David Sirota: H-1Bs And the Triumph of Buypartisanship

[marmar]

from Working for Change:


Tuesday, October 23, 2007
H-1Bs And the Triumph of Buypartisanship


To really see the sheer corruption of our political process, you have to look at the lies that simply refuse to go away in the face of overwhelming facts - the myths that are utterly and completely untrue, yet which are regarded as unchallenged truth in Washington because they serve to rationalize Big Money's agenda.

Regular readers of this my writing know that two of those lies are the Great Education Myth and the Great Labor Shortage Lie. The first says that if only Americans obtained more skills and education, they would be able to obtain high-paying jobs. The second says that America faces a shortage of workers, which requires companies to import workers from abroad. Both of these fables have been thoroughly debunked by economic data and economic analysis from across the political spectrum.

The Great Education Myth and the Great Labor Shortage Lie converge in the debate over H-1B visas - the visas that the American government gives to corporations allowing them to import high-skilled workers from abroad. Lobbyists and the Members of Congress they have bought push for more H-1B visas by claiming that because Americans are not properly educated, they don't have the skills needed for high-tech jobs, and thus, there is a shortage of domestic high-tech workers to fill such jobs.

Again, this rationale has been exposed as a fraud. Duke University researchers this year definitively proved that there is, in fact, no shortage of engineers in the United States. Rochester Institute of Technology professor Ron Hira has published a study proving that the H-1B program accelerates job outsourcing. His study was verified by data showing that the companies that most use the H-1B program are those whose whole business is outsourcing. Meanwhile, top corporate lawfirms - hired by the very companies lobbying for more H-1B visas under the guise of the Great Labor Shortage Lie - have been caught on tape running seminars on how to abuse the H-1B system as a tool to lower American workers' wages, which the data again shows is exactly what the program does. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.workingassetsblog.com/2007/10/h1bs_and_the_triumph_of_buypar.html

[ixion]

1. H1-B visas and outsourcing have trashed the tech industry...

:grr:

[acmavm]

2. They're trashing the workforce of 'skilled' workers.

People who are college educated are treated like they are totally unskilled neanderthals and that pisses me off. They are every bit as vital to this economy, maybe even moreso. I remember when the garbage men went on strike in NYC. Crippled the place. So it's just not the visas that are a problem. It's all the foreign workers from top to bottom that are displacing Americans.

[antigop]

3. sHillary supports an increase in the h1-b visa cap -- watch the videos

Then look at these...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhLBSLLIhUs
Hillary pushes for more h1-b visas and outsourcing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLNOSGM2jK4
Lou Dobbs: Hillary Clinton's hypocrisy (part 1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgdrh2Bc95M
Lou Dobbs: Hillary Clinton's hypocrisy (part 2)