Norman Matloff _H-1B/ L-1/ Off-Shoring e-News-Letter_
nice profile on John Miano
Good article, interesting reading, though with the to-be-expected inaccuracies here and there. I'll focus on this one:
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Before hiring an H-1B worker, American firms must make a good faith effort to hire a U.S. worker. Yet apparently this doesn't always happen. The Programmer's Guild (Miano is a board member) links to a controversial YouTube video that allegedly reveals how U.S. firms go through the motions of considering American workers -- placing ads, even interviewing -- yet actually are willing to hire only foreign workers. (The company depicted in the video disputes the Guild's interpretation, saying its footage has been misused.)
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First, many readers of this e-newsletter will notice that the author this the article is confusing H-1B work visas with employer-sponsored green cards. The H-1B visa progam does not require the employer to recruit American workers (except for a small special category), while the employer-sponsored green card program does have such a requirement.
Second, even the green card program does not, in a technical sense, impose such a requirement on the employer. The law requires the Secretary of Labor to determine that no qualified and willing American is available for the job before granting labor certification for the green card. IOW, the onus is on DoL, not the employer. DoL must then, as a administrative agency, decide to ensure that qualified and willing Americans are not being bypassed. DoL does that by placing certain specific requirements on the employer, in terms of advertising the job, and so on. But as the YouTube video showed, these requirements are riddled with loopholes, and in all of the law, regulations, forms and so on, there is no place at which the employer must state that he sought U.S. workers in good faith before resorting to hiring a foreign national. The only place in which the term "good faith" or equivalent appears is the H-1B exceptional category (for "H-1B-dependent" employers) mentioned above. IOW, the law firm in the video did nothing illegal, reprehensible as their actions were.
Of course, the firm's claim that "its footage has been misused" is baloney. Those who had not heard of "TubeGate" should read [my commentary]. There are direct quotes from the videos there, with contexts and full analysis. There is also a link there to the videos themselves, in their entirety, and the firm's subsequent statements to the press regarding them.
The other point I wish to make about the article enclosed below is that it over-simplifies the prevailing wage loopholes issue. The main message is correct -- employers use H-1Bs as cheap labor in full compliance with the law, by exploiting loopholes -- but the details provided are misleading.
I would also point out that abuse -- again, it's legal, but still abuse -- of the H-1B program is NOT limited... to the body shops. John Miano points out that the big main-stream employers are complicit with the body shops, which is true, but it is very important to understand that the large firms directly hire their own H-1Bs for cheap labor too. The big companies may hire a higher class of employee, say a master's degree holder, but they are still paying them less than what they would have to pay most Americans with master's degrees.
Norm
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2007-12-05 07:34PST (10:34EST) (15:34GMT)
Robert Schroeder _MarketWatch_
US factory orders were up 0.5% in October
"Orders for defense capital goods shot up by 16%, also a three-month high, boosting the overall October number. Excluding the defense orders, though, new orders for factory goods rose by 0.3%. Orders for primary metals and electrical equipment also added to the overall increase. Orders for metals rose 3.2%, while orders for electrical equipment, appliances and components climbed 2.9%."
2007-12-05 07:49PST (10:49EST) (15:49GMT)
Greg Robb _MarketWatch_
ISM services index fell from 55.8 in October to 54.1 in November
graphs
2007-12-05
Jim Snyder _The Hill_
Executives lobbying for more guest-workers face resistance from public
2007-12-05
Francine Knowles _Chicago Sun-Times_
Lay-off announcements up to 73,140 according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas
Manchester Guardian/Reuters
MarketWatch
composite: "Companies announced plans to cut 73,140 jobs last month, up from 63,114 in October. 19,144 jobs were to be eliminated in the auto industry and 10,018 in energy industries. Reductions in the financial services, which have totaled 147,395 so this year, slowed to just 6,953 in November, a big drop from the 24,479 cuts averaged over the previous 3 months. Some 14,786 job cuts were announced by Illinois employers. The cuts nationally were 4.7% below the 76,773 cuts announced in 2006 November. Year to date, 723,848 job cuts were announced by employers, 7.8% lower than the same period last year. In Illinois, 58,090 job cuts have been announced by companies based in the state this year. In September a total of 1.9M workers were discharged from their jobs involuntarily, representing about 1.3% of total employment, according to the latest available data on mass lay-offs from large firms from the Labor Department. By comparison, 2.7M people quit their jobs voluntarily in September."
2007-12-05 09:33PST (12:33EST) (17:33GMT)
Rex Nutting _MarketWatch_
Productivity up a revised 6.3%, unit labor costs down 2% in 2007Q3
BLS data release
2007-12-05
Liz Wolgemuth _Kane County Chronicle_
Illinois is losing high-wage jobs
report
"Between 1990 and 2007, Illinois lost 239K manufacturing jobs. This loss of 26.0% of its in-state manufacturing jobs over 17 years was worse than both the Midwest as a whole (20.8%) or the nation generally (20.9%). In 1990, Manufacturing in Illinois employed more workers than any other sector, 20.4% of the total. By 2007, only 13.2% of the state's workers were employed in Manufacturing, and that sector ranked behind Professional and Business Services (17%) and Education and Health Services (15.1%), and was only marginally ahead of Retail Trade (12.2%). Loss of Good Paying Jobs Although the pace of job loss in Manufacturing slowed after 2003, and even showed a slight up-tick in late 2006, otherwise lower-wage job creation has continued to dominate the Illinois labor market. In the last six years, Illinois lost 142,200 jobs in Manufacturing, or 17.3% of its 2001 base. Over the same period, Illinois added 1,580,600 lower-wage service jobs, a 9.6% growth rate. By mid-2007, lower-wage service sectors accounted for 30.7% of all, non-agricultural, private-sector employment, significantly more than the 20.4% of total employment that Manufacturing had accounted for in 1990. With the exception of Construction, the sectors with the largest gains in employment between 1990 and 2007 paid average weekly wages lower than those associated with the Manufacturing jobs that the state lost... Measured in 'real dollars', i.e., dollars adjusted for the effect of inflation, only four sectors registered gains in earnings since 2001 - Construction, Education and Health Services, Financial Activities, and Transportation and Utilities. The other 7 sectors experienced declines in real average weekly earnings. The size of these declines ranged from a high of $118 (or -13.6%) in Information Services, to a low of $9 (or -3.5%) in Leisure and Hospitality. As inflation-adjusted earnings of most Illinois workers have been declining, the cost of items that collectively constitute most of their family budgets have been increasing. Significant increases in the cost of essentials like food (+23.5%), housing (+38.3%), health care (+44.7%), gas (+83.3%), and utilities (+43.0%) make it easy to appreciate how declining real wages have negatively impacted the standard of living for most working families. While median household income in Illinois is higher than the rest of the Midwest and the nation as a whole, it is on the decline. Measured in 2006 dollars, Illinois median household income peaked during 1999-2000. Since then it dropped almost 11% by 2002-2003, and has since rebounded by only 1.3%, leaving it about 10% below the earlier peak... The greatest part of this growth has been contributed by Hispanics, whose share nearly tripled to 11.2% in 2006. The state's labor force has also become better educated. In 2006, 33.8% had a college degree, while only 10.9% lacked a high school diploma. On average, Hispanics are the state's youngest and least-educated workers. Over one third (38.6%) of Hispanics in the workforce have not even completed high school, while another 31.4% have only a high school diploma. At the other extreme, only 11.4% of Hispanics have a college degree or better. African-Americans had a 10% unemployment rate in 2006, nearly triple that of Whites and almost double the Hispanic rate. Since at least 1980, unemployment among African-Americans has been higher than the state's overall rate, which suggests that race plays a role in labor market outcomes... Finally, it is worth noting that in the service sectors itemized in Table 6, Asians have higher average weekly earnings that Whites. That pattern also occurs in other service activities that typically require higher levels of education. For instance, in Information Services the average weekly earnings of Asians are $390 greater than Whites, and $236 greater in Professional, Scientific and Technical Services [body shopping]."
2007-12-05
Philip Martin _Immigration Daily_
Farm Labor Shortages: How Real? What Response? (with graphs)
Center for Immigration Studies
American Renaissance
Front Page
"The average farm worker makes $9.06 an hour, compared to $16.75 for non-farm production workers. Real wages for farm workers increased one-half of one percent (0.5%) a year on average between 2000 and 2006. If there were a shortage, wages would be rising much more rapidly. Farm worker earnings have risen more slowly in California and Florida (the states with the most fruit and vegetable production) than in the United States as a whole. The average household spends only about $1 a day on fresh fruits and vegetables. Labor costs comprise only 6% of the price consumers pay for fresh produce. Thus, if farm wages were allowed to rise 40%, and if all the costs were passed on to consumers, the cost to the average household would be only about $8 a year. Mechanization could offset higher labor costs."
2007-12-05 (5768 Kislev 25)
Walter E. Williams _Jewish World Review_
Income mobility
"In 1918, John D. Rockefeller's fortune accounted for more than 0.5% of total private wealth. To compile the same 0.5% of the private wealth in the United States today, you'd have to combine the fortunes of M$'s Bill Gates ($53G) and Paul Allen ($16G), Oracle's Larry Ellison ($19G), and a third of Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett's $46G. In 1920, America's richest 1% held about 40% of private wealth; by 1980, the private wealth held by the richest 1% fell to about 20% and has remained stable at that level since."
2007-12-05 (5768 Kislev 25)
John Stossel _Jewish World Review_
Tragedy of the Commons part 2
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"The [Socialist Insecurity] Act of 1935 required that the government keep tabs on wages earned by every American worker, and keeping tabs meant using tabulating machines. IBM [Ill-Begotten Monstrosities] won the contract, which meant that [it] linked itself to the only true growth industry of the 1930s - the government. FDR's New Deal spawned dozens of new agencies to administer hundreds of new programs. By the time the government filed its next suit against [it], late in 1952, 95% of the government's punch-card machines were leased from the company it was suing." --- Peter Baida _Poor Richard's Legacy_
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2007-12-06
2007-12-06 05:30PST (08:30EST) (13:30GMT)
Scott Gibbons & 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 461,767 in the week ending Dec. 1, an increase of 137,638 from the previous week. There were 448,898 initial claims in the comparable week in 2006. The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.1% during the week ending Nov. 24, an increase of 0.4 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,731,681, an increase of 514,527 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.0% and the volume was 2,620,460. Extended benefits were not available in any state during the week ending Nov. 17."
graphs
2007-12-06
Norman Matloff _H-1B/ L-1/ Off-Shoring e-News-Letter_
"No means maybe, maybe means yes"?
The first H-1B increase was enacted near the end of 1998. Bill Clinton's cabinet members repeatedly stated that year that he would not sign such legislation, but of course he did. Ever since then, I look skeptically at politicians' statements that there won't be an H-1B increase in whatever Congress is in session at the time, and even more skeptically when they say, "There is still a chance we might get this through."
In 2004 there was H-1B in the "lame duck" session in December after Congress had already adjourned. This added a new 20K-visa category for foreign grads of U.S. universities, and even worse, added yet another loop-hole to the prevailing wage requirement.
Keep these points in mind in reading the 2 articles [linked] below. But even more importantly, note carefully that when the politicians say here legislation on H-1B is unlikely, they are NOT saying anything about employer-sponsored green cards, the proposed F-4 visa, and so on. IOW, there could well be other legislation enacted that harms American programmers and engineers, even if nothing happens at all on H-1B.
Norm
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Tom Abate _San Francisco Chronicle_
Bay Area Council weighs in on immigration policy
Eunice Moscoso _Atlanta Journal-Constitution_/_Cox_
High-tech executives scramble to boost H-1B visas
2007-12-06
Rob Sanchez _Job Destruction News-Letter_ #1795
Pelosi tries to market open borders as "Noah's Ark"
"So now let's spell out the 'Noah's Ark' deal in plain English: Pelosi and Lofgren will give industry more H-1B, H-2A, and H-2B visas, and in return industry will give them the support they need to pass the DREAM act and amnesty. That seems like a win-win deal for the open-border and cheap-labor lobby -- but they have one problem -- how do they convince a skeptical public to go along? It simple actually -- they will fool the public by offering them some border security. How much you want to bet that they will pledge to complete the border fence that was already mandated by Congress? Folks, 'Noah's Ark' is a rotten deal for every American worker."
2007-12-06
Patrick Thibodeau _ComputerWorld_/_IDG_
Tech executives are lobbying presidential candidates in Iowa
shortened version of article
"candidates often stop by its offices, giving Scholten the opportunity to relate his IT workforce concerns directly to 3 Democratic candidates: New Mexico governor Bill Richardson and senators Barack Obama and Christopher Dodd... Also in Des Moines is Dante Vignaroli, a mainframe developer for more than 30 years who lost his job to an H-1B worker. Vignaroli was laid off in 1999 and has earned a living doing mostly contract work [being a body shopped] since then. The candidates aren't knocking on his door, but that isn't stopping him from trying to meet them. Vignaroli has talked to senator Joseph Biden, a Democrat, about H-1B visas, and he has twice discussed the issue with an Obama aide. He has tried to raise the issue with senator Hillary Clinton, but his health won't allow him to stand in line long enough to meet her. However, he says he has no intention of giving up on his mission to warn the candidates about H-1B visas. 'You don't just lose your job, it's like your whole country betrays you.', Vignaroli said... Leann Jacobson, president of the Technology Association of Iowa. IT companies employ [only] 46,350 people in the state and contribute $2.5G annually in wages. The actual number of IT workers may be 3 times that figure... In an association survey conducted last May that received 54 responses from IT executives, 86% of those polled [i.e. only 46] said they that have had trouble finding qualified employees among Iowa residents [but said nothing of trying to recruit from neighboring states or throughout the USA]."
Kim Berry _Programmers Guild_
Gary Scholten, CIO at Principal Financial Group Inc., pays H-1b programmers only $43K while lobbying for more
2007-12-06
| DJIA | 13,619.89 |
| S&P 500 | 1,507.34 |
| NASDAQ | 2,709.03 |
| 10-year US T-Bond | 4.00% |
| crude oil | $90.23/barrel |
| gold | $807.10/ounce |
| silver | $14.625/ounce |
| platinum | $1,470.20/ounce |
| palladium | $351.70/ounce |
| copper | $0.18865625/ounce |
| natgas | $7.33/MBTU |
| reformulatedgasoline | $2.3013/gal |
| heatingoil | $2.5450/gal |
I usually get this info from MarketWatch and the "Futures Movers" and "Metals Stocks" columns (and BigCharts and FT Interactive).
2007-12-07
2007-12-07 07:54PST (10:54EST) (15:54GMT)
Ruth Mantell _MarketWatch_
UMich consumer sentiment index fell from 76.1 in late November to 74.5 in early December
2007-12-07
Jack Date, Jason Ryan, Richard Sergay & Theresa Cook _abc_
Red Chinese hackers reached records of ORNL researchers/workers
2007-12-07 06:31PST (09:31EST) (14:31GMT)
Karen Robinson-Jacobs _Dallas Morning News_
Apple juice imported from Red China is cause for concern
"Over the past 10 years, [Red China], which produces up to 65% of the world's apples, has become the top supplier of concentrate used in apple juice sold in the U.S.A., contributing more than 40% of the juice consumed here, compared with 22% from domestically produced apples, according to the U.S. Apple Association trade group... Many store brands use apple juice concentrate from [Red China], as do well-known names such as Motts, Tree Top, Welch's and Tropicana... Between 1991 and 2006 the price growers received for juice apples fell by 41%, to $96.40 a ton, according to the USDA."
2007-12-07 (5768 Kislev 27)
Rabbi Avraham Pam _Jewish World Review_
Where and why Joseph ben Isaac went wrong
2007-12-07
Aliya Sternstein _National Journal_
What Do U.S. Math And Science Scores Mean?
"low [average] U.S. test scores are largely due to the country's failure in reaching out to its under-class and immigrant population [both legal and illegal]... University of Washington Computer Science Professor Ed Lazowska, a former co-chair of the now-defunct President's Information Technology Advisory Committee... While 'the best-prepared students in America are equal to the best in the world', he said, 'a greater and greater proportion of America's students are not being prepared at this level and are not being equipped for success'. But former tech [cross-border body shopper] Vivek Wadhwa, now a Harvard University fellow and Duke University executive-in-residence, said he has become skeptical of conclusions like PISA's. 'Countries like Japan, Hong Kong and New Zealand that we keep comparing ourselves to have homogenous populations and few low-skilled immigrants.', he said. 'So comparing our diverse population to theirs is meaningless.' Wadhwa sides with the Urban Institute study, which stated: 'The test results indicate that, rather than a policy focus on average science and math scores, there is an urgent need for targeted educational improvement to serve low-performing populations.' Of the PISA findings, Wadhwa said the 'most relevant take-away is that we don't provide equal education to minorities and unskilled immigrants'. According to PISA, U.S. students with an immigrant background, which represent 15% of those surveyed, trail considerably. In the other countries, an average of 9.3% of students had immigrant backgrounds. Also, the performance differences among U.S. schools largely can be attributed to socioeconomic factors, the results noted. Norman Matloff said that the U.S. under-class, sadly, hurts the country's [average] scores on 'invalid' international comparisons like PISA. 'Let's get real here.', he said. 'India has a 40% illiteracy rate. It would score horribly [on PISA] if it were willing to participate... And yet they do produce good engineers anyway, in spite of their low averages.' Mona Wineburg, the teacher-education director at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, said PISA 'is a well-respected measure of achievement, so I don't think we can ignore it.' She added, 'I don't think we're going to have a wide of range of people entering these fields if we don't do something about' math and science education."
Norman Matloff _H-1B/ L-1/ Off-Shoring e-News-Letter_
another look at the PISA study of math and science education
This is an excellent article, taking a more nuanced view of the math/science education issue.
As we all know, the most central argument made by the industry lobbyists in favor of an expansive H-1B program is that "Johnny Can't Do Math", i.e. American kids do poorly in math and science at the K-12 levels, leading to a claimed shortage of engineers, to be remedied by more H-1Bs.
Recently the Urban Institute released a report whose careful, in-depth analysis showed that "Johnny" is actually OK at math, and moreover, that our universities are producing far more graduates in math and science than our economy can possibly use. See my posting on it.
Soon afterward, the PISA study came out, with pundits/lobbyists spinning it as a rebuttal to the UI report. The article enclosed below takes a closer look at the PISA study (which, by the way, had been discussed fairly extensively in the UI report).
To me, one of the most interesting parts of the article consists of quotes from professor Ed Lazowska of the University of Washington Computer Science Dept. He has over the years been the most visible and ardent support of the H-1B program in all of academia. And he has provided that support from positions of power, such as chairing the Board of the Computing Research Association (a consortium of university computer science departments), the CRA Governmental Affairs Committee (read: lobbying), various National Research Council committees, government panels and so on. Probably not coincidentally, both he and his department have received much largesse from industry [executives]. (See my recent posting.)
Just recently Lazowska expounded on math/science education theme again, insisting (as I had predicted) that UI was painting with too broad a brush, and that we do have a shortage of engineers even if not one of biologists (see the above URL).
So, I was surprised, intrigued and pleased that the journalist here was able to extract from Lazowska a concession that our better-performing students are just as good as those of other nations at math and science.
This a crucial point, as it is THESE kids who go on to become engineers.
The fact that we are, unfortunately, failing to improve the performance of the weaker students, notably those from the socio-economic under-class, doesn't mean that we don't have enough good students to fill those engineering jobs.
Would that Ms. Sternstein's next piece feature a back-and-forth between Lazowska, who believes we have a shortage of engineers, and Wadhwa, who says we don't. It would make great theater.
Norm
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Employment/Un-Employment Data Released Today: See the Graphs
2007-12-07
| DJIA | 13,625.58 |
| S&P 500 | 1,504.66 |
| NASDAQ | 2,706.16 |
| 10-year US T-Bond | 4.12% |
| crude oil | $88.28/barrel |
| gold | $800.20/ounce |
| silver | $14.520/ounce |
| platinum | $1,462.20/ounce |
| palladium | $347.65/ounce |
| copper | $0.19340625/ounce |
| natgas | $7.155/MBTU |
| reformulatedgasoline | $2.2690/gal |
| heatingoil | $2.5047/gal |
I usually get this info from MarketWatch and the "Futures Movers" and "Metals Stocks" columns (and BigCharts and FT Interactive).
2007-12-08
2007-12-08
Thomas Brewton _View from 1776_
Primary Perspective
2007-12-08
Sarah Morin _Bloomington IN Herald Times_
Nearly 19K in area are un-employed or under-employed
2007-12-08
Paul Craig Roberts _CounterPunch_
Off-Shoring Interests and Economic Dogma: Shrinking the US Dollar from the Inside-Out
V Dare
"Corporate interests continue to lobby Congress for more foreign workers, claiming a non-existent shortage of trained Americans, even as the Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology concludes that real salary growth for American scientists and engineers has been flat or declining for the past 10 years. The 'long trend of strong US demand for scientific and technical specialists' has come to an end with no signs of revival. (See 'Job and Income Growth for Scientists and Engineers Comes to an End' Manufacturing & Technology News 2007 November 30.) What economist has ever heard of a labor shortage resulting in flat or declining pay?"
2007-12-08
Norman Matloff _H-1b/ L-1/ Off-Shoring e-News-Letter_
if only it were naivete...
It's bad enough when a naive journalist gets hood-winked by a slick PR pro, but far worse when the journalist ought to know better, as is the case with the [linked] blog.
Consider this passage:
According to the key findings in the report,"Driving Jobs and Innovation Off-Shore: The Impact of High Skill Immigration Restrictions on America", most legit American companies do not hire H-1B visa workers as a means to get cheap labor.
In fact, the report says "in examining all Department of Labor agency actions between 1992 and 2004" related to allegations of underpayment of wages, "the average amount of back wages owed to an H-1B employee was only $5,919". Not exactly the tens of thousands of dollars H-1B critics often allege.
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We "H-1B critics" have pointed out time and again that those violations of the law are irrelevant, because most MAJOR under-payment of H-1Bs is done via loop-holes, i.e. NOT in violation of the law.
Why do I say Ms. McGee knows this? Because she herself has quoted us H-1B critics as saying so. For instance on July 21 of this year she wrote:
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But the most likely source of H-1B abuse pertains to the rule that employers pay the "prevailing wage" for skills in a certain geographic area. That's a standard rife with loop-holes, says John Miano, founder of the Programmers Guild, which acts as an advocate for the software programming community. Depending on available data, an employer can use the median wage for all U.S. employees working in an occupation and location, the average of an employer's current workers, or the Department of Labor's skills-based prevailing wage system. Classifying workers in the lowest of those levels can mean paying them in the 15th to 20th percentile. "Between all these measures, you usually have enough leeway to take $20K to $30K off the market wage without breaking the law in any detectable manner.", contends Miano. Ron Hira, an assistant professor of public policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology who's on leave as a research associate at the Economic Policy Institute [EPI], points to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service's [USCIS's] most recent report to Congress, which shows that the median wage in 2005 for new H-1B computing professionals was $50K. That year, InformationWeek's Salary Survey found a median staff base salary of $69K and total cash compensation of $71K.
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So, McGee not only quoted one of us H-1B critics as saying that employers can accrue major wage savings in a FULLY LEGAL manner via LOOP-HOLES, she even quoted another H-1B critic who illustrated this with InformationWeek's only salary survey.
She had written something similar last year, on 2006 July 13:
For instance, while the Dept. of Labor has 4 pay levels considered "prevailing wages" for programmers in San Jose, CA, employers can get away with paying H-1B workers the lowest wage level by watering down the position's required skills, education, experience, etc., says Berry.
More specifically, in San Jose, the Dept of Labor's 4 levels of "prevailing wages" for programmers range from $57,762 for level 1; $72,800 for level 2; $87,838 for level 3; and $102,877 for level 4. The 4 different levels are based on skills, years of experience, education, and a few other things.
So, for instance, the loop-holes in DoL rules allow employers to hire foreign workers with PhDs in jobs paying the lowest wages as long as the position's job description doesn't require an advanced degree or "more than average experience", says Berry.
The guild wants Congress to close these pay loop-holes in any H-1B (or more comprehensive immigration) reform bill that gets passed. Congress should redefine the lowest "prevailing wage" level for H-1B workers to be the "median" pay level U.S. workers earn in an occupation.
The guild wants Congress to close these pay loop-holes in any H-1B (or more comprehensive immigration) reform bill that gets passed. Congress should redefine the lowest "prevailing wage" level for H-1B workers to be the "median" pay level U.S. workers earn in an occupation.
For employers in San Jose, that would mean paying an H-1B programmer a minimum of $83,500 annuallywhich is the median wage earned by American programmers in that occupation in that cityinstead of finagling to pay only $57,762, the lowest wage allowed today. That would make employers think twice about whether they really "need" twice as many H-1B tech workers allowed into the U.S. each year, he says.
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Again, the point is that the real salary savings comes from the loop-holes, in full compliance with the law, not the penny ante violations DoL finds. In short: Employers don't have to violate the law, because the law is so lavishly generous to them in the first place. If you illegally cheat a worker out of $5K, the DoL will swoop down on you, but if you obey the law you can underpay the worker by $25K. Only in America!
Just in case it wasn't clear: The violator saves $30K while the legally-compliant employer saves $25K. Both make out like bandits, but only the one saving $30K is considered a "violator" [by the federal government].
So McGee had written on these issues twice, and not as short comments but in extensive detail. She knew.
My other point is, what ever happened to journalists "following the money", in the famous Watergate line? Why didn't McGee ask NFAP where it gets its funding? Is NFAP really the "non-profit, non-partisan" organization McGee says it is? Or is it funded by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (or AILF, its foundation), the industry lobbyists etc.? Anderson does NOT work for free, and his background makes it pretty clear to most of us that his shop is a lobbyist set-up:
NFAP is a one-man operation, that man being Stuart Anderson. And though McGee describes the organization as "non-profit, non-partisan", that ain't the same as impartial, folks. On the contrary, Anderson has been Mr. H-1B for years. In 1997 Fall he wrote the pivotal report for the ITAA which that lobbying group used to convince Congress to enact the first major H-1B increase in 1998. In 2000 he then became a staffer for then-Senator Spencer Abraham, and in that position Anderson authored the second major H-1B expansion enacted by Congress. When Abraham's bid for re-election failed that year (in part because of Abraham's support of H-1B), Anderson then went to a top position in the Immigration and Naturalization Service. As Washington Monthly reported in 2002 May:
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The best analogy I can draw about Stuart Anderson is something that an INS agent said to me: If you were going to hire someone to run the DEA, you wouldn't pick somebody who favors legalizing drugs.", says a top Republican aide on the Hill. "And by putting Stuart Anderson in a ranking position in the INS, you've essentially done the same thing -- you've got somebody who favors open borders running the agency that regulates the borders."
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Yes, technically NFAP is "non-profit, non-partisan" -- after all, the Democrats have been just as corrupted by industry campaign contributions on the H-1B issue as the Republicans -- but NFAP is absolutely not impartial. And the Anderson "study" on which McGee bases this blog shamelessly quotes others with highly vested interests (e.g. he quotes as an authority lawyer Warren Leiden, not mentioning that Leiden has been one of the immigration lawyers associations top lobbying forces on H-1B), egregiously misrepresents data and so on.
We hear a lot these days that newspapers are dying because young people don't read. Yes, some of that is indeed due to the younger set's fondness for iPods, but a lot of it also stems from the fact that they just plain don't trust the press. Well, why the heck should they?
Norm
Is The H-1B Visa Cap Capping U.S. Innovation?: Yes, because it is so high it has kept bright, creative, well-educated US citizens unemployed
2007-12-09
2007-12-09
Steve Sailer _V Dare_
2006's Demographic Death Spiral
2007-12-10
2007-12-10
John Stossel, Andrew Sullivan & Ron Paul _abc_
Interviews of Ron Paul
"the Texas Republican believes that the most effective way that a president can lead is by protecting basic freedoms, and relying on... citizens to sort out the rest."
2007-12-10
Thor H. Asgardson _American Chronicle_
What is relevant is whether that candidate will defend the Constitution of the United States of America
"The true battle of our people, is the treason by our public servants, which destroys us from within."
2007-12-11
2007-12-11
Pat Ferrier _Coloradoan_
Almost 30K in northern Colorado are under-employed
"the region is struggling to rebound from the loss of thousands of high-tech manufacturing jobs in the past few years and there's more work to be done to connect employers with workers, said Maury Dobbie, president and CEO of Northern Colorado Economic Development Corp... Workers are considered under-employed if they are currently working but have the skills, experience and education to qualify for higher paying jobs, according to the survey. Coupled with the 15,800 unemployed workers looking for jobs, the 24,800 under-employed residents and 5,300 people who might re-enter the work force for the right job, the region has a pool of nearly 46K workers ready to fill positions that might come open... The survey numbers were of little surprise to Peter Olins, president of Northern Colorado Network, of NoCoNet, a networking group for professionals who are between jobs, looking for jobs or support as they work through unemployment. The group has seen a continual stream of high-tech workers forced into early retirement, Olins said. 'These are highly skilled people... with very senior positions. Given the size of the economy around here, it's a lot harder for those folks to find something comparable.' The study shows that 27% of Northern Colorado's under-employed have a bachelor's degree; 21% have an associate's; and 27% report 'some college, but no degree'... 9,900 - number of under-employed who have an average of 8 years experience in manufacturing/assembly/ fabrication. 5,700 - number who have 9 years experience in information technology."
2007-12-11
Chuck Baldwin _V Dare_
Government Cannot Do the Church's Job
2007-12-11
Michelle Malkin _V Dare_
The GOP's Border Control Dissemblers
2007-12-12
2007-12-12 03:16PST (06:16EST) (11:16GMT)
Simon Kennedy _MarketWatch_
US foreclosures up 31.8% to 72,101 in November
"For the first 11 months of the year, around 527K homes [were foreclosed]."
2007-12-12 07:21PST (10:21EST) (15:21GMT)
Rex Nutting _MarketWatch_
Import prices up 2.7%, export prices up 0.9% in November
"Import prices have now risen 11.4% in the past year, the largest gain in the 25-year history of the import price index. Import prices increased a downwardly revised 1.4% in October... Prices received by U.S. producers also jumped in November, rising 0.9%, the biggest increase in 12 years. Export prices are up 6.1% in the past year, also the largest yearly gain in 12 years. Prices of agricultural exports rose 1.4%, the sixth straight month of 1%-plus gains. Agricultural export prices are up 23% in the past year, reflecting the weaker dollar and the boom in commodity prices... Prices of imported goods from Japan fell 0.1%, while prices of Chinese goods rose 0.2%, the seventh straight increase. The dollar has barely budged against the [Red Chinese] renminbi."
2007-12-12 11:26PST (14:26EST) (19:26GMT)
Greg Robb _MarketWatch_
Federal Reserve and top Canadian & European central banks release $64G into credit markets
2007-12-12 11:39PST (14:39EST) (19:39GMT)
Greg Robb _MarketWatch_
Trade deficit widened in October to $57.8G
BEA press release
2007-12-12 13:36PST (16:36EST) (21:36GMT)
Stephanie Overby _CIO_/_IDG_
Georgia is latest state government to out-source IT
"11 state agencies currently do the bulk of Georgia's IT spending -- two-thirds of the total $617M annual spend. Perdue plans to restructure the centralized Georgia Technology Authority (GTA) to address that situation first. The new GTA will then bring in IT services providers (plural) to bid on the IT services work. The out-sourcing contracts (again, plural) will be awarded late next year... A total of 1,100 state technology workers will be affected by the consolidation and outsourcing moves. Approximately 20% of the workforce will be eligible for retirement next year; their positions will disappear. Some employees will be shifted to the private companies who win the GTA contracts. And a total of 200 workers will be without a job."
2007-12-12
_PR News Wire_/_US News Wire_
22 Talk Radio Hosts Invite Candidates to Talk About Immigration
"Last April, talk radio personalities came to Washington, DC, to discuss immigration policy with the folks back home and changed the course of the debate. Talk radio spoke to millions of Americans -- the people government officials serve -- and, as a result, millions of Americans communicated a simple message to their elected representatives loudly and clearly: No amnesty for illegal aliens. No massive new guest worker programs for cheap labor interests. Enforce our immigration laws now. On December 27 and 28, talk radio is coming to Des Moines, Iowa, to discuss immigration policy with the people of Iowa and Americans all across the country. As Americans prepare to make critical decisions about leadership in 2008, they want to hear what their public servants have to say. Iowa 2007 Talk Radio Row (housed at the Des Moines Downtown Marriot) will showcase 22 talk hosts from across Iowa and America broadcasting continuously for 2 days from 08:00 to 21:00 Central. The event will provide a convenient forum for public officials from all over the county to tell listeners how they will handle this critical issue if they remain in office. Citizens in Iowa and around the nation want real answers and real solutions for our nation's broken immigration policies. A Des Moines Register poll found that 67% of Democrats and 81 percent of Republicans rated immigration as a 'key campaign issue'. Iowa 2007 Talk Radio Row is an opportunity for officials to speak directly to their bosses..."
2007-12-12
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
Book Picks 2007
2007-12-12
Rob Sanchez _Job Destruction News-Letter_
Articles placed by lobbyists for the Forces of Evil [FOE]
"Lots of articles are being published about the H-1B issue, but unfortunately most of them are nothing but transparent shill plants by the cheap labor lobby. One of the things you will see in many of them is more hype about the European blue card (see news-letter 'Blue Card, Green Card, Pink Card, 2007/10/25'). The only article in this group that comes close to being objective is #6 by Thibodeau. Be sure to read the heated comments being left on #9 and #10."
Titles corrected by jgo:
Article 1: Speaking Of Lack of Competition
Article 2: A small minority of senators urge H-1B visa program expansion
Article 3: The global surfeit of talent
Article 4: Is The Excessive H-1B Visa Cap Capping U.S. Innovation?
Article 5: Europe Wants World's Brightest As America Continues to Be Flooded with Cheap & Mediocre Foreign Labor
Article 6: National tech policy battle plays out in Iowa as caucus nears
Article 7: The visa excess: Big problem, easy fix
Article 8: Legal foreign workers face visa delays, while US workers are left out to dry
Article 9: 'Tis the Season For Mud-Slinging
Article 10: Is the Excessive H-1B Visa Cap Capping U.S. Innovation?
-30-
2007-12-12
Dave Gorak _V Dare_
Report from America: Owen's Barber Shopin Reedsburg, WI
| |
"[Socialism requires] the substitution of government direction for the play of individual action, and the attempt to secure by restriction what can better be secured by freedom... Whatever savors of regulation and restriction is in itself bad." --- Henry George
| |
2007-12-13
2007-12-13 05:30PST (08:30EST) (13:30GMT)
Scott Gibbons & 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 421,971 in the week ending Dec. 8, a decrease of 41,920 from the previous week. There were 384,123 initial claims in the comparable week in 2006. The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.0% during the week ending Dec. 1, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,628,518, a decrease of 105,049 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 1.9% and the volume was 2,436,936. Extended benefits were not available in any state during the week ending Nov. 24."
graphs
2007-12-13 13:06PST (16:06EST) (21:06GMT)
Julie Vorman & Karey Wutkowski _Reuters_/_Yahoo!_
Dollar Tree recalls 300K toys made in Red China due to lead in paint
"The CPSC also issued a recall for about 1K pieces of [Red Chinese]-made Codeena Princess children's metal jewelry because it contains high levels of lead."
2007-12-13
Shawn Lawrence Otto _Salon_
Let's have a presidential debate on science
2007-12-13
Ron Paul
Introducing the Free Competition in Currency act
"This act would eliminate 2 sections of US Code that, although ostensibly intended to punish counterfeiters, have instead been used by the government to shut down private mints. As anti-counterfeiting measures, these sections are superfluous, as 18 USC 485, 490, and 491 already grant sufficient authority to punish counterfeiters."
2007-12-13
Edwin S. Rubenstein _V Dare_
Are Muslims the New Swing Vote? Stay Tuned
"estimates range from 1.9M to 7M... At the low end, 1.9M, is the 'best estimate' of a National Opinion Research Center study commissioned by the American Jewish Congress shortly after [the terrorist attacks of 2001-09-11]. Muslim groups jumped on the AJC figure as an attempt to "marginalize" Islam in the U.S.A. ['Number of U.S. Muslims Depends on Who's Counting' by Bill Broadway Washington Post 2001-11-24] At the high end a study co-sponsored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations [CAIR], and released in 2001 April, estimated that 7M Muslims were living in the U.S.A."
2007-12-14
2007-12-14
Beryl Lieff Benderly _Science_
Rising Above "The Gathering Storm"
see also: Heavenly Labs, how to find them and Hellish Labs, how to escape them (pdf)
2007-12-14 04:58PST (07:58EST) (12:58GMT)
Aude Lagorce _MarketWatch_
"Made in America" is in demand
"The dollar has lost roughly 20% against the euro in the last 2 years. It's also declined about 14% against the British pound... 'We need high volume in the dollar zone.', he reportedly said."
2007-12-14
Paul Craig Roberts _On-Line Journal_
Off-shoring interests and economic dogmas are destroying the US dollar
V Dare
2007-12-14
"Info-Tech-Guy" _Programmers Guild_
How to keep IT workers
Techs Unite
Anti-H-1B
2007-12-14 13:43PST (16:43EST) (21:43GMT)
Brian Bergstein _AP_
1 in 4 Ill-Begotten Monstrosities employees is now in India
2007-12-14
Joe Guzzardi _V Dare_
4th Annual Worst Immigration Reporting Award
"The winner is -- hands down -- Nina Bernstein of the New York Times. Unlike past years when I had to review my files and folders chock full of unprofessional stories before selecting the winner, Bernstein (send her e-mail here) made my job easy. During 2007 Bernstein wrote, by my count, 42 immigration stories -- all of them rotten... From her first story in January, a tear jerker about baby Yuki Lin... to her latest (as of this posting) on December 4, Brazilians Giving Up Their American Dream -- the title says it all -- Bernstein stunk up the joint... you have to read carefully through a trained eye to spot her deceptions... Of the 8 people Bernstein quotes in her story; 6 of them are pro-immigration. To make it worse, the first 3 (!) listed by Bernstein favor more immigration: David V. Aguilar, chief of the Border Patrol at Homeland Security and 2 California U.S. representatives with 'D-' grades at Americans for Better Immigration, Linda Sanchez and Zoe Lofgren... Bernstein's story is flawed in its very premise. Today's argument is not about whether more 'immigrants' (no, they're illegal aliens!) should be let in legally through ports of entry but instead how to end illegal immigration and what to do about those who are here illegally. A national debate about legal immigration does need to start. But Bernstein incorrectly gives the impression that it is under-way... The great news is that despite her massive output of pap, Bernstein was unable to achieve her coveted goal and that of her employer..."
2007-12-14
| DJIA | 13,339.85 |
| S&P 500 | 1,467.95 |
| NASDAQ | 2,635.74 |
| 10-year US T-Bond | 4.23% |
| crude oil | $91.27/barrel |
| gold | $798.00/ounce |
| silver | $13.983/ounce |
| platinum | $1,479.00/ounce |
| palladium | $357.00/ounce |
| copper | $0.18353125/ounce |
| natgas | $7.025/MBTU |
| reformulatedgasoline | $2.3417/gal |
| heatingoil | $2.6079/gal |
I usually get this info from MarketWatch and the "Futures Movers" and "Metals Stocks" columns (and BigCharts and FT Interactive).
2007-12-15
2007-12-14 22:51EST) (2007-12-15 03:51GMT)
Brittany Woodby _Cullman AL Times_
3,200 locals under-employed
"The 2007 information estimated Cullman county has a civilian labor force of 40K with 1,200 of those people unemployed. However, Greer said the study shows potential employers they could also recruit from a pool of 3,200 under-employed workers. The median current pay rate of the under-employed workers is $13.50 per hour and the median desired pay rate of the under-employed workers is $13.99. Of the under-employed workers in the county, 40% have some college education but do not have a degree. 32% are high-school graduates or hold a GED... The majority of under-employed workers have an average of 11 years of experience in manufacturing, assembly and fabrication. Another 1K under-employed people have an average of 10 years experience in warehouse, distribution and transportation work... Approximately 80% of employers rated the workforce as good to excellent in productivity, reliability and attitude... In the fields of medicine and health sciences, and warehouse and distribution, Cullman County has above the median percentage of other surveyed cities in skilled, experienced, under-employed workers."
2007-12-15 09:01PST (12:01EST) (17:01GMT)
Nick Godt _MarketWatch_
USA gets shafted, again, by UN in Bali: Son of Kyoto Discord
2007-12-15
_Madison Wisconsin Capital Times
For a new trade debate
"Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Chris Dodd -- all of whom have disappointing records on trade policy -- skipped the Senate vote on the Peru Trade Agreement, where they could have explicitly rejected the NAFTA model for trade policy that they all criticize on the campaign trail."
2007-12-15
Bob McCarty
Bill of Rights Ratified 216 Years Ago Today
"Article the first... After the first enumeration required by the first article of the Constitution, there shall be one representative for eveyr thirty thousand, until the number shall amount to one hundred, after which, the proportion shall be so regulated by congress, that there shall be not less than one hundred representatives, nor less than one representative for every forty thousand persons, until the number of representatives shall amount to two hundred, after which the proportion shall be so regulated by congress, that there shall not be less than 200 representatives, nor more than one preresentative for every fifty thousand persons.
Article the second... No law, varying the compensation for the servics of the senators and representatives, shall take effect until an election of representatives shall have intervened. [Ratified 1992]
Article the third... Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Article the fourth... A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.
Article the fifth... No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
Article the sixth... The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized..."
Constitution.org
2007-12-15
Adam Jones _Date-Line Alabama_
New graduates' employment outlook expected to improve as baby boomers retire
Brown Daily Herald
Daily Pennsylvanian
"Companies are predicted to hire 2% more of college graduates of all levels and 7% more of bachelor's degree recipients in the coming year over this past year, according to an annual report on labor recruiting trends from Michigan State University. But large companies -- those with 3,900 employees or more -- ...expect to increase hiring for candidates with bachelor's degrees by 9%, according to the survey of 994 companies... Phillip Gardner, author of the report and director of MSU's Collegiate Employment Research Institute."
2007-12-15
Steven A. Camarota _Center for Immigration Studies_
Excess immigration, both legal and illegal, puts huge strain on the country
2007-12-15
_YouTube_
Here Comes Another Bubble (video)
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"1324(a)(1)(A) Any person who... (iv) encourages or induces an alien to come to, enter, or reside in the United States knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that such coming to, entry, or residence is or will be in violation of law... shall be punished as provided in subparagraph (B). (B) A person who violates subparagraph (A) shall, for each alien in respect to whom such a violation occurs... be fined under title 18, imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both." --- 8 USC 1324(a)(1)(A) and (B)
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2007-12-16
2007-12-16
Jennifer Loven _AP_/_Sky Valley Local News Watch_
Bush & Garcia Signed US-Peru trade pact Friday
"The Senate approved the agreement, 77-18, on Dec. 4. That followed a 285-132 House vote last month."
2007-12-16
Jose Antonio Vargas _Washington Post_
Ron Paul tea party raised some $4.3M
"On Nov. 5, which was Guy Fawkes Day, a symbol of rebellion in British history, Paul hauled in $4.3M in 24 hours [from some 37K donors] -- the most money raised on-line by a candidate in a single day. Today, the 234th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, the day that helped spark the American Revolution, Paul's web-savvy, intensely loyal supporters planned another 'money-bomb'. And by 21:00EST (18:00PST) (02:00GMT), the 'Paulites' had raised more than $5M from more than 30K donors [about $168 apiece], bringing the Texas Republican's fund-raising total this quarter to nearly $17M. And counting."
2007-12-17
2007-12-17
Tony Tagliavia _WOOD TV_
David Paul cheers on brother from Ottawa county Michigan home: average donation about $50
2007-12-17
ThomasBrewton _View from 1776_
Pope vs. Times Editors
2007-12-17
David Meyer _Ziff Davis_
FireWire speeds set to quadruple
"On Thursday, the 1394 Trade Association announced the S3200 electrical specification for FireWire. The specification builds upon the existing IEEE 1394b standard by boosting the maximum speed from 800 megabits per second to 3.2Gbps. Importantly, S3200 can use the cables and connectors already in use for FireWire 800 products, the association claimed."
2007-12-17
_Ziff Davis_/_Reuters_
Iran shuts down 24 Internet cafes in crack-down
"The action in Tehran province was the latest move in a campaign against practices deemed incompatible with Islamic values, including women not adhering to strict dress codes and barber shops offering men Western hair styles... police had inspected 435 coffee shops in the past 24 hours and that 170 had been warned... many web sites considered unIslamic are blocked by the authorities."
2007-12-17
Larry Dignan _Ziff Davis_
Ohio released study of voting machine security
report (pdf)
2007-12-17 (5768 Teves 08)
Joel Brinkley _Jewish World Review_
Portrayal of America in Arab press: Hypocrisy reigns
2007-12-18
2007-12-18
James Beltran _AP_/_Tampa Tribune_
Ron Paul campaign raised $6.2M Sunday, $18.2M so far in 4th quarter
2007-12-18
Frederic J. Frommer _San Francisco Examiner_
$516G interim appropriations catch-all approved by US House
Sacramento Bee
Lebanon Daily News
Brattleboro Reformer
Johnstown PA Tribune-Democrat
Cedar Rapids Gazette
Composite: "Minnesota would receive $195M to help replace the fallen I-35W bridge, as well as $50M in [money for 'security'] for next year's Republican National Convention and $343K for a Sacramento food bank, $14.24M for beach replenishment, $5.6M for the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center Cancer Institute, $664K for the 1.3-mile water line from nearby Reading Mines to Stoystown, $13.2M in funding for a new Iowa City Readiness Center for the Iowa National Guard, $2.6G in Low-Income Home Energy Assistance under a year-end budget bill passed by the House of Representatives late Monday. Money for both projects has been kicking around Capitol Hill for months, but the $516G-plus catch-all spending bill might represent its best chance for getting through Congress and approved by President Bush."
2007-12-18
_Charleston Daily Mail_
Turkey sent troops into 1.5 miles into northern Iraq against Kurdish troops, as compared to 30 mile incursions of Mexican army into USA
2007-12-18
John McCaslin _Town Hall_
Is Nancy Pelosi coming unhinged?
to which a commenter asked: "When was she hinged?"
2007-12-18
Richard Wolf _USA Today_
Americans' approval of Congress at new low, disapproval at new high
abc
tabulated results
2007-12-18
_International Herald Tribune_/_AP_
Proceedings postponed after guilty verdict in US slavery case
"Varsha Mahender Sabhnani, who is also from Indonesia, collapsed into the chest of her Indian-born husband, Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani, after a jury found them guilty Monday of all charges in a 12-count federal indictment that included forced labor, conspiracy, involuntary servitude and harboring aliens."
2007-12-18
Zhou Xin & Jason Subler _Manchester Guardian_
New Red Chinese labor law gives business executives the jitters
"'To be frank, in the processing trade here, the biggest advantage was cheap labour. But now that's going to change.', said Hsieh Ching-yuan, vice-president of the Taiwan Businessmen's Association in Dongguan, an industrial hub in the Pearl River Delta in southern [Red China]... Firms have been scrambling to adapt to -- or circumvent -- the law, which was passed last June and takes effect on Jan. 1. Companies from IT equipment makers to liquor producers have been playing a 'fire and hire' game, rushing to terminate existing contracts and rehire staff on new contracts to start the clock ticking anew on their length of service. Huawei Technologies Co Ltd made headlines by requiring some 7K employees with more than eight years' service to 'voluntarily resign' and reapply for their jobs."
2007-12-18
Justin James _Tech Republic_/_Ziff Davis_
Capitol One: What's in your data-base?
2007-12-18
_Monitor_
Budget buffoonery as admin isn't keeping its own house
2007-12-18
Andrew Taylor _Time_/_AP_
Senate approved $555G interim omnibus appropriation bill
Composite: "the bill spends too much money and contains [some 8,983 to 11,043] pet projects [a.k.a. turkeys, a.k.a. ear-marks, a.k.a. pork] sought by members of Congress. But Fermi lab funding would be cut by $62M."
2007-12-18
Stephen Losey _Federal Times_
Appropriations bill would thwart pay for performance at DHS
2007-12-18
Marisa Palmieri _Lawn & Landscape_
H-2B changes stripped from House interim omnibus appropriations bill
2007-12-18
Michelle Malkin _V Dare_
The Incredible Disappearing Border Fence
2007-12-18
Kartik B. Ariyur _View from 1776_
Reassessing Representative Ron Paul's Policy Positions
"But then, most aren't willing to take risks, and freedom is risky, and it takes courage to take risks with your own life or property (unlike the banks or many corporate executives, who are not capitalists because they do not risk their own money—they are politicians)."
2007-12-18
Vince Wade _YouTube_
Red China milks our sacred cows
2007-12-18
Kim Berry _Programmers Guild_
Honest and Dishonest use of H-1B statistics
2007-12-18 (5768 Teves 09)
Daniel Pipes _Jewish World Review_
US tax-victim funded open spigot must be closed now (with graphs)
2007-12-18 (5768 Teves 09)
John Stossel _Creators Syndicate_
interview of Ron Paul, Dr. No (R-Lake Jackson, TX)
Jewish World Review
2007-12-18 (5768 Teves 09)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
Academic intimidation
2007-12-18
_Civil Connection_/_Civil Engineering News_
There is no shortage of US citizen science and engineering graduates
2007-12-19
2007-12-18 16:49PST (2007-12-18 19:49EST) (2007-01-19 00:49GMT)
George Merritt _Yahoo!_/_AP_
Some Colorado voting machines decomissioned as unreliable
"Secretary of State Mike Coffman decertified 3 of the 4 voting equipment manufacturers allowed in the state, affecting 6 of Colorado's 10 most populous counties. 'the federal certification process is inadequate.', he said... Only Premier (Diebold) had all its equipment pass the recertification."
2007-12-19
_Fire Society_
Secure Fence Funding Scam of 2007
2007-12-19
_Wheeling News-Register_
Congress still refusing to stop invasion
Cybercast News Service
details
News Max
2007-12-19
_National Writers Union_
Frequently Stated Misconceptions: Off-Shoring of High-Tech and Professional Jobs
2007-12-19
_Movement pour une Union Nationale et Collegiale des Informaticiens_
Etude: Pas de pénurie d'informaticiens... aux Etats-Unis
"There is no shortage of engineers in the United States says a study by researchers at Duke University."
2007-12-19 06:56PST (09:56EST) (14:56GMT)
_Yahoo!_/_AP_
Red China's new site to report graft was overwhelmed by traffic
2007-12-19
Vince Wade _YouTube_
Gee! How were we to know?: Red Chinese espionage in US academia
2007-12-19
Carol Swain _News Release Wire_
Lou Dobbs and his detractors
2007-12-19 (5768 Teves 10)
John Stossel _Jewish World Review_
Ron Paul on war
2007-12-19 (5768 Teves 10)
Walter E. Williams, PhD _Jewish World Review_
Academic slums
| |
"[In business] the first thing is character... Before anything else. Money cannot buy it... Because a man I do not trust could not get money from me on all the bonds of Christendom." --- John Pierpont Morgan
| |
2007-12-20
2007-12-19 23:00PST (2007-12-20 02:00EST) (2007-12-20 07:00GMT)
Phyllis Schlafly _Conservative Voice_
Tech Executives Lie About H-1B Visas
"The technology industry has dispatched its wallet-filled lobbyists to demand that the new Congress vastly increase the number of foreign computer software techies and engineers who can be imported on H-1B visas. This demand is based on the claim that we suffer a labor shortage in those fields, but that's a bare-faced lie to erect a smoke-screen around the real reasons. Three reasons motivate the tech giants to use their political clout and PAC contributions to increase H-1Bs.
(a) Cost-cutting: H-1Bers are paid much less than Americans.
(b) The influx of H-1Bers depresses the 'prevailing wage' for all computer techies and engineers.
(c) The hiring of H-1Bers prevents potential competition from Americans who might resign to work for other firms or start companies of their own. H-1B visas are not for entrepreneurs or executives, but are for employees who are tied to the company that imports them (much like indentured servants) and are supposed to depart from the United States after a few years... Nobel economist Milton Friedman labeled H-1Bs a government subsidy to enable employers to get workers at a lower wage. America has more than enough U.S. engineers. After the dot com bust in 2000, Silicon Valley lost about 100K engineering jobs, and many of those who lost out are unemployed or underemployed or have taken jobs in other industries. Research by Professor Norman Matloff of the University of California/Davis confirms that there is no shortage of U.S. engineers or computer techies. If there were a shortage, salaries would be going up, but starting salaries for bachelor's degree graduates in computer science and electrical engineering, adjusted for inflation, are flat or falling. A major study made by the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University also found that there is no shortage of U.S. engineers. 80% of respondents to a Pratt survey say U.S. engineering jobs are filled within 4 months, and 88% didn't offer signing bonuses. Many companies hire student engineers from India and [Red China] with only 2 or 3 years of college and then train them in their own facilities. U.S. students with 2 or 3 years of college get no job offers... H-1Bs are a form of servitude that offends the free enterprise that made us the economic leader of the world."
2007-12-20 05:30PST (08:30EST) (13:30GMT)
Scott Gibbons & 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 390,586 in the week ending Dec. 15, a decrease of 32,797 from the previous week. There were 361,672 initial claims in the comparable week in 2006. The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.0% during the week ending Dec. 8, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,708,998, an increase of 85,510 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.0% and the volume was 2,577,271. Extended benefits were not available in any state during the week ending Dec. 1."
graphs
2007-12-20
_CNN_
Tom Tancredo, opponent of illegal immigration, withdrawed from run for President
"Of the likely Republican Iowa caucus-goers interviewed for the poll, 20% said immigration was the most important issue in deciding who they will support. Only caucus-goers who cited economic issues as their biggest concern was a larger group at 25 percent. Earlier this week, representative Steve King of Iowa, a friend of Tancredo's who shares his tough approach on immigration, announced he was backing former senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee..."
2007-12-20
Doublas McLeod _WorkForce_
Former HR Chief at AIG, Others Charged in Alleged Head-Hunting Scam
"According to a federal criminal complaint, Falcetta moved from Philadelphia to New York to take his job with AIG in September 2005. His duties included managing contracts with employee search firms, and he had the authority to add firms to AIG's approved list of vendors and to pay vendor bills up to $50K. Over the next two years, until AIG terminated him in August, Falcetta approved payments to bogus headhunter firms set up by Santone, Pombonyo and Broadbent, authorities allege. Those payments included $320,525 to G. Santone Associates, run by Santone; $674,886 to two firms, Enterprise Business Group and Global Search Affiliates Inc., run by Pombonyo; and $120K to Broadbent Advisory Group, run by Broadbent, the complaint says. The 4 companies then kicked back $462,476 to Human Capital Management Partners, an entity Falcetta had created, authorities charge. None of the search firms actually performed any work for AIG, and at least some of them appear to exist only on paper, the complaint suggests. The address Broadbent Advisory gave on its invoices, for example, is a residence belonging to Broadbent's mother, and its fax number is registered to a Dunkin' Donuts store in Philadelphia, the complaint says. The fax number on Santone & Associates' bills belonged to a Philadelphia jewelry store."
2007-12-20
Vince Wade _YouTube_
Shaft Our State
2007-12-20
Brenda Walker _V Dare_
Letting Red China Walk Over the USA
"The membership (which is actually 149) represents a variety of professions. But business leaders predominate rather than scientists or artists. In reality, the Committee of 100 appears to be just another ethnic Chamber of Commerce, only with more attitude."
2007-12-21
2007-12-21 06:55PST (09:55EST) (14:55GMT)
Rex Nutting _MarketWatch_
Real disposable incomes fell 0.3% from October to November, but inflation adjusted spending increased 0.5%
2007-12-21 07:43PST (10:43EST) (15:43GMT)
Greg Robb _MarketWatch_
UMich consumer sentiment index rose from 74.5 earlier in December to 75.5 in late December
2007-12-21
Vince Wade _YouTube_
US executives are shafting the nation
2007-12-21
Joe Guzzardi _V Dare_
2007 In Review: Immigration Patriots Demolish Treason Lobby
"We had a great 2007! And especially so considering that we started on January 1st as a twenty-eight-point under-dog to the Treason Lobby -- despite having established our strength over the last two years when we crushed S2611 and S1438 amnesties in 2006 and 2005 respectively. This year, proving that the prior 2 years were no fluke, we kicked their sorry butts up one side of the field and down the other."
2007-12-21
| DJIA | 13,450.65 |
| S&P 500 | 1,484.46 |
| NASDAQ | 2,691.99 |
| 10-year US T-Bond | 4.17% |
| crude oil | $93.31/barrel |
| gold | $815.40/ounce |
| silver | $14.488/ounce |
| platinum | $1,536.30/ounce |
| palladium | $361.15/ounce |
| copper | $0.19359375/ounce |
| natgas | $7.190/MBTU |
| reformulatedgasoline | $2.3795/gal |
| heatingoil | $2.6091/gal |
I usually get this info from MarketWatch and the "Futures Movers" and "Metals Stocks" columns (and BigCharts and FT Interactive).
2007-12-22
2007-12-22
David Graper _Albany Times Union_
Visa program only replaces/displaces American workers
"Your Dec. 16 article, 'Locking out the best and brightest', a thinly veiled pro-corporate plea for accelerating the pace of replacing American workers with lower-cost foreign workers, should at best have been featured on your editorial page and not on your newspaper's front page. The article starts by covering one unfortunate, but unique visa problem, for one extraordinary individual who will be serving as a vice president at the University at Albany and then hastily generalizing it into an argument for weakening the already-abused H-1B technical worker program. It's a fiction that we suffer from a shortage of skilled labor. We have a shortage of jobs with employers willing to pay prevailing American wages. The H-1B program is being seriously and openly abused to permit foreign workers to fill entry-level tech jobs at cut-rate prices, creating the new class of 'indentured servants' mentioned by the single opposing voice featured in your article, while at the same time corporations are laying off American workers in droves. If you want proof that the jobs aren't out there and that we hardly need to open the flood-gates for foreign technical workers, take a look at your own newspaper: How many jobs were you advertising for Information Technology positions in the same issue head-lined by this article? I counted 6, hardly proof that IT jobs go begging in the Capital Region, which have to be filled by foreign applicants to improve our 'competitiveness'."
2007-12-22
Rachelle Younglai _Scientific American_/_Reuters_
FBI building biometric data-base
Tampa Tribune
AFP
News Max
Liberty Papers
ars technica
"The FBI has already started compiling digital images of faces, finger-prints and palm patterns in its systems, the paper said... In January, the agency expects to award a 10-year contract to expand the amount and kinds of biometric information it receives... At any employer's request, the FBI will also retain the finger-prints of employees who have under-gone criminal background checks, the paper said... called Next Generation Identification... already contains 55M sets of electronic finger-prints... Certain aspects of the FBI's track record in recent years make this proposal even less attractive. In 2003, the FBI exempted its National Crime Information Center, the Central Records System, and the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime from subsection (e) (5) of the 1974 Privacy Act. That particular subsection mandates that each agency that maintains a system of records shall 'maintain all records which are used by the agency in making any determination about any individual with such accuracy, relevance, timeliness, and completeness as is reasonably necessary to assure fairness to the individual in the determination.'"
privacy links
2007-12-22
John Miano _V Dare_
More "Blue Card" Baloney from Intel & the Washington Post
2007-12-23
2007-12-23
Eric Thorkildsen _Alban
