Microsoft's Gates Advises Congress on U.S. Competitiveness

[OhioChick]

Source: Wall Street Journal

March 12, 2008 11:28 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Microsoft Corp. co-founder and outgoing Chairman Bill Gates came to Congress Wednesday with a shopping list of actions he urged lawmakers to take to ensure the U.S. remains competitive in the 21st century.

In what is likely his last appearance before a Congressional hearing before he steps down as chairman of Microsoft in the summer, Mr. Gates said that much needed to be done to keep the U.S. competitive.

He called for more federal funding for science and math education, tax breaks for research and development spending by companies and greater numbers of highly-trained immigrants to be allowed into the country.

Without these changes, Mr. Gates said, the U.S. will fall behind the rest of the world.

Mr. Gates was testifying before the House Science & Technology committee, at a hearing to commemorate the panel's 50th anniversary.

"I am optimistic about the potential for technology to help us find new ways to improve people's lives and tackle important challenges," said Mr. Gates. "I am less optimistic, however, that the United States will continue to remain a global leader in technology innovation."



Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120533449867830415.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

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Bill.....There is NO Shortage of Skilled U.S. Engineers. Didn't You get the Memo?

Study: There Is No Shortage of U.S. Engineers

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Careers/Study-There-Is-No-Shortage-of-US-Engineers/

[Tempest]

1. This is like the wolf telling the farmer how to protect his sheep

Microsoft is one of the largest employers of HB-1 visa holders.

[ReformedChris]

2. Its always Tax Cuts and Education in the corporate hounds minds..

Protectionist Economics suited this nation VERY well for its first 150 years. God Forbid we put a Tarriff on something now so an American business can compete at home, it would be the end of the Repuke world! Seriously, we need to look at a more American based economy and think about the workers here. We have the qualified workers, we have the technology, what we don't have are real corporate leaders that care about the American worker. We need to get back to point where the US is the worlds manufacturer, not its blind consumer.

[high density]

3. Here it is, at least once a quarter Bill goes out and cries for more H-1Bs.

Of course he could probably solve all of his supposed labor shortage problems if he built a few other major software houses in the USA outside of Redmond, WA. Not everybody in the tech sector is interested in moving to the west coast to get a job.

[ChromeFoundry]

4. he should worry about his own company

"I am less optimistic, however, that the United States will continue to remain a global leader in technology innovation." -- Gates

Over the last few years, as Microsoft has continually displayed that they cannot provide a version-1 release of a product that even functions correctly(Vista, WHS), I am less optimistic of Microsoft's ability to be an innovator. Linux along with the Open Source community will continue to gain ground in the market area, placing Microsoft where they belong, a manufacturer of a gaming console.

[tridim]

6. Gates is retired. nt

[ChromeFoundry]

7. no he is not... this summer is when he will step down as chairman

do you actually think that he will cash out all is stock in the company???

[tridim]

8. The official date doesn't matter..

He's retiring to run his foundation and give away a big chunk of his money.

[ChromeFoundry]

9. Retiring some duties... Not retiring.

Gates emphasized that he has no plans to ever give up his position as chairman of Microsoft's board of directors. "I don't see a time in the future when I won't be chairman of this company," he said. "I see myself as always being the largest shareholder in Microsoft. Steve is the second largest, and I think we both take a lot of pride in that."

http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/002278.html

It's not like Billy will just pack up his crap and leave the company like the CES - "Last day" video makes you want to believe... Not here to argue with you. It's just too many people seem to believe that Gates is actually retiring, and that is not correct.

[Heywood J]

5. From a man who knows a lack of competitiveness when he sees it...

I still know so many software engineers and programmers who are working in Joe-jobs because no one in their field is hiring. Mr. Gates is seeing to that with his H1-B pep talk.

Instead of raising the limit, Congress should be lowering it.

[nbcouch]

10. too right

The very people (Gates included) who decry the lack of computer science and info systems grads coming out of college are at the same time exacerbating the problem by making IT so unappealing as a career path. Their manipulations of the IT labor market via H1B and offshoring have turned a lot of IT jobs into dead-ends. Nobody should believe that this isn't by design.

[OhioChick]

11. "Instead of raising the limit, Congress should be lowering it."

Agreed.

[OhioChick]

12. Gates: U.S. puts tech jobs at risk by capping foreign workers

Microsoft chairman defends H-1B program, argues for improving education and providing more funds for basic research

March 12, 2008 (Computerworld) WASHINGTON -- Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates gave testimony today before the House Science and Technology Committee that was mostly standard fare, until Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) tried to make it personal.

"If we bring more people from the outside," said Rohrabacher, referring to foreign workers who come to the U.S. under the H-1B temporary visa program, "will it also not depress the wages in our own country that people like yourself would have to pay your employees?"

"No," said Gates firmly. "These top people are going to be hired. It's just a question of what country they are hired in."

"I'm not really talking about the top people here," responded Rohrabacher, cutting off Gates. "There are a lot of other people in this society rather than just the top people. It's the B and C students that fight for our country and kept it free so that people like yourself would have the opportunity that you've had.

More:

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9068126&intsrc=hm_list

[ChromeFoundry]

13. His views are not trustworthy...

Ron Hira, an assistant professor of public policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology, said the "facts show that the H-1B program that Bill Gates described simply doesn't exist."

--from same article above--

He is a business man, looking to increase profits... plain and simple.

[2Design]

14. the tax breaks for training - will these be americans you are training BILL n/t

[antigop]

15. Programmers Guild rebuts Bill Gates' call for more h1-b visas

http://programmersguild.org/docs/rebuttal_to_bill_gates_congress_march2008.html

The Programmers Guild disputes that more H-1b visas would benefit "U.S. global competitiveness," and they would represent undue competition for Americans seeking jobs in this recessionary job market.

The Programmers' Guild has been fighting this issue for some time.

[OhioChick]

16. Good Job on Their Rebuttal of Gates...

Programmers Guild rebuts Bill Gates call for more H-1b visas
The Microsoft Press Release below outlines what Gates will say today. Here is our rebuttal

SACRAMENTO - March 13, 2008 - The Programmers Guild disputes that more H-1b visas would benefit "U.S. global competitiveness," and they would represent undue competition for Americans seeking jobs in this recessionary job market.

1) One way to “allow more highly-skilled workers to remain in the U.S.” is to grant H-1b visas on the basis of skill rather than by a lottery. But just as last year the Programmers Guild expects USCIS to conduct a lottery, granting H-1b to $16/hour hotel clerks while denying visas to PhD genetic researchers. The best proxy for “skill” is “wage.” This simple reform in H-1b would allow Microsoft to have as many “highly skilled H-1b” as then need under the current cap – AS LONG AS THEY PAID THEM WHAT THEY ARE WORTH.

2) Our competitive advantage is eroding, and Bill Gates has used the H-1b program to facilitate that erosion. Microsoft used the H-1B visa to train a critical mass of foreign workers within the U.S., then used these workers to establish overseas operations, with U.S. technology in their back pockets. East Side Journal explained on October 10, 2002:

The road to Microsoft's future travels through the ancient lands of India. That future is a $10 billion initiative called Microsoft .NET ... Key pieces of the new system have and will come from India…

Microsoft's offices at Hi-Tec City not only recreate the look but also the feel of Microsoft's headquarters. In an e-mail from Hyderabad, Srini Koppolu, the IDC's general manager, said each programmer is free to take an idea to top managers at any time -- an open-door policy not common at Indian companies.

``The replication of Microsoft's culture has been possible because many people who worked in Redmond for many years have moved back to be part of the India Development Center,'' Koppolu wrote.

Between October 1999 and February 2000, obtained 362 H-1B visas from the Immigration and Naturalization Service, making it the U.S.'s sixth-largest importer of Indian employees for that period.

Even in 2002 when the H-1b cap was 195,000 and not being reached, “ plans call for doubling the number of today's programmers, whose neighbors at Hi-Tec City include some 12,000 employees of General Electric, Oracle and Vanenberg.”

3) We agree with Gates that U.S. “workforce development” needs to be improved. Gates claims that Microsoft needs more H-1b to hire new foreign graduates. But there are many U.S. graduates with several years of experience trying to find work at Microsoft and other employers – but Gates does not open these “entry level” positions to these Americans. Why? Experienced Americans are only considered for the positions that require an arbitrary 3 to 7 years of experience in several specific skills – then the Americans are summarily rejected for not meeting all of those arbitrary qualifications.

Nearly all Microsoft jobs require 3-5 years experience in several technologies. In effect the “richest man in the world” is too cheap to hire and train his American workforce. He, and all other employers spoiled by H-1b, expect that some other employer would have borne to cost hiring someone without experience and borne the cost of that on-the-job training.

4) Gates complains that taxpayers are paying for the education of our foreign competition, and then sending them home. Many foreign students come to the USA with the intent of returning home, and there is no way to stop that. So the real question is why are American taxpayers being forced to subsidize the education of citizens from countries that represent our foreign competition?

5) H-1b does not need to be “EXPANDED,” it needs to be “REFORMED”:

Eight of the top 10 users of H-1b are foreign consulting firms. These Indian firms bring in thousands H-1b workers each, admit to paying them 25% below what they would have to pay Americans, thus displacing U.S. consulting firms and U.S. consultants. This is not helping “Americas global competitiveness.” H-1b needs to be reformed so that employers must pay at least a median wage to H-1b workers.

The H-1b program is dissuading the next generation of Americans from entering the tech profession. H-1b forces new graduates, with $50k student loans and no experience, to directly compete for American jobs against citizens from every country in the world. There is currently no requirement that employers give preference to American applicants. The Programmers Guild thinks that there should be.

http://programmersguild.org/docs/rebuttal_to_bill_gates_congress_march2008.html

Thanks for posting antigop! :hi:

[girl gone mad]

17. My solutions:

1. Get corporate influence out of education.

2. Money for R&D directly funneled to universities, not through corporations.

3. Only the best and brightest allowed to come work in Math and Science, not more mediocre talent willing to work on the cheap.

4. Stop listening to industry dinosaurs like Bill Gates.

[crimsonblue]

18. but there is a shortage of US engineers...

that will take the lower pay that foreigners get. Plus, our colleges aren't the world's best anymore. The engineering and tech colleges in Japan are much better.

[OhioChick]

19. ....

"but there is a shortage of US engineers...that will take the lower pay that foreigners get."

Damn straight there are.

[bemildred]

20. Gates would do better to advise the Congress on monopolies.

Congress loves monopolies, and that's what Gate's knows about.