Nicholas Vettese on Mon, 7 Jul 2003 11:34:04 -0400


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Re: [PLUG] Tech jobs and politics


You are forgetting Afghanistan. We are still re-building and helping to run that country as well. It is amazing how much we forget when the news doesn't cover it anymore.

I believe our number one problem is complacency. If an American gets laid off for an H1-B employee, what do we do? NOTHING. We always look for another job and harbor resentment for the past employer who sacrificed us for profit. Although, this hasn't happened to me, I know of people this has happened to, and there is never a reaction. Once people get back on their feet, they just move on, and nothing is ever said about what happened again.

Other countries would never let walk into their jobs, take the food off their plates and roofs from their heads. So why should we? But, that is the sad case of Americans, we don't care about anything anymore.

Nick

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South Jersey Linux User's Group
http://sjlinux.org/

What I do blame on the government is STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID FISCAL POLICY. I find it fascinating that in only half a term, this idiot President of ours can take the largest budget surplus ever and turn it into the largest deficit we've seen in many years. Then, in order to fix it, he engages in a pre-emptive war with no plan whatsoever of what to do once it's over. We then assume 100% of the financial responsibility of rebuilding said nation. We are now 1 country with the financial responsibility of running 2. You do not need to be a math major, political science major, or even a total fucking idiot to realize how damaging this can be to an economy.

The recession I do not blame on the government in general and our president in particular. This recession began at the end of the Clinton administration. The size of the recession is the current administration's fault. They have left American companies with no other alternative than laying off workers in massive numbers. I have seen this with businesses small to large all over my local area. The company I work for is coming to this crossroads very soon.

Here endeth my rant.  Great topic for discussion.
- Craig

Eugene Smiley <eugene@esmiley.net> wrote:
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I know that there are a few people on this list like myself who are looking for work. I wanted to throw the following article up for discussion. I know I may risk offending someone on this list that has an H1-B or similiar, but I'd like to know what people's thoughts are on this subject.


Unemployment Reaches 10-Year High
Push for Guest Worker Program Continues in Spite of Dismal Employment Picture


(Washington, D.C. July 3, 2003) Despite the bleak employment picture, congressional leaders and the White House are moving forward with plans to expand the number of foreign guest workers admitted to fill U.S. jobs. Under pressure from some domestic industries and the Mexican government, serious negotiations continue in an effort to add to the legions of foreign guest workers already working in sectors of the economy ranging from high tech, to manufacturing, to construction, to agriculture. The June unemployment data indicate a gloomy Fourth of July for millions of American workers as joblessness reached 6.4 percent of the workforce, the highest levels since March 1994.

For the fifth straight month, American businesses have trimmed payrolls, bringing the total number of jobs lost to 913,000 since March of this year. ?The most amazing thing is that there is not even a hint of embarrassment on the part of American business or our government that hundreds of thousands of Americans are receiving pink slips, while they work feverishly to bring more foreign workers to this country,? said Dan Stein, executive director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). ?Many sectors of our economy seemingly believe that access to cheap foreign labor is their right. Meanwhile, the politicians who talk about jobs, jobs, jobs seem to be more than willing to trade jobs for campaign dollars.?

In addition to the disingenuousness of pursuing an expanded guest worker program at the same time that unemployment is growing rapidly, FAIR noted that the rush to move more foreign labor into this country potentially threatens national security. ?By their own admission, the new Department of Homeland Security is still feeling its way around as they try to play catch-up on decades of inattention to the connection between immigration and national security,? said Stein. ?On top of dealing with the formidable task already before them, a new guest worker program would require significant time, manpower, and money to vet a new influx of workers from dozens of countries.

?On this Independence Day holiday, it is clear that the priorities of our government are not the ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness expressed by our Founding Fathers, but rather the pursuit of cheap labor and votes,? Stein said.


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