call by Hamas militants to ring the mosque in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun.   Their presence allowed the gunmen inside to escape, some reportedly wearing robes supplied by the women, ending their 19-hour stand-off with soldiers parked outside in tanks and armored personnel carriers.   Troops seized Beit Hanoun on Wednesday in their fiercest bid in months to halt Palestinian rocket fire on nearby Israeli communities."

2006-11-03 07:30PST (10:30EST) (15:30GMT)
Greg Robb _MarketWatch_
ISM services index rose from 57 in August 52.9 in September to 57.1 in October: Employment index was 51.4 in August, 53.6 in September, 51 in October
ISM press release

2006-11-03 04:55PST (07:55EST) (12:55GMT)
_CNN_
Gaza militants hide among women
Word Press
"Palestinian militants who had been in a fire-fight with Israeli soldiers escaped Friday, many of them slipping away in a crowd of women who had come to join what had begun as a stand-off.   Israeli troops fired into the crowd, and there were reports of civilian casualties.   The gunmen had sought cover at a northern Gaza mosque for hours, mingling with a crowd of Palestinian women who had formed a human shield outside, the Israel Defense Forces said.   Palestinian sources said some of the militants had put on women's clothes...   An IDF spokesman said the troops fired on the women because two of the militants were hiding among the group.   He said both men were killed."

2006-11-03 14:15PST (17:15EST) (22:15GMT)
_BBC_
Two of hundreds of women shielding terrorists were killed
"One of the women told the BBC they had dressed the militants in women's clothes to help them escape...   In the dramatic mosque rescue, Hamas radio issued an appeal to local women when a tense stand-off developed between Israeli forces surrounding the building and up to 15 militants who had taken refuge inside...   'All the women headed to the mosque to get the Palestinian... men...   But the Israeli occupation forces were firing heavily at us with their machine guns and also threw stun grenades at us.   We entered the mosque and indeed we got all the resistance men out and put female attire on them so that the [Israelis] wouldn't arrest them.'...   Shots were fired as the women approached Israeli forces.   As some of the women tried to pass the troops, further shots came and two women fell to the ground...   'We saw crowds of women.   Behind the women hid some of the militants.   Some of them were even dressed up as women: we have footage.', she said."

2006-11-03 15:41PST (18:41EST) (23:41GMT)
Yakub Ralwah _AP_/_Yahoo!_
Phlistine women help free terrorists
"Hundreds of Palestinian women in robes and head scarves streamed into a Gaza combat zone Friday to help free gunmen besieged by Israeli troops at a mosque.   Two women who came under fire were killed and at least 10 wounded, but some gunmen managed to escape.   The women, many with ties to the Islamic militant group Hamas, left their homes after daybreak in response to appeals on the local Hamas radio station or telephone calls from friends and relatives.   By nightfall, they were celebrated as heroes, an unusual role in a deeply conservative society that tends to keep women on the sidelines.   Until Friday, battling Israeli troops had been men's business in Gaza.   The mosque stand-off came on the third day of Israel's fiercest bid in months to halt Palestinian rocket fire on Israeli border communities.   The offensive began Wednesday, when Israeli forces took over the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, close to the border with Israel.   In all, 35 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Wednesday, including 17 on Friday.   Among those killed Friday were the two women protesters, a 16-year-old boy, two medics and at least 10 militants.   Most of the deaths Friday were a result of a series of Israeli air strikes after sundown.   In the deadliest hit, five Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike in the Jebaliya refugee camp.   The army said the strikes targeted militants trying to plant explosives or launch rockets."

2006-11-03
Julie Stahl _Cybercast News Service_
Hamas Urged Women and Children to Shield Terrorists in Mosque
"At least a dozen Palestinian gun-men eluded Israeli capture in the Gaza Strip on Friday, first by taking refuge in a mosque and then by calling on women and children to shield them so they could escape.   Palestinians reported at least one women killed and a second was in critical condition after they were shot during the fray.   The Israeli Army said its soldiers had fired only at armed gunmen, who were firing at them from within the crowd.   The stand-off began on Thursday evening when some three dozen Palestinian gunmen -- fleeing Israeli forces -- took refuge in a mosque in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun.   Gunmen and Israeli troops exchanged fire during the night and part of the mosque's roof collapsed.   On Friday morning, Hamas radio put out a call for women and children to come to the mosque -- to form a human shield around the gunmen so they could escape...   About 3K protestors, most of them women, turned out to protect the gunmen -- and the ploy worked...   This is not the first time that Palestinian gunmen have taken cover in religious buildings to escape Israeli forces.   Four years ago, 200 armed Palestinians spent more than a month holed up in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity."

2006-11-03
Dave Kopel _National Review_
How will the elections affect the right to own and carry arms: NRA & GOA ratings

2006-11-03
Kari Lydersen _CorpWatch_
Global Horizons abuses guest-workers
"The migrant workers paid up to $8K each to Thai recruiters working for Global Horizons, a California-based company, which then obtained H-2A agricultural guest worker visas for them, flew them to Washington and set them up in housing, as required by the federal program.   Before taking the jobs, the workers had been told they would live in apartments, eat meals catered by a Mexican restaurant and be able to send significant amounts of money home to their families, according to the Seattle Times.   Instead Global Horizons housed the Thais in motels and trailers that had not been approved, as required, by the state labor department.   Without kitchens or laundry facilities, they would cook in hot plates on the floor and wash their clothes in trash cans, according to investigations by legal aid groups reported in local media.   Photos provided to CorpWatch by Seattle Times reporter Lornet Turnbull showed groceries crammed into motel mini-fridges, make-shift kitchens constructed on motel room floors and cramped dormitories in a trailer with bunk beds blocking emergency exits."

2006-11-03
Edwin S. Rubenstein _V Dare_
October employment data show record displacement of US citizens by immigrants, non-immigrants and illegal aliens (with graph)
"From our perspective here at VDARE.COM, the October job pop was really a bust.   We refer, of course, to the 'other' employment survey, of households rather than businesses, which gives some indication of the immigrant share of job growth.   The household survey showed that a whopping 437K new positions were created in October.   But the gains were overwhelmingly skewed toward Hispanics—our proxy for immigrants, because about 40% of them are foreign-born.   Here are month's gains by racial group: Total: +437K (+0.30%); Hispanic: +292K (+1.49%); Non-Hispanic: +145K (+0.12%).   More than two-thirds of October's new jobs went to Hispanics, who represent just 14% of the U.S. labor force...   Among white males, unemployment actually rose -- to 3.0% in October from 2.9% the prior month.   Similarly, Black male unemployment rose -- to 7.9% in October from 7.7% in September.   Yet the same seasonally unadjusted figures show that unemployment declined among Hispanic males -- to 3.4% in October from 3.7% in September...   Since the start of Bush II's administration (2001 January) Hispanic employment has risen 3.730M, or 23.1%.   Just 3.781M jobs were filled by non-Hispanics, a gain of only 3.1%."

2006-11-03

DJIA	11,986.04
S&P 500	1,364.30
NASDAQ	2,330.79
10-year US T-Bond	4.72%
crude oil	59.14
gold	629.20
silver	12.635
platinum	1,209.40
palladium	335.10
copper	0.207656
natgas	$7.884/MBTU
unleadedgasoline	$1.5069/gal
heatingoil	$1.6775/gal

I usually get this info from MarketWatch, which gets them from BigCharts.
 

2006-11-04 - 3 Days Until Congressional Election

2006-11-04 (00:57PST) (03:57EST) (08:57GMT)
Jean-Baptiste Piggin _Monsters and Critics_
Germany parliament deputy threatened after she asked Muslim women to abandon the wearing of head-scarves
"Turkish-born Ekin Deligoz, 35, has occupied a Greens party seat since 1998, the year after she was naturalized as a German, but she only gained national attention last month when she assailed the scarf as a symbol of backwardness and submission to male dominance."

2006-11-04
Chris Hawley _Arizona Republic_
Mexican factory owners whine of labor shortage
"Most migrants turn up their noses at Mexican factory jobs, which typically pay unskilled workers less than 120 pesos ($11.30) a day.   Migrants know that they can earn 5 or 6 times as much just across the border in the United States.   Mexican companies say they can't afford to raise their wages because they are competing with assembly plants in [Red China] and India, where the pay is even lower...   During the 2000-2001 economic slump, many U.S. companies moved manual factory work, such as clothing manufacturing, from Mexico to [Red China] to cut costs."

2006-11-04
Daneen G. Peterson _Stop the North American Union_
Treason Abounds as Government Cabal Plots North American Union

2006-11-04
Sher Zieve _Chron Watch_
Main-stream media and Democrats are terrorists' best friends
 

2006-11-05 - 2 Days Until Congressional Election
 

2006-11-06 - 1 Days Until Congressional Election

2006-11-06
Steve Goldstein _MarketWatch_
Lakshmi Mittal CEO of merged Arcelor Mittal Steel
"The 56-year-old Mittal formed his steel giant by merging LNM Holdings, Ispat International and International Steel Group.   Arcelor was founded by the combination of European steel giants Aceralia, Arbet and Usinor."

2006-11-06
Frosty Wooldridge _American Daily_
Cheap labor my arm-pit
"An October report by the Washington Post exposed illegal aliens sending $25G in cash back to Mexico annually.   Another $25G transfers to Central and South America.   An additional $16G U.S. dollars vanish into Asia annually.   Cash remittances sent back to immigrant countries bleed the United States into serious financial consequences.   We suffer a $700G annual trade deficit from over 3.1M jobs off-shored and out-sourced -- compliments of your U.S. Congress with their wonderful H-1B, H-2B and L-1 visas giveaways...   When you add in the $1.6G you pay in federal funds to pay for the 618K convicted illegal aliens sitting in our state and federal prisons, you can't define them as 'cheap labor' much longer...   When you look at the millions of American working poor now standing in the food stamp and unemployment lines, billions of your hard earned dollars pay for their welfare and medical payments -- the real meaning of illegal aliens working the jobs that 'Americans won't do' brings a whole new understanding to 'cheap labor'...   Today, Mexico, Asia, Central and South America devour the United States like parasites.   Worse, our elected parasites in Washington, DC make it possible by ignoring our immigration laws.   They allow illegal parasites to suck the financial life-blood out of our country while the illegals destroy our educational, medical, prison, language and cultural integrity."

2006-11-06
Orson Scott Card _Real Clear Politics_
War on Terror is the only issue this election day
excerpt on InstaPundit
discussion at TailRank
"And the success of the War on Terror now teeters on the fulcrum of this election.   If control of the House passes into Democratic hands, there are enough withdraw-on-a-timetable Democrats in positions of prominence that it will not only seem to be a victory for our enemies, it will be one.   Unfortunately, the opposite is not the case -- if the Republican Party remains in control of both houses of Congress there is no guarantee that the outcome of the present war will be favorable for us or anyone else.   But at least there will be a chance...   the Democratic Party seems hell-bent on losing it -- and in the most damaging possible way..."
 

2006-11-07

--- Election Day ---

2006-11-07 07:06PST (10:06EST) (15:06GMT)
David Weidner _MarketWatch_
Investment brokers will likely see 20% increase in bonuses

2006-11-07 11:14PST (14:14EST) (19:14GMT)
Vivek Wadhwa _Business Week_
USA doesn't need flood of foreign engineers, USA needs to keep research at home
"Education should always be improved, and math and science are really important, but education and graduation rates aren't the issues to worry about right now.   A new Duke University engineering study conducted by my students concludes that there's no real shortage of engineers, and that American workers' education levels isn't what's leading to off-shoring.   We've got a lot to worry about, but it helps to understand the real issues...   80% of the respondents to our questionnaire reported that their U.S. engineering jobs were filled within 4 months, and that offer-acceptance rates have stayed constant or increased over the past 3 to 5 years.   88% didn't offer signing bonuses or offered them to less than 20% of potential employees.   Intel and M$ may have difficulty in hiring engineers with specific skills at competitive salary levels, but our data don't indicate a general shortage of engineers...   The majority of respondents said they didn't mandate that job candidates possess a 4-year engineering degree.   40% hired engineers with just 2- to 3-year degrees or diplomas, and an additional 17% said they would hire similar applicants if they had additional training or experience...   if companies are prepared to go off-shore, they're willing to recruit and train raw talent...   At a recent National Academy of Engineering conference, University of Texas Professor Ted Rappaport presented an analysis of research and development investments by telecoms over the past few years.   His research shows that all but 5 of the 57 major research initiatives announced were located outside the U.S. Rappaport believes that as a result, U.S. students have lost interest in entering graduate school to pursue research in the telecom field."
full report

2006-11-07 12:23PST (15:23EST) (20:23GMT)
Robert Schroeder _MarketWatch_
US consumer credit dropped by most since 1992 April
"Total consumer credit fell by $1.20G in September, or by a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 0.61%, to $2.366T, the Fed said.   In 1992 April, outstanding consumer credit fell by $1.78G, according to the Fed...   Most of the decline was in so-called non-revolving credit, like loans for cars and boats.   Non-revolving credit fell by $4.05G, or by a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.21%, to $1.50G.   The drop in nonrevolving credit is the largest since October 1991, when it fell by $4.81G.   Revolving credit like credit card loans, meanwhile, grew by $2.85G, or at an annual rate of 4.00%, to $857G."

2006-11-07 15:25PST (18:25EST) (23:25GMT)
John Spence _MarketWatch_
Builders don't expect improvement in housing market

2006-11-07

DJIA	12,156.77
S&P 500	1,382.84
NASDAQ	2,375.88
10-year US T-Bond	4.66%
crude oil	58.93
gold	627.70
silver	12.675
platinum	1,192.30
palladium	334.30
copper	0.21034
natgas	$7.755/MBTU
unleadedgasoline	$1.5241/gal
heatingoil	$1.6803/gal

I usually get this info from MarketWatch, which gets them from BigCharts.
 

2006-11-08

2006-11-08 08:15PST (11:15EST) (16:15GMT)
Greg Robb _MarketWatch_
Mortgage applications up in latest week

2006-11-08
Uttara Choudhury _DNA India_
Indian-Americans voted for Democrats
"Almost 60% of Indian Americans are registered Democrats...   Sanjay Puri, chairman of the US Indian Political Action Committee (USINPAC), said there were several hot-button issues for Indian Americans who took part in the polls.   'The Indian nuclear energy deal was right up there with green cards and visas.   Then there is the corollary issue of out-sourcing.   Democrats are strongly allied with the labour unions which are against out-sourcing.   These issues had implications on how people voted.', Puri told DNA.   'The H1-B expansion is something we have been pushing hard.   It will be interesting to see how Democrats play to that because it got caught up in the whole border security and immigration issue.   But we do have some good friends in the Democrats who have been very supportive on this issue.', added Puri."

2006-11-08
_PR News Wire_
Business RoundTable Urges Congress to Shaft Science and Tech Workers
"Business Roundtable, representing 160 CEOs of leading American companies with $4.5T in combined annual revenues and [opposing] more than 10M employees, today urged a renewed commitment to bipartisanship following the outcome of the mid-term congressional elections, calling on Congress to enact legislation that [harms US citizen science and tech workers]..."

2006-11-08
Rush Limbaugh
I feel liberated
"The reason we don't have amnesty and a guest worker program is because of the Republicans in the House."
Rush with caller Dmitra
"Dmitra: 'all these blue dog Democrats that just got elected. A lot of them campaigned against amnesty for illegals.'...   J.D. Hayworth led -- and this is Arizona, this is a state that is really up in arms about illegal immigration.   J.D. Hayworth led the fight in Congress on the Republican side against illegal immigration.   He lost.   Now, the details of his loss are being totally misrepresented by the Drive-By Media.   He ran against a Democrat who was parroting and echoing everything J.D. was saying.   He was making himself out to be an even bigger anti-illegal immigrant guy when he wasn't."

2006-11-08
Brad Foster _Houston Chronicle_
Tech executives happy with those they've bribed in both halves of the Demoblican/Repucrat party
"Technology companies such as Intel Corp. and Hewlett Packard Co. will be focused on the Education and the Workforce Committee, likely to be led by representative George Miller, D-CA, as they push to increase the annual cap on H-1B visas used to attract [foreign] engineers and other workers to Silicon Valley.   Many in the industry say visa reform has been [fortunately] stalled by Republicans amid the battle over illegal immigration."

2006-11-08
Michael Cutler _Counter-Terrorism BLog_
Marriage fraud perpetrated by terrorists and criminals

2006-11-08
Jim Kouri _Mens News Daily_
Immigration debacle hurt the GOP
"the issue of illegal aliens and lax border security proved devastating to the Republican Party.   What Americans witnessed on election day was a populist revolt, claims Chris Simcox, President of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps.   'With the issues of national security and ethical questions looming over the elections, the GOP leadership gave voters nothing to actually vote for.', he said.   The outspoken activist believes that the crises of border security and the illegal immigration invasion could have given a strong GOP agenda a crucial electoral edge, yet the President choose to send a contrary message to voters the week before the elections, stating that he needed a Republican Congress for his amnesty disguised as a guest worker 'path to citizenship' to move forward.   Other political observers agree with Simcox.   Rather than expose the Democrat Party as the 'open border crowd', the GOP made immigration and border security reform an intra-party issue which the news media were more than happy to play up in the weeks preceeding the mid-term elections.   'Ironically, as a result GOP infighting, a woman -- representative Nancy Pelosi -- benefited from her open-border position by becoming the new Speaker of the House.   The GOP have themselves to thank for that.', says political analyst Mike Baker.   In a post election statement, Simcox accused President George W. Bush of completely undermining Republican candidates struggling to place the safety and security of American families first.   This is borne out by the fact that Republican candidates overall lost yesterday, but candidates running as conservatives won the day.   In the case of representative J.D. Hayworth of Arizona, he lost because he was abandoned by the GOP and given little support because of his stand on border security and his critiicism of the President's de facto amnesty plan.   'The American people understand that talk of amnesty by some in our government as our wide open borders are compromised by thousands daily is irresponsible and causes a tsunami of illegal entry into this country by those seeking to get in under the wire to take advantage of the offer of amnesty.', said the Minuteman chief."
 

2006-11-09

2006-11-08 23:23PST (2006-11-09 02:23EST) (2006-11-09 07:23GMT)
Joe Britton & Joyce Thorne _North San Diego County Times_
Incumbent Brian Bilbray, R-Carlsbad, remains in congress
"The district, which includes Carlsbad, Del Mar, Encinitas, San Marcos, Escondido, Solana Beach and parts of northern San Diego, has long been considered a safe Republican district.   At a campaign party last night at downtown San Diego's U.S. Grant Hotel, Bilbray said his stance on illegal immigration gave him the edge over Busby.   'The fact is that in North County, you can't drive around the corner without seeing illegals flaunting an amnesty program.', he said.   'You can't go to the Home Depot without being over-run...   I am going to spend a lot of time with the Senate to make sure they don't give amnesty and sit down with moderate Republicans and moderate Democrats so that they don't allow Ms. Pelosi to give amnesty.'..."

2006-11-09
Norman Matloff _H-1B/ L-1/ Off-Shoring e-News-Letter_
comments on Ars Technica article on ACM off-shoring study
"The author of the report, professor Moshe Vardi of Rice University, spoke at Stanford last week...   for the most part, those who are negative on the subject of off-shoring were not invited to participate, and as mentioned later in the article, those who did participate were in some cases marginalized if they raised concerns about off-shoring.   Furthermore, Vardi's comments are in some cases not accurate representations of the actual content of the report...   starting salaries have been flat, adjusted for inflation.   But there is also another issue, more subtle.   So far, most of the programming jobs which have been off-shored have been those for 'ordinary' types of work.   As those leave the country, the average salary of those jobs that remain in the U.S. therefore rises -- even if no one is getting a nickle more than they used to.   What is especially interesting about Vardi's comment is that the ACM, CRA and other similar academic CS organizations have basically written off programming as a profession, precisely because of off-shoring.   They've been advising students to avoid becoming programmers.   As the CRA's Jim Foley told CNet,
 
'It does not make sense to become a programmer.   But there is a lot more to computer science and computing than programming, and that's part of our challenge.   There is this stereotypical image that computer science education leads to heads-down programming jobs, and it's those heads-down, isolated-from-the-problem jobs that are going to some extent off-shore.   I think the trend of pure programming jobs will continue to go off-shore, because in many ways, our computers and communications technologies enable that to happen.'
 
The trend is that the CS graduates are being hired for the 'talking jobs', i.e. the semi-technical or non-technical types of work, chiefly customer interface, marketing, 'deal-making' and so on.   Some graduates like that kind of thing, but as one of my students once famously put it, 'If I'm going to end up with an econ-type job, I might as well major in Econ instead of CS.'   (I've been quoting that student often in this e-newsletter, and ironically, it became prophetic: An article appeared in which a brother [majored in CS and his sister majored in Econ, and] the sister did better jobwise, even though her job was in a CS context.)"
Jacqui Cheng: Ars Technica: Out-sourcing is here to stay
Norm Matloff's critique of ACM report

2006-11-09 05:30PDT (08:30EST) (13:30GMT)
Subri Raman & Tony Sznoluch _DoL ETA_
un-employment insurance weekly claims report
current press release
"The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 324,979 in the week ending November 4, an increase of 23,942 from the previous week.   There were 340,491 initial claims in the comparable week in 2005.   The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.6% during the week ending October 28, unchanged from the prior week.   The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,154,627, an increase of 66,971 from the preceding week.   A year earlier, the rate was 1.9% and the volume was 2,416,475.   Extended benefits were not available in any state during the week ending October 21.

2006-11-09
_Public Citizen_
Nationwide Candidates Win by Fighting for New Trade Policies, Opposing NAFTA Model: No Fair Trader Loses, 33 "Free" Trade Seats Flip
"No incumbent fair trader was beaten by a "free trader".   The only Democratic incumbents seeking higher office who were defeated were anti-fair trade representative Harold Ford, Jr., running for Tennessee's open Senate seat, and representative Jim Davis, running for Florida's open governor slot.   Despite the Democratic sweep, Republican representative Rob Simmons (CT-2), who opposed Fast Track, CAFTA and the Oman FTA, is in a too-close-to-call race despite being listed for months as a likely loser.   Many GOP anti-fair trade leaders were defeated in surprise upsets: Clay Shaw (R-FL) the Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee chair, and Ways and Means members Nancy Johnson (R-CT), Chris Chocola (R-IN), Melissa Hart (R-PA) and J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ).   Each was replaced by a fair trader: FL-22 Ron Klein; CT-5 Chris Murphy; IN-2 Joe Donnelly; PA-4 Jason Altmire; and AZ-5 Harry Mitchell."

2006-11-09 04:48PST (07:48EST) (12:48GMT)
_National Review_
Stuart Anderson crawls from under rotten board

2006-11-09 05:32PST (08:32EST) (13:32GMT)
Mark Krikorian _National Review_
Are amnesty and non-existent borders in our future?
"Before election night was even over, White House spokesman Tony Snow said the Democratic takeover of the House presented 'interesting opportunities', including a chance to pass 'comprehensive immigration reform' -- i.e., the president's plan for an illegal-alien amnesty and enormous increases in legal immigration, which failed only because of House Republican opposition...   More responsible polling employing neutral language (avoiding accurate but potentially provocative terminology like 'amnesty' and 'illegal alien') finds something very different.   In a recent national survey by Kellyanne Conway, when told the level of immigration, 68% of likely voters said it was too high and only 2% said it was too low.   Also, when offered the full range of choices of what to do about the existing illegal population, voters rejected both the extremes of legalization ('amnesty' to you and me) and mass deportations; instead, they preferred the approach of this year's House bill, which sought attrition of the illegal population through consistent immigration law enforcement.   Finally, three fourths of likely voters agreed that we have an illegal immigration problem because past enforcement efforts have been 'grossly inadequate', as opposed to the open-borders crowd's contention that illegal immigration is caused by overly restrictive immigration rules...   voters approved 4 immigration-related ballot measures by huge margins, to deny bail to illegal aliens, bar illegals from winning punitive damages, bar illegals from receiving state subsidies for education and child care, and declare English the state's official language...   What's more, if legalizing illegals is so widely supported by the electorate, how come no Democrats campaigned on it?...   [Nancy Pelosi] may be a loony leftist (F- on immigration), but she and Rahm Emanuel (F) seem to be serious about trying to create a bigger tent in order to keep power, and adopting the Bush-McCain-Kennedy amnesty would torpedo those efforts.   Sure, it's likely that they'll try to move piece-meal amnesties like the DREAM Act (HR5131 in the current Congress), or increase H-1B visas (the indentured-servitude program for low-wage Indian computer programmers).   They might also push the AgJobs bill [HR884], which is a sizable amnesty limited to illegal-alien farm-workers."

2006-11-09
Michelle Chen _New Standard_
US Chamber of Commerce and Institute for Legal Reform accused of questionable electioneering
"Public-interest advocates are accusing the nation's premier business association of withholding information on money it poured into state-level election campaigns.   The watch-dog group Public Citizen filed a complaint last Tuesday with the Internal Revenue Service charging that the US Chamber of Commerce and an affiliated political group, the Institute for Legal Reform, have violated reporting requirements for political expenditures since 2000.   The institute is a Chamber off-shoot that campaigns to curtail civil law-suits.   Meanwhile, another watchdog group, Common Cause Ohio, is suing the Chamber to uncover its electioneering expenditures in the 2004 election cycle...   In a press statement, Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook called the Chamber's political activities a 'shell game... meant to conceal its gambit to stack the courts with hand-picked pro-corporate judges'...   At issue are political attack ads from previous election cycles known as 'issue ads'.   These commercials smear one candidate or boost another, but are not counted as direct campaign advocacy because they stop just short of explicitly telling people how to vote.   In recent state election cycles, the ads have been run by Chamber-affiliated groups and financed with Chamber funds.   Yet the groups' tax returns, displayed on the Public Citizen web-site, show no sign of the alleged electioneering efforts from 2000 to 2003...   In 2003, the Ohio Elections Commission ruled the Chamber had violated state campaign-finance laws against corporate campaign spending by financing attack ads in a 2000 supreme-court race.   The ads targeted Alice Robie Resnick, who had opposed a law limiting civil jury penalties in 1999."
Privacy links

2006-11-09 08:23PST (11:23EST) (16:23GMT)
Greg Robb _MarketWatch_
UMich consumer sentiment index fell from 93.6 in late October to 92.3 in early November

2006-11-09 10:01PST (13:01EST) (18:01GMT)
Greg Robb _MarketWatch_
US trade deficit reduced to $64.3G in September
BEA press releases

2006-11-09 07:46PST (10:46EST) (15:46GMT)
Rex Nutting _MarketWatch_
Import prices fell 2% again in October: non-fuel prices down 0.1% for first time in a year
BLS import and export prices

2006-11-09 09:16PST (12:16EST) (17:16GMT)
Sarah Turner _MarketWatch_
Bank stocks drop after Bank of England increased its key interest rate a quarter-point to 5%

2006-11-09 13:29PST (16:29EST) (21:29GMT)
Shaun Waterman _UPI_
Some GOPers want immigration changes now
"President George W. Bush said Wednesday he would work with Democrats in Congress to pass the legislative package he has pushed, but which has been blocked til now by House Republicans who oppose its guest worker program and its provision giving illegal immigrants a path to legalization and eventually citizenship.   Angelo Amador, an immigration law specialist with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, told UPI that while business [executives] hoped there would be some progress during the so-called lame duck session -- after the election, but before the new Congress -- he was skeptical a whole bill could be passed...   The issue Amador hopes for progress on is the limit on the numbers of high-skill temporary workers entering under the H1B visa program.   He said Congress could raise [or, better, lower] the limit -- which is met every year within days -- create [or, better, eliminate] exemptions for some categories of workers, or 'get creative' -- perhaps by 'reclaiming' visas not used during several years when the cap was much higher and rarely reached [or, better, arresting executives of firms that abuse guest-workers by paying lower than the prevailing total compensation rates]."

2006-11-09
Sean Higgins _Investor's Business Daily_
Will Dems keep their populist words or shaft workers to favor executives?
"Leaders such as representative Nancy Pelosi of California, who'll be House speaker, promised to govern by consensus, but also pushed traditional Democratic ideas like hiking the minimum wage, which will likely win plenty of Republican support as well...   Some newly elected members, like Ohio's senator-elect Sherrod Brown, vowed to push in a liberal direction by revisiting free-trade agreements and taking aim at fast-track trade authority...   In a statement, the Chamber of Commerce made a similar appeal, promising to 'continue to work with and support members of the new Congress'.   It said it remained 'optimistic about implementing the business [executive] agenda'.   'What counts is whether we are a force when the big decisions are made, and we will be.', said Chamber President Tom Donohue...   Democrats campaigned heavily on economic populism, attacking job out-sourcing, wage levels and corporate profits...   In a joint conference with United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard, Brown vowed to push the leadership to put 'job-killing trade agreements' at the top of the party's agenda.   Rewriting them to include worker and environmental protections will come first, Brown said...   Senator Charles Schumer, D-NY, and senator Lindsey Graham, R-SC, pushed legislation in the 109th Congress to impose 27.5% tariffs on Chinese goods if Beijing didn't sharply revalue the yuan...   One issue the GOP and Democrats could work together on easily is immigration.   A likely package would include [an additional] guest-worker provision, more H-1B visas and a path to citizenship, said Timmons of the National Association of Manufacturers...   Simon Rosenberg, president of NDN, formerly the New Democrat Network, agrees immigration is the best chance for bipartisanship."

2006-11-09
Brad Foss _Fayetteville Observer_
Newly empowered Dems expect to work against the public, though biased media tries to gloss it over
Modesto Bee
Inside Bay Area
Cincinnati Post Times Star
Sun-Sentinel
North San Diego County Times
"Pelosi has pledged that Democrats would move to raise the minimum wage... Generally speaking, Democrats have said they will differ from Republicans by being tougher watchdogs of corporate wrong-doing and government spending and bigger defenders of consumers and labor unions... Sure, the Democrats will want to distinguish themselves from the Republicans early on — by shifting the emphasis in energy policy from, say, increasing the supply of oil to reducing the demand for it... Technology companies such as Intel Corp. and Hewlett Packard Co. will be focused on the Education and the Work-Force Committee, likely to be led by representative George Miller, D-CA, as they push to increase the annual cap on H-1B visas used to attract engineers and other workers to Silicon Valley."

2006-11-09
Alfredo Corchado _Dallas Morning News_/_Centre Daily Times_
Mexican president Calderon and Bush conspire against US citizens
"But while a Democrat-led Congress is likely to be more sympathetic to a guest-worker program that Bush favors, pushing for legalization for immigrants will still prove a tough sell, analysts said Thursday.   'These are moderate Democrats who ran in Republican districts and won.', said Steven Camarota, director of research for the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates restrictions on immigration. 'Asking these guys to go back to their districts and tell their constituents that they favor amnesty (for immigrants) will be tough.'   However, Camarota added, 'Overall, I think most certainly this increases the probability of a large-scale amnesty program, or whatever you want to call it.', adding that Bush's legacy, in part, is at stake...   While it remains to be seen what Democrats will do in terms of immigration, some analysts predict that Mexico's border security is something the United States is more willing to work toward."

2006-11-09
_Mens News Daily_
Mexican president Calderon and Bush conspire against US citizens
"The president's use of the word migration is sure to ruffle the feathers of many critics of his immigration policy because that word is often used by groups who see the influx of Mexicans across the border as part of the natural flow of labor.   The word is also used by groups who believe Mexicans have a special right to come to the United States since much of the land in the American southwest was part of Mexico and was taken by the United States after the war with Mexico that ended in 1848...   On Wednesday, President Bush told reporters he believes the Democratic sweep of the midterm elections will help him achieve immigration [law perversion] because many of the Democrats elected to the new Congress favor [two additional] guest-worker [programs].   But opponents of the proposal say they will continue to fight for enforcement of current immigration laws and a tightening of border security.   Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, or FAIR, says many of the newly elected Democrats may demand better border enforcement before considering a guest worker program.   'You have to remember that many of the people who were elected this week were elected on a platform of enforcement of immigration laws.   I am not aware of any of the newly elected Democrats who campaigned on a platform of amnesty and more guest workers.', he said."

2006-11-09
Frank Davies _San Jose Mercury News_
Democrats pledge gifts to tech executives, shaft to science and tech workers
St. Paul Pioneer Press
Silicon Valley
"Anna Eshoo, a Palo Alto Democrat and close friend of representative Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco...   Ron Dellums, a 27-year veteran of Congress who was elected mayor of Oakland...   'George Miller is chair.   Tom Lantos is chair.   Nancy Pelosi is speaker.   We're going to go lobby our friends in Washington.', Dellums said.   Eshoo and representative Zoe Lofgren, a San Jose Democrat, said Pelosi had already committed to giving more attention to tech-sector issues, from renewing the research and development tax credit to more [goverment] investment [of tax-victims' earnings] in scientific research...   Lezlee Westine, president of Tech Net, a political network of technology company CEOs in Washington, said she was hopeful that renewal of the tax credit and more H-1B visas for tech workers would be approved in the lame-duck session of Congress starting next week.   Eshoo and Lofgren said that as 'network neutrality' issues play out in telecommunications legislation, Internet [executives] will get a more sympathetic hearing from congressional Democrats.   Telecom and cable companies that want the latitude of charging different rates for Internet content generally had support from GOP leaders.   The incoming chairs of the House committee and sub-committee that deal with that issue -- John Dingell, D-MI, and Ed Markey, D-MA, respectively -- support strong network-neutrality provisions, Eshoo added.   The complex, emotional issue of immigration reform may also provide 'common ground' for the Bush administration and congressional Democrats to forge an agreement, Bush said at his Wednesday press conference.   This year, the Senate favored [an evil] approach -- with a plan to legalize the status of some of the nation's [12M to 24M] illegal [aliens] -- but GOP [reformers] in the House blocked it, hoping that would help Republicans in the election...   The stalemate over immigration also blocked [increase of] the H-1B visa cap, senator John McCain, R-AZ, told tech leaders in San Jose last week...   Greenwood, who heads a biotech trade association, said immigration, alternative-fuel investment and other non-partisan issues are areas where progress can be made."
Norman Matloff
"That innovation agenda consisted of tax breaks for the industry and expansions of 'immigration', meaning H-1B and employer-sponsored green cards.   So, there is one more signal from the industry, after a number of them appearing in the last few months, that Congress has been waiting for the lame duck session to enact an H-1B increase.   It of course is also yet another illustration of the fact that, on issues like H-1B, it doesn't matter which party is in control of Congress."
 

2006-11-10

2006-11-09 22:00PST (2006-11-10 01:00EST) (2006-11-10 06:00GMT)
Jerome R. Corsi _World Net Daily_
It's time for a rebirth of the Reagan revolution
"Richard Viguerie wisely writes in his new book _Conservatives Betrayed_: 'When conservatives are unhappy, bad things happen to the Republican Party.'...   What is being billed as a 'vote of no confidence' should properly be seen for what it is -- a complete failure of Bush to advance Ronald Reagan's dream of a Republican Party founded on principles of moral values, limited government and adherence to the Constitution...   What I am concerned about is that the Bush administration will continue to move to the political left, further capitulating to the Democrats in Congress.   Truly, it was stunning to hear President Bush in his press conference the day after the 2006 Blood-bath that now with a Democratic Congress in place he could finally get his comprehensive immigration reform passed.   Mr. President, conservatives do not want [another] guest-worker program, regardless how you package the deal.   Senator John McCain, R-AZ, would be well advised not to ruin his presidential prospects with conservatives by championing yet another immigration bill with far leftists such as senator Ted Kennedy, D-MA.   The tragedy of Bush's second term is that his true liberal, globalist tendencies have become all too apparent...   Instead of securing the borders, Bush continues to push for 'comprehensive immigration reform', despite the strong argument by conservatives that a guest-worker program will amount to an amnesty under another name.   Again, how can President Bush seriously argue we are waging a war against terrorism when Hezbollah agents who bribed their way into the U.S.A. across our border with Mexico are now in federal prison?   Most likely, now we will never see any fence built on what will remain largely wide-open borders.   Meanwhile, dealing drugs in the U.S.A. and receiving remittances from illegal aliens working here have become Mexico's 2 biggest businesses...   But truly, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush are probably much closer to one another politically than conservatives ever thought, just as Clinton and George H.W. Bush have become fast friends touring the ex-president circuit together.   Meanwhile, our trade deficit with [Red China] continues to grow wildly out of control, as the Bush administration prepares to open up Mexican ports on the Pacific to take in the post-Panamex container ships loaded each with 12,500 containers of slave goods or near-slave goods made in [Red China].   In the final two years of the Bush administration, maybe we will even begin to import cars manufactured in [Red China], abandoning Detroit as just too expensive...   Rove traveled to California to address the annual conference of La Raza, trying to beat out Democrats in welcoming illegal immigrants to the Republican Party.   In the rush to pick up marginal LGBT and illegal immigrant voters, the Republican Party has turn its back on core conservative values."
US truckers call for boycott of foreign-owned trans-Texas corridor highway

2006-11-09 22:00PST (2006-11-10 01:00EST) (2006-11-10 06:00GMT)
Melanie Morgan _World Net Daily_
The gloves are off
"You know the issues of betrayal that have angered conservative activists the most: amnesty plans for illegal aliens, massive federal spending, multiple corruption scandals, the prescription drug plan, Harriet Miers, etc.   Even when it came to the war against terrorism there were too many times when cut-and-run voices managed to neuter the Bush administration from taking the fight to the terrorists and aggressively selling the case for war to the public...   the fact remained that our nation is at war and the Democrat Party has decided that we should surrender to the enemy.   Sorry, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Jack Murtha, but surrender is not an option...   Sadly, the Bush White House has taken exactly the wrong message from this election...   Bush has also said that he is seeking cooperation with Democrats in enacting a guest-worker program (read amnesty) for people pouring across our borders, some of whom are terrorists.   Our president is moving in a direction that, I fear, will result in more terrorist attacks on American soil, if he is left unchecked by political pressure."

2006-11-10 04:49PST (07:49EST) (12:49GMT)
Myra P. Saefong _MarketWatch_
Red China's stangle-hold on tungsten is a disadvantage for the USA
"Used in everything from light bulbs to bullets, tungsten is a metal that's all but monopolized by [Red China], which produces about 85% of the world's supply -- leaving the U.S.A. at a handicap...   Unfortunately, the U.S.A. does not mine tungsten, though it does have a few 'large plants that take tungsten concentrate and produce intermediate products and finished products from it', said Coffin...   the biggest use is as cemented carbides, or 'hardmetals', in industrial applications such as tools and dies.   The metal's extremely-high melting point also means that it's useful for things like drill bits, where hardness and ability to withstand high heat and friction are a must, said Coffin.   That's particularly important given the growth in drilling in the oil and mining industries...   [Red China's] strength in the market has been more than apparent.   The country has gone through periods in the past where it undertook -- intentionally or otherwise -- 'predatory pricing that wiped out almost all Western production of the metal', said Coffin...   t the start of this year, [Red China] cut its tungsten export quotas by 500 metric tons, and now it says it'll cut the quota by another 400 metric tons, she said, citing news reports.   If it does that, the export quota will be 15,400 metric tons for 2007.   The country produced 69K metric tons in 2005, according to the USGS."

2006-11-10
Ben Shapiro _Family Security Matters_
Republicans lost elections because they deserved to

2006-11-10
_Info World_
Programmers Guild fears lame-duck congress will enact SKIL bill
"Programmers Guild president Kim Berry sent out an alert to his minions today asking them to contact their elected representatives not to vote for the Skil [Securing Knowledge, Innovation and Leadership], S2691 and its counterpart in the House HR5744, sponsored by Republican John Cornyn in the Senate and representative John Shadegg [R-AZ] in the House.   'The Cornyn-Shadegg SKIL Bill is a Trojan horse with a risk of being attached to an unopposable omnibus appropriations bill in the lame duck session' of Congress, Berry said in his alert...   Opponents of the bill say that both Democrats and Republicans will more than likely pass the bill as they seek the support of companies who seek to increase the overall labor pool of skilled workers.   While both the House and Senate bills are sponsored by Republicans, Berry said that most Democrats have supported H-1B in the past, and one can only assume they will again.   'I'm not aware of any Democrat who ran for the House that opposes Bill 5744.', said Berry.   Norman Matloff, a professor of computer science at the University of California at Davis called the bill an 'unwarranted expansion of both the H-1B and employment-based green card programs'.   Matloff refutes the claims of a high tech labor shortage.   'The impact of this bill on U.S. citizens and permanent residents in the tech field will be quite harmful.', Matloff said, claiming salaries adjusted for inflation have been flat in high tech since 1999.   Berry proposes increasing the H-1B visa fee to $5K per year to subsidize the education of U.S. engineering students."

2006-11-10
Grant Gross _InfoWorld_/_IDG_/_IT World Canada_
Corrupt tech executives and lobbyists expect to hold sway with Dems
"But many in the tech industry have privately and sometimes publicly complained about a lack of action on a variety of tech-related issues in the Republican-controlled Congress of the past 2 years...   The Republican Congress of the past two years accomplished little that helped the tech industry, one tech lobbyist said last week, before Tuesday's elections.   On the other hand, California's Silicon Valley consistently elects Democrats to Congress...   A wide-ranging broadband bill that would allow telecom providers to bypass local franchise agreements while providing competition to cable television services.   The telecom bill was largely sidetracked by largely partisan arguments over net neutrality, with many Democrats wanting a law that would prohibit broadband providers from blocking or slowing competing web content...   Two bills that would prohibit activities related to spyware and strengthen penalties passed the House, but failed to pass the Senate.   Many tech companies called on Congress to reform the patent system by improving the quality of patents approved and making it tougher for patent-holders to gain court injunctions against alleged violators...   Many tech companies have called for a higher cap on skilled immigrant workers under the H-1B program, while tech worker groups have opposed an increase.   A couple of attempts to raise the H-1B limit failed.   Still, tech trade groups including the Information Technology Association of America, the Business Software Alliance (BSA), and the Computing Technology Industry Association, say they are looking forward to working with the new Congress."

2006-11-10
_Broward County Sun-Sentinel_
Dem majorities worsen the likelihood that illegal immigration will be rewarded
"The Senate's [radical proposals would] Allows [8M to 24M] illegal immigrants to work and eventually obtain legal permanent residence.   Requires those in the country less than 2 years to leave.   Creates a guest-worker program for 1.5M immigrants.   Requires employers to use electronic verification system to check immigration status of new hires.   Authorizes [only] 14K new Border Patrol agents by 2011.   The House's [weak compromise] bill Makes entering the United States illegally a felony.   Makes it a felony to assist or encourage a person to enter or remain in the United States illegally [but allows emergency, life-saving aid].   Makes a drunken driving conviction a deportable offense.   Requires building [only 698] miles of fencing along [the nearly 2000 mile long] Mexican border [and none along the 3,300 mile long Canadian border]."

2006-11-10
Ruth Morris & Tal Abbady _Sun Herald_
Dems could further tearh down the borders
Charlotte Observer
Palm Beach Sun-Sentinel
"The new Democratic majority in Congress could end the federal government's stalemate on proposed immigration changes, reviving plans to legalize millions of undocumented [aliens] and broaden guest-worker [already excessive] programs, policy analysts said Thursday.   Civic groups and immigrant advocates [are in conflict over] the power shift [which may] push a Senate bill that would offer legal status to roughly [8M to 24M illegal aliens].   Efforts to enact those changes, which cleared the Senate in May, were blocked by House Republicans...   the Democrats' gains open the door for law-makers to reconcile the [radical] Senate bill with [the weak compromise] House bill that passed in December.   The election sweep also leaves unclear whether Congress will fully fund a bill signed by the president last month to build 700 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border...   From cornfields to seaside hotels, [corrupt] employers have said they favor changes that would create more visas for seasonal and temporary workers.   The Senate bill would give them their wish, opening 1.5M slots for guest workers who could also earn legal permanent residency...   According to exit polls, Hispanics accounted for a record 8% of overall ballots, said pollster Sergio Bendixen.   That compares with 7% in the 2004 presidential race, and 3% in national elections in the 1990s.   Exit polls also showed 72% of Hispanics voted for Democrats in races for House seats, while only 27% voted for Republicans, according to The Wall Street Journal."

2006-11-10 09:36PST (12:36EST) (17:36GMT)
Rex Nutting _MarketWatch_
Realtors predict new-home construction to fall another 12% over the next year

2006-11-10
William Safire _Sacramento Bee_
Post Mortem
"In addition to the usual budgetary housekeeping between Thanksgiving and Christmas, both parties should make a concerted effort to deal with the most doable urgent domestic need: to resolve the fears of [12M to 24M] Hispanic and non-Hispanic illegal aliens] living in the United States. Bush has already proposed a comprehensive compromise: a guest worker program with earnable citizenship for those here now, as well as a border fence to stop the influx of Mexicans. But Republicans -- fearful of nativist voters shouting 'no amnesty' -- passed only [a weak compromise], and that unfunded fence is a joke. Now Bush, with many Democrats already supporting his approach, should get recalcitrant Republicans to pass his fair-minded immigration package."

2006-11-10
Casey Woods _Bradenton Herald_
Illegal alien boosters conspire
Centre Daily Times
"Immigration reform has been stalled in Congress since earlier this year, after House and Senate members could not negotiate a compromise on two very different proposals.   The [weak compromise] bill passed in the House focused mostly on enforcement, while the Senate's [radical proposals] would grant legal status to millions of [illegal aliens] and create [two additional] guest-worker [programs while hugely expanding the green card program]."

2006-11-10 14:52PST (17:52EST) (22:52GMT)
David Roman _EE Times_/_CMP_
Red China's engineers too busy at home to take US jobs
"More than half are civil and mechanical engineers, many put to work improving [Red China's] immense, and immensely poor, western provinces.   'They've got lots to do there.   They're not going to have anything to do with off-shoring.', said Ralph Wyndrum Jr., president of IEEE-USA, addressing IEEE's North Jersey Professional Activities Committee for Engineers (PACE) at the Memorial Library here.   Stating that the reported number of engineering graduates coming out of [Red China] and India as well should be viewed with some skepticism, Wyndrum said that 'many are less well qualified than American graduates'...   'Things are not good in engineering.', said Richard Tax, chair of the IEEE's North Jersey Professional Activities Committee for Engineers, and president of the American Engineering Association."
Professional organizations

2006-11-10 15:00PST (18:00EST) (23:00GMT)
Lou Dobbs _CNN_
Post-election
Bill Tucker, CNN correspondent (voice-over): M$'s Bill Gates this week fired the first shot in the coming fight for more cheap foreign labor.   Gates warning of a shortage of high-tech workers that his company needs to be competitive.   His solution?   Bringing in more foreign workers.   Critics say he's got it wrong.
Steve Camarota, Center for Immigration Studies: If we have a shortage, then the solution is to let the labor market be tight and more Americans will be attracted to those jobs as wages rise.   If American business really feels that we're not teaching enough math and science in school, they need to pressure the political institutions to do a better job of teaching our kids.
Bill Tucker: Congress has a different solution.   It's known as the SKIL Act of 2006.   It would nearly double the current cap on H-1B visas and allow for a 20% increase every year after the previous year's quota was met, virtually guaranteeing an endless supply of lower-paid workers from over-seas.   A study by Georgetown University found that the total potential number of new tech visas created by the Senate bill would by 1.88M over the next decade.   But the Bureau of Labor Statistics only projects a need for 1.25M workers in computing and engineering fields.   That's more visas than jobs.   Worker advocates say Congress is ready to solve a problem that doesn't exist.
Kim Berry, Programmers Guild: We don't see any evidence of a shortage.   A shortage under the laws of supply and demand would be an increase in wages, it would be body shops or head-hunters stealing employees from other companies.
Bill Tucker: And that's not happening.   No.   In fact, wages are stagnant and declining.   A study published by BusinessWeek, in fact, found that the starting wages for computer scientists and engineers fell 12% or worse, Lou, from 2001 to 2005.   It doesn't sound like a tight labor market to me.
Lou Dobbs: Big changes and apparently some big setbacks may be in the looming for the fight to protect our broken borders.   Congressman Bennie Thompson, the incoming chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, may want to do away entirely with that border fence project...
Casey Wian, CNN correspondent: Mississippi Democrat Bennie Thompson is poised to take over as chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee in January.
representative Bennie Thompson (D-MS): It seems like I've heard this before, Mr. Speaker.
Casey Wian: Already he's talking about knocking down plans to build 700 miles of new doubled-layered fence along the border with Mexico.   Thompson told CongressDaily this week he hopes to revisit the fence legislation and perhaps do away with it entirely.   He also says it's a good time to be a Democrat.   Thompson's staff said he was traveling and not available to discuss his comments.   During a previous congressional debate, he supported an approach critics call amnesty for illegal aliens.
Bennie Thompson: We need a comprehensive border security and immigration plan.   Not a piecemeal plan.
: Fence bill sponsor Pete King was first to shake the president's hand after he signed the law last month.   King says he'll do everything he can to block any effort to stop the fence, adding that 'Failing to complete the construction will be a betrayal of trust to the American people and will be an open invitation to illegal immigrants coming into this country.'   Thompson did say one of his top priorities will be to ensure that all cargo containers coming from foreign ports be scanned before they reach the United States.   That would help prevent illegal aliens, terrorists, or a radioactive dirty bomb from being smuggled through our ports.
representative Ed Royce (R-CA): In terms of doing something on container cargo, I'm not opposed to that.   We can do more in that -- in that area.   But that doesn't mean we should open our borders wide open at a time when terrorists have come across that border.
Casey Wian: Thompson hints he might support a virtual fence with cameras and remote sensors instead of the physical barrier his congressional colleagues approved by a margin of more than 2-1.   Now, 64 Democrats voted in favor of the border fence, but their leaders appear ready to violate the will of the very people who put them into power.   Of course, Americans favor a physical border fence by a margin of 54%-44%...
senator-elect James Webb (D-VA): But when you see the bifurcation in our society, the incredible transfer of wealth to the top and the historic high levels of corporate profits as a percentage of our national wealth, at the same time that wage and salaries are at an all-time low, somebody needs to be dealing with those.   You mentioned before the half-hour break something that you've said a lot about the lack of conscience in corporate America, and I really think that if you look at these problems, a wide variety of the problems, you can go back to two things.   One is a sense of entitlement that has come with this migration of wealth to the top 1%, that goes even into things like military service...   And the second is the lack of accountability in corporate America, even in terms of tax policies and we really need to get our arms around this or we're going to have problems with protectionism and social unrest, in my view.
Lou Dobbs: The idea that when equality is the cornerstone of our constitution, our declaration of independence, equality of opportunity, equal rights, equality of educational opportunity, economic opportunity.   Nobody can guarantee anybody's success in any of that...
senator-elect James Webb (D-VA): I believe you measure the health of your society not at its apex, but at the base.   You can't any longer measure the health of our society simply by what's happening with the stock market, because there's been such a tremendous migration of wealth toward a very small percentage of people who are owning stocks and those sorts of things.   And it's -- to me, part of it is the leadership that we have in the Congress and the notion that there are so many loopholes that have been built into the system that have allowed this thing to perpetuate itself and I'm looking forward to taking a healthy look at this.   This isn't trying to create class warfare or to go after corporate America or any of this stuff in an unfair way.   It's simply trying to bring fairness back to the system.   We have 13% of the taxes in this country being paid by corporate America, when we have these all-time profits up there, and we have 86% being paid by the individuals.
Michael Taranto of the Wall Street Journal: But let me point out two facts that I run counter to this argument that it was all about Iraq.   First of all, Joe Lieberman trounced Ned Lamont.   Joe Lieberman is the most steadfast supporter of the Iraq war among the Democrats, and one of the most steadfast in either party.   Second, of the five Republicans who voted against the war who were left in Congress, three of them lost: Lincoln Chafee, Jim Leach and John Hostettler.   So I think that it was an anti-Republican wave that went beyond Iraq...
Lou Dobbs: Bolton is, without question, qualified.   There is no -- to my knowledge, somebody correct me, there is a question of his demeanor, but there is no question of his professionalism, his competence, his intelligence, his effectiveness, am I wrong on that?...   Meanwhile, he's been functioning quite nicely as the U.N. ambassador...   Go along with the minimum wage -- if this president and this Congress stood in the way of that minimum wage while giving themselves a pay raise, what is it, 9 times during the period, it is the most unconscionable act by a bunch of phony pseudoeconomists and faith-based political ignoramuses...
specialist Will Mock: I heard my grandfather once say, 'Somebody's got to do it.'   I guess I'm that somebody.

2006-11-10

DJIA	12,108.43
S&P 500	1,380.90
NASDAQ	2,389.72
10-year US T-Bond	4.59%
crude oil	59.59
gold	630.10
silver	13.115
platinum	1,209.60
palladium	330.70
copper	0.19303
natgas	$7.794/MBTU
unleadedgasoline	$1.5627/gal
heatingoil	$1.6966/gal

I usually get this info from MarketWatch, which gets them from BigCharts.
 

2006-11-11

2006-11-11
_AFL-CIO_
Ask a Working Woman on-line survey 2006 June-August
48% would limit CEO pay when workers are laid off or lose benefits.
47% would protect employee rights to pay/retirement benefits if company goes bankrupt
33% would eliminate tax breaks for companies that ship jobs over-seas
29% would require corporations to provide health insurance coverage
22% would raise the federal minimum wage to $7.25/hour

2006-11-11
Molly Hennessy-Fiske & Jim Puzzanghera _Los Angeles Times_
Congress may clash with GWB over trade
"The U.S. Trade Promotion Authority Act, known as 'fast track', streamlines the approval process by allowing the president to negotiate trade agreements without consulting Congress, and requires an up-or-down vote within 90 days.   Passed in 2002, it expires in July, and the Bush administration is expected to seek reauthorization...   Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), who won reelection by promising legislation to create a trade prosecutor to investigate countries such as [Red China] that violate U.S. trade agreements, said Bush's trade policies have failed to protect American workers."

2006-11-11
Yossi Melman _Ha Aretz_
Noshire Gowadia, Indian-American Engineer, indicted for passing secrets to Red China, Israel, Germany and Switzerland
"An American engineer standing trial for spying and revealing secrets to [Red China] has also been indicted for passing secrets to Israel.   The indictment filed against Noshir Gowadia, 62, a U.S. citizen of Indian origin, does not provide details to the nature of the secrets passed to Israel or to whom they were given...   Gowadia, formerly a professor of aeronautics at Purdue University in Indiana, is considered one of the leading engineers in the field of the weapons and aircraft development.   He had previously worked at Northrop Grumman Corporation on the B-2 stealth bomber and at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.   According to the indictment, Gowadia helped [Red China] build and use essential components of a stealth cruise missile using technical knowledge he had gained while working in the U.S. defense establishment.   Gowadia is also alleged to have traveled to [Red China] 6 times between 2003 and 2005 to assist the country's defense industry develop missiles.   He is alleged to have received a payment of two million dollars from [Red China] for his services.   U.S. experts said the damage caused to the country is severe, citing the threat posed to naval ships patrolling near [Red China] to protect Taiwan."
 

2006-11-12
2006-11-12

Tom Abate _San Francisco Chronicle_
Election aftermath in the USA: What's at stake
"What's at stake: Reauthorization of the expired research and development tax credit; restoration of 'network neutrality' on the Internet; and proposals to boost what Republicans call 'competitiveness' and Democrats have styled 'innovation', including changes to the controversial H-1B visa program.   What could happen: An industrial who's-who led by the National Association of Manufacturers will hold a news conference Tuesday on Capitol Hill to urge passage of the R&D tax credit during the lame duck session.   Virtually every industry, not just high-tech, supports this measure.   It's popular with both parties.   High-tech and other business leaders will pull out the stops for this...   There's no partisan road-block to passing the R&D tax credit in the lame duck session -- if there's time.   While the Democratic victory is a boon for proponents of net neutrality, that issue is far too complex to predict.   As for the H-1B visa issue and the research funding proposals, these could be considered a bipartisanship litmus test.   Incoming Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has an 'innovation agenda'."

2006-11-12
Steve Sailer _V Dare_
Latino vote

2006-11-12
Ross Gillum _Renew America_
Prove that you're serious about defending the USA, Mr. President
"'And most importantly, will this generation of leaders meet our obligation to protect the American people?...   The election has changed many things in Washington, but it has not changed my fundamental responsibility, and that is to protect the American people from attack.   As the Commander-in-Chief, I take these responsibilities seriously.'   If you mean the words you said in your speech, then close our borders.   Do not have any part of creating a North American Union which will destroy our sovereignty as a nation, regardless what you or others may want to lead us to believe.   You and Congress have had since 2001/09/11 to close our borders and defend our nation here at home, and you have refused to do so.   WHY?   You now have a congress that will help you pass an Amnesty plan that over 80% of the American people do not want.   When will WE truly be important to you?...   Citizens voted against Republicans because we don't understand why our safety in our own country is less important than the Iraqi citizens safety, not because we are opposed to the Iraq War and the war on terror.   A majority have defended you wholeheartedly in this honorable quest, and quite avidly and publicly upheld you against the Democrats, the liberal-left wing media, the arrogant elitists in Hollywood, those arrogant elitists in political power, and those arrogant elitists in other nations that would love to see us fall, and fail as the nation we have come to love and honor so deeply.   We, as a general populace, are proud of our troops and we do not want to run like cowards from this war.   We want to win it for the sakes of the Iraqi people, and for the honor of the United States of America, and our citizens that have so bravely defended both of us!!"
 

2006-11-13

2006-11-13
Norman Matloff
Conflicting Duke University studies of off-shoring
"There seems to be a bit of an academic civil war developing at Duke University over the off-shoring issue, with the recent release of 2 dueling studies...   BAH says that firms are off-shoring tech work not just to save money but also to remedy a tech labor shortage; the latter is no problem, BAH says, since Americans couldn't fill those jobs anyway.   Wadhwa says, 'No, there is no tech labor shortage.   We surveyed tech firm HR people and the like, and they told us there was no problem.'   It so happens that I'm teaching a freshman seminar course on immigration this quarter...   One of the things I hope to impart to them is critical thinking (much ballyhooed in the high schools, but almost totally ignored in actual educational practice).   And the very first thing I brought up with them was that they should be quite wary of what any 'study' says, or of what any seemingly-neutral person in authority (e.g. academics) says.   There is quite often an agenda, sometimes hidden.   In our case here, BAH appears to be the financial sponsor of the Fuqua study.   That of course is a danger signal from the beginning; as John Miano pointed out to me, 'Who ever heard of an academic study that devotes a full page to listing its sales offices?'   BAH concludes that off-shoring is both necessary for business and good for the U.S.A.   This may be meant to be a message to the Democrats not to get in the way.   (They needn't worry about that, as I've pointed out before, e.g. in my exposure of presidential candidate John Kerry's duplicity on off-shoring in 2004.)   But it is also likely also meant to support the industry's current push for an increase in the H-1B visa cap.   The Wadhwa study did not have commercial funding.   Both studies consists of business surveys, but they are poles apart, not just in their conclusions but also in terms of methods.   The Wadhwa survey states exactly who was surveyed, exactly what they were asked, and even how the integrity of the data was preserved.   The BAH does none of this.   Much more importantly, the Wadhwa survey asked employers precisely how their hiring is going.   How long does it take to fill a job?   What is the quality of the people hired?   Clearly the conclusions of the Wadhwa study, which I'll detail below, are more in line with the way I view things.   But as long-time readers of this e-newsletter know, I've never hesitated to criticize studies, claims and so on which supported my point of view but were based on sloppy thinking and questionable data.   In that light, I must say that there is simply no comparison between the 2 studies.   Even someone who knows little about the subject matter would find that the Wadhwa study is more concrete and precise, whereas the BAH report consists of one unsupported claim after another.   A case in point is the BAH study's claim that part of the off-shoring trend is due to a lack of American workers with Master's degrees in engineering.   They offer no evidence that this is a motivator for employers who off-shore engineering work.   As I mentioned, they do not provide a list of questions in their survey, but it is fairly clear that they did NOT ask employers, 'Do many of the workers you employ over-seas have a Master's degree?'   I say it's fairly clear that they didn't ask this, because all the authors of the study offer as 'evidence' is a vague 'correlation' (their word, but again not quantified or studied) over time between the numbers of Master's degrees granted to Americans and the amount of off-shoring.   The starting salaries for Master's graduates in electrical engineering and computer science, adjusted for inflation, have been FLAT or FALLING since 1999.   Employers admit that many of the engineers they are laying off have Master's degrees.   And based on my experience and those of others I've talked to, I am reasonably sure that only a tiny fraction of engineers who do work off-shore for U.S. firms have a Master's degree.   So the whole thing is a phony issue; the industry lobbyists know that Pushing the Education Button is a great way to distract attention from the real issue, which in this case is cheap labor.   One more word on the BAH study: In case some of you readers are wondering, there really are precious few rules, or even customs, in academia to safeguard against undue influence from a research sponsor, in this case BAH.   At any major research university, research funding is sought with a maniacal obsession; any safeguards would be attacked as 'bad for business'.   As noted, I do believe that the Wadhwa study was done with rigor, and is a valuable contribution.   Here are the main points: Those surveyed were 'presidents, division heads, managers and senior HR representatives' -- quite a contrast to getting 'data' that has been spun by PR people.   The job category focus of the study was 'computer science and computer technology'.   The survey began by asking about various measures which might indicate a labor shortage.   One of these measures was rather ingenious, what the survey termed 'acceptance rates' -- the percentage of job offers which are accepted by the offerees.   If there were a labor shortage, job seekers would have many offers, and thus the acceptance rate would be low.   The survey reports:
We asked how acceptance rates have changed over the past 3 to 5 years.   80% of respondents reported that acceptance rates had stayed constant or increased (see Figure 3 below).
This would indicate that the industry lobbyists' claim that the job market has rebounded is not correct.   The survey then reports data showing that 80% of the jobs are filled within 4 months.   I think the authors' spin on this is that this too contra-indicates a labor shortage.   Some people may disagree.   But I wish to add that that datum concerns how long it takes to hire someone at the price the employer wants to pay.   If they were to offer a much higher wage, they'd get someone right away.   This is a key point; remember, whenever the industry claims a shortage, they mean a shortage of cheap labor.   Now if the industry were to say, 'Gee, we can't make a profit unless we turn to cheap labor, either by off-shoring or by importing H-1B visa workers.', I would have very little comment.   My sole objection all along has been the gross deception of the public and Congress by the industry lobbyists.   The survey asked a series of questions about the employers' assessment of the quality of their American engineers...
On the question "What changes have you seen in the capabilities or skills of engineers that you have recently hired from those that you hired 3-5 years ago?', the top response was that graduates had better technology and programming skills.   On the question 'What capabilities do your US engineers have that make it advantageous to keep their jobs in the USA?', the response was that U.S. engineers have a very good understanding of U.S. consumer needs, culture, business, and better communication and interpersonal skills.   Respondents also stated that U.S. engineers were more creative, excelled in problem solving, risk taking, networking and had strong analytical skills.   Plus they could work on high security applications and had the advantage of proximity to resources.   We asked 'How similar or different are the types of engineering jobs that your company performs in the U.S. from those that your company has off-shored?'.   44% said that their company's U.S. engineering jobs are more technical in nature vs. 1% that said that their off-shore engineering jobs are more technical in nature.   33% said that jobs were equivalent.   When asked to compare the productivity of the engineering work-force between their U.S and off-shore facilities, 37% of respondents stated that U.S. engineering employees are more productive, while 24% stated that U.S. and off-shore engineering teams are equivalent in terms of productivity.   See Figure 6 below.   We also asked companies to compare the quality of engineering work between their U.S. and off-shore facilities.   38% said their U.S. engineering employees produced higher quality work and 40% reported that work quality was equivalent between U.S. and off-shore facilities.   1% reported that their company's off-shore engineering employees produce higher quality work.   A full break-down of these statistics can be found in Figure 6 below.   We asked if the current U.S. engineering work-force met their business needs for entry-level engineers.   75% of companies who expressed an opinion said that India had between an adequate and large supply of well-qualified entry-level engineers vs. 59% for the U.S.A. and 54% for [Red China] (see Figure 8).
Point added by NM: A BusinessWeek analysis found that Bachelor's salaries at the entry level have been flat for several years, just as with the Master's-level analysis I did...
We asked, "what are the relative strengths or advantages of U.S, Indian or [Red Chinese] entry-level engineers when compared to each other?'.   The responses were as follows: U.S.: Strong communication skills, an understanding of U.S. industry, superior business acumen, strong education/training, and a sense of creativity and desire to challenge the status quo.   A few respondents cited strong technical skills, proximity to work centers, and a lack of cultural issues as advantages.   [Red China]: Many respondents stated that the key advantage of hiring Chinese entry-level engineers was cost.   A few respondents cited strong education/training, work ethics and a willingness to work long hours."
Matloff's course on immigration
Norman Matloff post-script
"Well, I was being too fair toward BAH and the Duke academics who conducted the project.   It turns out that one of BAH's clients is NASSCOM, the trade body in India that promotes off-shoring.   I can tell you what will happen next.   Summaries of 'Duke University study' will be sent to every office on Capitol Hill, to every major newspaper and to every influential columnist, informing them that off-shoring is good for the U.S.A. -- 'Expert researchers at Duke University concluded this.'   Though the summaries might mention BAH in passing, no mention will be made of BAH's working for NASSCOM.   Corruption abounds.   Sometimes I'm ashamed to be an academic."

2006-11-13 07:20PST (10:20EST) (15:20GMT)
Chris Taylor _Business 2.0_/_CNN_/_Money_
Tech politics: From "net neutrality" to foreign worker visas, the new congress may be the most technology-executive-friendly in history
"One issue that's near and dear to [Silicon Valley's executives'] heart: H-1B visas.   These permits allow foreign engineers, programmers and other... professionals work in the United States for 3 to 6 years.   The base number of visas issued each year for skilled workers is capped at [over 85K], which is a huge concern for tech giants, like Intel and Hewlett-Packard, which have an insatiable appetite for engineers and programmers from India and [Red China].   The H1-B ceiling once approached 200K before Congress started curtailing visa applications in recent years.   Legislative efforts to raise the ceiling have failed, including two attempts in the current Congress that were defeated amid the broader debate over immigration.   Republican leaders didn't want to appear soft on the issue.   Now that representative George Miller (D-CA) is likely to chair the Education and Workforce committee, tech companies are optimistic the H-1B cap will now be increased.   Another hot-button tech issue likely to get resolved: net neutrality...   The major studios and Silicon Valley have long been at loggerheads over legislation like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).   The 1998 law imposed a vice-like protective grip on Hollywood's intellectual property by making certain software illegal if used -- even in theory -- to circumvent copyright protection.   The DMCA was a bipartisan piece of legislation.   And now some Democrats want to go further to help the entertainment industry.   Representative Howard Berman, a Hollywood Democrat who may end up as chair of the subcommittee on intellectual property, once sponsored legislation that would have let the studios and record labels legally hack into peer-to-peer networks like LimeWire and disrupt them.   The proposal, which failed, gave computer security experts nightmares...   Boucher believes privacy trumps copyright.   Indeed, Democrats are fast [trying to present themselves as] the party of privacy.   14 bills related to technological privacy -- including one that would have imposed tougher sentences for spyware makers and another that would have required companies to disclose when consumer data was stolen or misused -- failed in the last 2 years.   Now pro-privacy stalwarts like Democratic senators Dianne Feinstein (CA) [who has frequently waffled from extremely anti-privacy to mildly pro-privacy, as she waffles on many issues like the H-1B] and Patrick Leahy (VT), and representative Ed Markey (D-MA) are likely to push their cause with a vengeance."

2006-11-13 10:59PST (13:59EST) (18:59GMT)
William L. Watts _MarketWatch_
Lame-duck to-do list includes R&D extortion credit, trade deal with VietNam, spending

2006-11-13 11:12PST (14:12EST) (19:12GMT)
_Yahoo!_/_Weekly Standard_
A wedge too far
"Turn on a television anywhere in America last month, and you were sure to come across a campaign ad talking tough about immigration.   Democrats and Republicans, in border states and deep in the heartland: Everybody was doing it, and the spots were among the harshest of the campaign season.   The A-word -- amnesty -- was a staple.   So were calls for cracking down on the border.   And there could be no mistaking the mood, or rather the 2 parties' shared assumption about the public's mood.   The only question was whether Republicans would succeed in riding that anger to victory on Election Day [or be driven out by the voters who were skeptical of their insincerity and the president's stubborn opposition to their wishes]."

2006-11-13 11:33PST (14:33EST) (19:33GMT)
Rex Nutting _MarketWatch_
US federal budget deficit increased from $47.3G in 2005 October to $49.3G in 2006 October
"Outlays in October rose 10.3% year-over-year from $196.8G in 2005 October to $217G.   It was the highest outlays in any October ever...   Interest payments on the national debt increased by 18.6% to $22.3G in October.   Outlays for the Defense Department increased 10.2% to $48.7G.   Off-budget outlays, mostly [Socialist Insecurity] and Medicare, increased by 4% to $40.5G."

2006-11-13
Grace Leong _Daily Herald_
Utah companies eye Democrats' business agenda
"Ron Heinz, managing director of Canopy Ventures in Lindon, says the existing Republican leadership under governor Jon Huntsman Jr. and U.S. senators Orrin Hatch and Robert Bennett, both R-Utah, understand the critical issues facing the high-tech industry in Utah.   In a meeting last week between Bennett and 15 other Utah County-based tech executives, Heinz said Bennett appeared to support increasing the number of visas available to foreign-born workers, which can benefit skilled worker-[glutted] businesses in technology, biotechnology and health care.   'You can't close the borders without making it easier, at the same time, for foreigners to come in on a legal basis.   That's something that is going to have to happen because we're coming up with [a continuing huge glut] in our labor force in critical skill areas, like science and engineering and technology.   There are a lot of American scientists retiring in the next few years and we're not educating enough people in science and math.   So those positions are going to have to be filled by foreigners.', said Mark Knold, senior economist with the state Department of Work-force Services...   'Some [Dems] have their eye on creating tax credits for research and development in technology and life sciences.', Heinz said."

2006-11-13
Dan Moser _Nebraska StatePaper_
Rural Nebraskans don't think Latino immigration has been good
Lincoln Journal Star
"Only 14% of respondents said Latin American immigration had been good for rural Nebraska, with 56% disagreeing. Among Latino respondents, 70% felt immigration had been good for communities, and 14% disagreed. 94% of respondents agreed that immigrants should learn to speak English within a reasonable amount of time. 82% of Latino respondents also held that view. However, a significant split showed up on another language-related question: whether rural communities should communicate important information in Spanish as well as English. Only 20% of non-Latinos agreed with that statement, and 69% disagreed. Among Latino respondents, 76% felt important information should be communicated in both languages... 87% want government to tighten the borders to prevent illegal immigration, 77% support penalizing businesses that employ undocumented workers and 72% support deporting [illegal aliens]... 45% of them [Latinos] supported tougher border enforcement, 30% supported penalizing businesses for employing [illegal aliens] and 26% supported deporting [illegal aliens]. 72% opposed granting in-state college tuition to undocumented immigrants under the age of 21 who have lived in the U.S. for at least 5 years, while only 17% supported that idea. On a related issue, 56% opposed making citizenship available to that group of immigrants; 28% supported it. Here, too, Latino respondents' views differed. 57% supported the in-state tuition proposal, and 72% backed the citizenship plan... 56% agreed that [illegal aliens] who have been working and paying taxes for 5 years should be allowed to apply for citizenship; 29% disagreed. Among Latino respondents, the percentages were 76% and 14%, respectively. About one-third of respondents supported [an additional] guest-worker program that would allow immigrants to work in the U.S. without becoming citizens; 50% opposed that idea. Latino respondents were more likely to support this proposal -- 58% to 22%... 58% of laborers, who might see [illegal aliens] as competitors for their jobs, were opposed to [creation of yet another] guest-worker program, compared to 40% of respondents in white collar jobs."

2006-11-13
Richard S. Dunham _Hispanic Business_ Dems' play-book for business-owners and executives
"Immigration.   Companies are likely to win big on immigration with the Democratic Congress.   The Democratic leadership agrees with President Bush and business groups on the need for comprehensive immigration legislation that includes a guest-worker program, some sort of legalization for workers illegally in the U.S.A., a tougher enforcement system requiring employers to verify that workers are legal residents of the U.S.A., and stepped-up border enforcement.   Some Republican hardliners may squawk, but Bush and the Democrats are already planning the White House signing ceremony.   Trade.   The President's power to negotiate trade agreements without congressional amendments [known as 'fast-track authority') is up for renewal next year, and incoming House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel [D-NY] and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus [D-MT] are willing to play ball -- if the White House agrees to protections for labor and the environment.   Rangel also wants to extend trade preferences for Africa, the Caribbean Basin, and the Andean nations until 2020.   Sounds like the makings of a deal...   Research and development.   Almost everyone wants to reinstate the R&D tax credit, which the Republican Congress let expire last year.   Business loves the R&D credit.   Many Democrats want to show they are pro-business.   This is an easy way to do it."

2006-11-13
Donald Lambro _Washington Times_
Power-shift imponderables
"'Gridlock is good.', was the phrase most heard on Wall Street last week...   Perhaps over immigration reform.   Mr. Bush's proposal to create a well-regulated guest-worker system at the U.S.A.-Mexican border was killed in the Republican House, which refused to budge on its enforcement-only, fence-building bill that Mr. Bush eventually signed.   With the Democrats in charge, it's much likelier a modified bill will make it to the president's desk.   Conservative immigration opponents who fiercely opposed his guest-worker plan will no doubt fight it tooth and nail, but the combined support of most House Democrats and enough Republicans will put it over the top."

2006-11-13
Jessica Echard _Human Events_
Immigration Enforcement Still a Winner
"In distr