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Zalatix

Zalatix's Journal
Zalatix's Journal
August 10, 2012

The H1B issue: Yes, American workers, YOU DO QUALIFY FOR THAT JOB.

This is a direct response to this thread that dishonestly and unfairly attacks American workers. This is an exercise of my God-given right to defend American workers.

Firstly, I will kick this off with that which would usually be put off to the end as a conclusion: the only thing that disqualifies Americans for jobs that H1B visa holders are getting, is Americans won't work for peanuts.

Second of all, I'm going to address the core half-truth that was used to support the argument that "No, you don't qualify for that job":

According to the US Census bureau, in 2009, out of the entire population of the United States - the educational levels are as follows:

17.6% of the population holds a bachelors degree.
7.2% holds a masters degree.
1.9% hold a professional degree.
1.2% hold a doctorate degree.


To this, I present a counter point: that counter point being reality.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/mee-the-brainiac-homeless-man-with-a-ph-d-that-cant-find-a-job/
Times are tough. Perhaps the chilling economic realities can be best encapsulated by the tragic story of Dr. Maurice Johnson. Despite holding a doctorate in plasma physics from Dartmouth College and a masters in electrical engineering and acoustics from Purdue University, Johnson, 55, claims that he is homeless and without a job.


Now we must get to the other central argument:
It is illegal to pay H1B Visa workers wages that are lower than the prevailing wage.

Reality: It is also illegal to steal cars, but 1 million are stolen every year. Likewise:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/13/us/whistle-blower-claiming-visa-fraud-keeps-his-job-but-not-his-work.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

It has been 17 months since Jack B. Palmer first made a quiet complaint through internal channels at Infosys, the giant Indian outsourcing company he works for, saying he suspected some managers were committing visa fraud. Since then, Mr. Palmer says, he has been harassed by superiors and co-workers, sidelined with no work assignment, shut out of the company’s computers, denied bonuses and hounded by death threats.


http://www.happyschoolsblog.com/11-arrested-in-h1b-visa-fraud-upto-20-years-in-prison/

DES MOINES, Iowa – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested 11 individuals in six states on Wednesday as part of an investigation into suspected visa and mail fraud. Matthew G. Whitaker, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa, announced the operation, which was carried out by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in Iowa, California, Massachusetts, Texas, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and New Jersey.

Hint: these workers weren't paid a prevailing wage.

BUT WAIT!!!! There's more! This goes way beyond just H1B's! Take a look at what's happening with J1 visa holders:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/18/us/18immig.html?pagewanted=all

PALMYRA, Pa. — Hundreds of foreign students, waving their fists and shouting defiantly in many languages, walked off their jobs on Wednesday at a plant here that packs Hershey’s chocolates, saying a summer program that was supposed to be a cultural exchange had instead turned them into underpaid labor.


The point? H1B visa holders are being imported as cheap labor, while Americans holding DOCTORATES in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) related fields are going without jobs.


Next, I will point out this:

Relative to any of the most common benchmarks – the cost of living, the wages of the average worker, or average productivity levels – the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour is well below its historical value. These usual reference points, however, understate the true erosion in the minimum wage in recent decades because the average low-wage worker today is both older and much better educated than the average low-wage worker was in the past.


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And let us also examine this, the shortage of jobs for engineers. The going pro-free trade argument of the day is that America needs more H1B workers because we don't have enough engineers. Even a cursory examination of the situation in America shows that this is bullshit.

http://www.counterpunch.org/2006/06/06/the-death-of-us-engineering/

The alleged "shortage" of US engineering graduates is inconsistent with reports from Duke University that 30 to 40 percent of students in its master’s of engineering management program accept jobs outside the profession. About one-third of engineering graduates from MIT go into careers outside their field. Job outsourcing and work visas for foreign engineers are reducing career opportunities for American engineering graduates and, also, reducing salary scales.


Read that last part, DUers. REDUCING SALARY SCALES.

If we need more engineers then why are engineering salaries going down? Who ever heard of a wage stagnation in an industry where workers are in short supply?

How many unemployed engineers do we have?

http://www.techjournal.org/2012/02/many-engineers-remain-unemployed-despite-reported-tech-skills-shortages/

For a complete review of the American Community Survey, including a table containing detailed employment figures for specific engineering degrees, visit the Center for Immigration Studies website at: http://cis.org/obama-and-engineers

The 2010 American Community Survey shows:

There are 101,000 U.S.-born individuals with engineering degrees who are unemployed.
There are an additional 244,000 U.S.-born individuals under age 65 who have a degree in engineering but who are not in the labor market. This means they are not working nor are they looking for work, and are therefore not counted as unemployed.
In addition to those unemployed and out of the labor force, there are an additional 1.47 million U.S.-born individuals who report they have an engineering degree and have a job, but do not work as engineers.
President Obama specifically used the words “highly skilled.” In 2010, there were 25,000 unemployed U.S.-born individuals with engineering degrees who have a Master’s or Ph.D. and another 68,000 with advanced degrees not in the labor force. There were also 489,000 U.S.-born individuals with graduate degrees who were working, but not as engineers.


Yes, folks, there are thousands of US born highly qualified engineers who do not have jobs. Master's and PhD degree holders, folks.

"No, you don't qualify for that job"?
[img][/img]

Unless someone wants to argue that Americans with Master's or PhD degrees in engineering are idiots.


Now why, you must ask yourself, would corporations be pushing these lies? Profit, of course. Cheaper labor means more profits. The path to cheaper labor is to bring in H1B's. How bad is this situation? Well, how's this for bad?

&feature=player_embedded


Corporations are whining and crying about the low H1B visa limits - something like under 80,000 per year. Perhaps they should be hiring those 1.47 million American workers who have engineering degrees but aren't working as engineers?

YES, AMERICAN WORKERS, YOU ARE QUALIFIED FOR THAT JOB!

Now get out and use force to make your voice heard. VOTE. Kill the H1B visa program. Kill it dead.
August 10, 2012

Globalization is about the RACE TO THE BOTTOM. Why should we NOT oppose it?

Why should American workers NOT oppose a system that is designed from scratch to impoverish them and enrich the 1%?

Basic question. Why should we make sacrifices that no one else is making?

Workers in other countries aren't losing their jobs to Americans, their wages aren't going down, their unemployment isn't going up, their middle class isn't shrinking.

The 1% isn't making any sacrifices. Their wages aren't going down and they're not losing their jobs.

Only one group is making any sacrifices, and big ones at that - America's working class.

So what place does anyone have to tell us that we should continue this?

Take this question and pass it onto your neighbor: Globalization is about the RACE TO THE BOTTOM. Why should we NOT oppose it?

August 9, 2012

Billboards with dummy on noose shock Vegas drivers... it's about time someone did this!!!

http://news.yahoo.com/billboard-dummy-noose-shocks-vegas-drivers-152639429.html

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Even by Las Vegas standards, it was a shocking billboard: A mannequin dangling on a hangman's noose below a black sign with the ominous words "Dying for Work."

Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Jeremie Elliott says the 911 calls started coming in as the sun came up early Wednesday, with drivers worried the stiff, black-suited dummy swaying at the end of a rope along Interstate 15 near Bonanza Road was a real person.

"It's a publicity stunt, obviously done in bad taste," said Elliott, adding that officials were focused on getting it down quickly to avoid distracting drivers during the morning commute.

The graphic display along the interstate was one of at least two unauthorized signs spotted Wednesday morning in the Las Vegas area. Another found on Highland Avenue and Desert Inn Road was white with black lettering that read, "Hope You're Happy Wall St.," and a similar mannequin hanging off the edge.
August 7, 2012

What does the Democratic Party stand for? What are our values?

One day we are against extrajudicial killings, the next a sizeable faction forms an e-mob to defend drone killings while no one calls them on their silence about innocent bystanders being killed.

One day we're in favor of fighting for workers' rights, the next we're bashing people who fought for relief from 110 degree temperatures at an Amazon warehouse. Then there's the rampant union-bashing.

One day we're hating on the big banks and Wall Street's excesses, the next we're pouncing on Occupy Wall Street for getting out and protesting against these things, and in a naked show of ignorance, accusing them of being ineffective.

These are but a small slice of the big pie of Right Wing ideas that have managed to creep their way into acceptance.

Supposedly, the Democratic Party is not the party of the Left. Okay. So what does the Democratic Party actually stand for?

August 7, 2012

Left hook, right hook, left hook, right hook- Obama: "Romney Hood will take from poor, give to rich"

Ever see that silly cartoon Dragonball Z where the yellow haired guy drops hailstorms of fist on his enemy faster than a camera can show it? Well, Romney is the guy taking hits, and he is looking quite cartoonish while doing so.

Case in point.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-warns-romney-hood-poor-rich-231818045.html

Obama warns ‘Romney Hood’ will take from poor, give to rich

President Barack Obama told cheering supporters at a fundraiser in Connecticut on Monday that Mitt Romney's tax plan would raise taxes on middle-class Americans to pay for a tax cut benefiting the very rich: "It's like Robin Hood in reverse. It's Romney Hood." His remarks drew laughter and applause.

Obama pointed to a recent study of Romney's approach by the independent Tax Policy Center that speculated that, to pay for his proposed tax cut on the wealthiest Americans, the former Massachusetts governor would have to end popular measures like the mortgage and child deductions and the Earned Income Tax Credit — which chiefly benefit middle-class and poor Americans.

"He'd ask the middle class to pay more in taxes so that he could give another $250,000 tax cut to people making more than three million dollars a year," Obama said.

"They have tried to sell us this trickle-down, tax-cut fairy dust before. And guess what? It does not work. It didn't work then, it won't work now," the president said. "It's not a plan to create jobs, it's not a plan to reduce our deficit, and it is not a plan to move our economy forward."

August 6, 2012

"You didn't build that"... Democrats are failing to spine-up!!! Damn it.

http://www.newsmax.com/newswidget/obama-build-that-comment/2012/08/02/id/447419?promo_code=EC70-1&utm_source=spectator&utm_medium=nmwidget&utm_campaign=widgetphase1

WaPo: 'You Didn't Build It' Comment Damaging Other Democrats

President Barack Obama’s weeks-old comment that business owners “didn’t build that” by themselves is haunting him and fellow Democrats on the campaign trail.

Wherever Obama goes, a local paper or TV station seems to drag up the comment and get local entrepreneurs to trash his statement.

It happened in Colorado when Obama visited this week. “I did build my business, Mr. President, you didn’t,” Martin Mendez of Splash Publications told Denver’s CBS affiliate.

Uh, Martin Mendez, you didn't build SHIT without the help of your workers.

And if Government went away, what you did build would have been wiped out within days by criminal gangs.

Why aren't the Democrats blitzing the airwaves with this?
August 6, 2012

I'm sorry, what exactly was disruptive about this, that deserved a hide?

I can't see the factual error in this post, nor any sign of right wing trolling, or where it amounts to an attack on Democrats. To me it points out the hypocrisy of making bigger headlines of civilian guns killing 7 people when the US military, with the support of most Americans, kills thousands overseas, often without even probable cause. (Extrajudicial killings by troops or drones.)

I took this as "let's add these other issues to our plate of outrage" and I think it deserves to be discussed... not hidden.

I'm not seeing what "community standards" got violated here by this poster.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1080213

1.1 million dead in the middle east from government guns vs 7 dead in the USA from a civilian gun.

1.1 million dead in the middle east from the US government guns vs 7 dead in the USA from a civilian gun.

100 people died in Iraq the other day from our Imperialist military stealing resources and land that doesn't belong to them, but who cares, let's have mass hysteria over a shooting of 7 people and pass some law that will end up having the opposite effect.

2500 dead people in Mexico <--"who cares&quot sarcasm), thanks to the US government's fast and furious in gun-controlled-Mexico, funny how those drug cartels don't care about gun legislation btw.

What's the solution? Ban guns for civilians!

Meanwhile let's commit more acts of war against Iran by imposing sanctions to starve children like we did to half a million kids in Iraq.

Thousands died from cancer and diseases related to overeating but hey, let's not go to the theater because a crazy gunman might kill us, even though we're statistically far more likely to die from a car crash.

While we're going broke let's borrow some more money from China to get a TSA employee in every living room to keep us safe!

August 6, 2012

Our problem with gun control is...

Our government is great at sending drones to kill unarmed people and innocent bystanders in the Middle East with the help of their "brown people terrorist detector" network

but when armed non-brown people right here in America prepare to go on a theater rampage, stock up on weapons, alert psychologists that they're a threat, and clearly plot to shoot up Sikh churches...

we're utterly inept at catching them.

What the fuck. What is the use of Homeland Security if these obvious signs get missed?


Do your damned job, fascists.

August 6, 2012

Serena Williams's "crip walk" at the Olympics

LOVE this commentary!

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/olympics-fourth-place-medal/serena-williams-did-gangster-crip-walk-winning-gold-135906507--oly.html

Serena Williams dropped it like it was hot on Saturday, celebrating her first singles gold medal by performing an impromptu crip walk, a short dance move popularized by gang members in her hometown of Compton.

The move mostly passed by without incident because crip walk controversies date from the same era in which a bare bottom on "NYPD Blue" was considered risque. The dance was just a dance, a nice homage to Serena's hometown. But then someone overreacted and ginned up a phony controversy on this side of the Atlantic and now the very fabric of our culture is threatened because Serena chose to do a rhythmic shout-out.

On FoxSports.com:
And there was Serena — the tennis legend, the winner of 14 individual Grand Slams, the best player of her generation, the American girl being crowned at the All-England Club as the queen of tennis — Crip-Walking all over the most lily-white place in the world.

She didn't do it on purpose. It was a moment of unbridled joy. She pumped her fist, jumped up and down, looked into the crowd, then did her ill-timed dance.

You couldn't help but shake your head. It was as if Serena just couldn't seem to avoid dipping into waters of controversy even as she'd ascended to the top of her sport.


Relax, everyone. This makes it seem like Serena crip-walked away from the Queen after stealing the crown jewels. She broke out the dance for three seconds, while looking at her sister sitting in the player's box! It's a dance move, not a political statement. Are we going to analyze what the implications of Andy Murray climbing into his player's box too? Maybe it a was subtle commentary on the War of Scottish Independence and symbolized his nation's impeding ascent.
August 6, 2012

Angry workers riot in India, one dead.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/insight-deadly-india-car-factory-220545983.html?l=1

Insight: Deadly India car factory riot sounds alarm bells for industry

By Henry Foy and Anurag Kotoky

MANESAR, India (Reuters) - Hiding in his office near the Indian capital as workers armed with iron bars and car parts rampaged through the factory, Maruti Suzuki supervisor Raj Kumar spent two terrified hours trying to comprehend the warzone his workplace had become.

By the end of the day, one of his colleagues had been burnt to death and dozens wounded, many with broken bones, as a long-running struggle between the shop floor and management exploded at a factory racked by mistrust.

While police investigate and the carmaker counts its mounting losses, the July 18 clash has rattled corporate India and shone a light on outdated and rigid labor laws in a country where cheap labor drives manufacturing and draws foreign investment. High inflation, a shortage of skilled labor and rising aspirations have emboldened workers' demands.

"There was always a strong sense of unease," Kumar, 43, told Reuters as he stood outside the locked factory gates more than a week after the riot in the industrial town of Manesar.

"We are living in fear... The kind of violence these guys showed was unbelievable."

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Member since: Fri Dec 16, 2011, 09:30 PM
Number of posts: 8,994

About Zalatix

I'm a liberal looking to make a difference in politics.
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