13 US governors urge Congress to increase H1-B visa limit

[varun]

Source: rediff.com

The controversial H1-B visa issue got a fresh lease of life as 13 Governors from the US -- including Democrats and Republicans -- sent a letter to the Congress, exhorting it to revisit the issue since there was a "critical shortage of highly-skilled professionals in math and science to fill the current needs".

The earlier attempts of the Indian IT industry and the US Congress to push for an increase in the number of H1-B visa limit got entangled in the contentious immigration bill that finally got defeated...

...Apart from Schwarzenegger, the letter was signed by Chris Gregoire, Washington; Mitch Daniels, Indiana; Bill Ritter, Colorado; Deval Patrick, Massachusetts; Dave Freudenthal, Wyoming; Eliot Spitzer, New York; Janet Napolitano, Arizona; Jim Doyle, Wisconsin; Kathleen Sebelius, Kansas; Tim Pawlenty, Minnesota; Jim Gibbons, Nevada; and Rick Perry, Texas....





Read more: http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/sep/13us.htm

---

There's no easy way out. Stop cheap labor from coming to US, the jobs will move out to the cheap labor...

[Deja Q]

1. How do they define 'qualified'?

I've seen entry level helpdesk job ads require Bachelors degrees and pay only $12/hr. $12/hr or even $5/hr may be a luxury in India, but it isn't here in the US. $5 definitely isn't, if you don't have any children then $12/hr is almost enough to get by on.

[alarimer]

30. I think it means "willing to work for minimum wage"

This is not about a shortage of workers in those fields but a shortage of workers willing to work for practically nothing.

[Deja Q]

35. Sad.

The Indians who rush to these jobs certainly don't feel exploited in the least... and note how their economy is booming.

If America's cost of living was identical to India's, we wouldn't have a problem in this area and working for less WOULD be a non-issue...

[InkAddict]

48. Gives a whole new meaning to

business's "sacred cow." Also, the old inferences of the phrase, "why buy the cow when one can get the milk for free? comes to mind.

Perhaps a new bestseller is in order: The American Caste System and the New Untouchables? I've felt it's a whole lot more like a Mayan (self) sacrifice, tearing out my own heart in the process. Just how altruistic do I need be? This unfair competitive charity(?) has got to cease!

And sorry, if this offends anyone - it's just that once, twice, up to, oh, thirteen times burned (bad nurturing?) but still barely standing (good genes?).

[JI7]

54. there is a HUGE wealth gap in India

many are not sharing in the booming economy. i'm not sure how long this can keep up. you already see attacks on businesses like Reliance from people who have lost jobs or business because of corporations like Reliance.

in Mumbai they want to move a large number of people in the slums so they can build large buildings.

[rurallib]

2. Didn't I read earlier in the year that most of the H1B visas

were used by companies to train people who would go back to their countries and train others so jobs could be moved out of the US?

[varun]

5. most H-1B's try to get a green card in US

if they can. Many of them return because the green card process takes anywhere from 2-10 years and lot of money.

Most H-1Bs who come here do not plan on returning home.

[redqueen]

16. That's not true in my experience.

"Most H-1Bs who come here do not plan on returning home."

Where do you get that? Nearly ALL the ones I've met, and I've met nothing but at work for six years now, plan on going back.

[varun]

20. I am one of those H-1Bs that stayed back

and got a green card. I had to wait about 12 years though...and spend massive amounts on an immigration attorney.

Most of the H-1Bs I know plan to stay here if they get a green card.

But it is a big "If". There are about 145000 green cards given out (employment based) per year. There are many more applicants. The wait is long and many people give up.

[napi21]

3. WHY? They've got a BIG job to do to convince ME that the businesses in their States

(or any other State) just can't find qualoified tech people to fill their needs!!!!!!

I don't work in the Hi
Tech industry, but I know a LOT of people who do. There are MANY, MANY experienced and qualified people who are currently unemployed or under-employed for that to be true!

[angstlessk]

4. FUCK YEAH!...H1-B VISA FOR TEACHERS...SINCE INDIA IS SO FUCKING SMART!

Ask not what OUR country can do for India, ask what OUR country can do for OUR KIDS!!!!

[Deja Q]

10. Isn't nation building lovely?

[varun]

11. Online tutoring

India is the loser here because their few bright teachers, whose training was subsidized by Indian taxpayers will be lost to US.

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2006/03/28/online_tutoring_pays_off_at_home_abroad/

In the basement of his parents' home in Wellesley, Aashish Sharma is brushing up on high school chemistry, with help from George Mathew, a tutor with a master's degree in the subject.

Mathew works for a US firm, but does his tutoring while seated at a computer in the southern Indian city of Cochin. Thanks to a high-speed Internet link, and software that lets him sketch chemical formulas onto a computer screen, Mathew can give 16-year-old Aashish one-on-one tutoring from 8,000 miles and half a day away.

''I was skeptical at first," said Aashish's mother, Sandhya, a developmental educator. ''But I decided to give it a shot, and it works beautifully."

India has hundreds of thousands of science and math scholars, willing to work cheaply. Giant firms like Microsoft Corp., IBM Corp., and Intel Corp. farm out demanding technical tasks to Indian engineers and set up their own offices in cities like India's high-tech haven of Bangalore....

[Double T]

6. NOT to worry, Hillary will get the H1B visa job done for corporate ANTI-america.

corporate ANTI-america will not stop until they have an ALL CHEAP work force. Our political 'leaders' are in their pockets. DAMN, I'm sorry I voted for spitzer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhLBSLLIhUs

[antigop]

8. her true colors n/t

[OhioChick]

44. She's a Wolf in Sheep's Clothing....... n/t

[terisan]

7. And what do these governors do about math/science education in their states?

I know some of these states do plenty but wasn't Kansas until recently refusing to teach evolution?

[musette_sf]

9. no surprise that hump Arnold is listed first

between him and DiFi, all that will be left for all the Californian tech workers will be fruit-picking jobs. :mad:

[no_hypocrisy]

12. If only the same 13 governors simultaneously asked their legislatures

for more funds for their public schools or a revocation of NCLB to boost math and science curriculums from K to 12. Solve the problem internally so the H1-B situation will be temporary.

[varun]

13. Teaching science and math is not "sexy"

Just ask the students how many want to be a scientist? Or a teacher?

Just FYI, I am an engineering professor in a US University. 90% of our faculty is foreign born.

and 95% of our students are Indian or Chinese.

[Deja Q]

18. I'd love to be a scientist. Biologist...

Then I saw all the offshoring going on.

Convince me to spend tens of thousands of dollars for a job that probably will just go overseas anyway, leaving me to pay back sh!tloads of debt in a field now unobtainable.

[varun]

19. Most science / math / engineering PhD programs

will support you with tuition waivers and a monthly stipend.

You will not have to spend a single dollar to get a PhD in Physics, Biology, Astronomy or Electrical Engineering.

You need to have the right background to get admitted into the PhD program though.

[Deja Q]

38. Sweet. Thx for the info.

I'm going to save up a few months' cost of living and then pursue this, because it might be worthwhile to do it full time rather than on top of my current job.

Plus I'll check about having 'the right background' beforehand. Maybe I won't qualify...

[TexasLawyer]

23. very sad statistitcs

Thanks. Hopefully most of the people we train will stay here in the U.S.

[InkAddict]

53. Don't get me started...

We had to "train" our Phillipino nurse to pick up her own garbage in the office kitchen -- it seems she had servants to do that back home. Just too good to wash a glass, throw out trash...

I was also selected, as the office typist, to prepare the letters she needed to send to her attorney so she could stay in the US. No qualified American nurses to hire???? Obviously not at what my boss was willing to pay, so think what I was making. After I learned that her family was in the business of importing nurses to the US, and when hubby lost yet another IT job due to this H1B nonsense, I put my foot down and refused to do it. She just didn't get it...why wouldn't I just type it for her!

Did you know that some companies, in the hiring process, screen your ability to work with these people by "setting one up" as a hiring manager to test your technical skills. When you land the job, you learn they're just a lateral co-worker.

[ProudDad]

28. Don't blame USAmerican kids

blame the assholes (starting with ray-gun) who decided that grants in aid were "permissive, bleeding heart crap" and that LOANS were the way to go along with building more prisons instead of Universities.

I wish they could look at the real problem rather than depressing wages with their "solution" to a symptom...

[amandabeech]

39. Kids in my hometown won't go to the big, excellent state university

to study math, science or engineering. They are afraid that they won't be able to understand their TAs, who do the sections and labs in the first and second years. Also, it doesn't sound like there are many role models left for non-Asian students. I think that those are important.

What in your opinion could be done to attract more native-born to the sciences?

[smitra]

41. Attract more native-born to the sciences (esp. Comp. Sci and related fields)

I am normally just a lurker here, but I feel qualified to respond to this question. I am a teacher in the Computer Science Department of a US state university. It is our policy to ensure that all our courses and labs are taught by full-time professors and not TAs. Despite this, we have lost students in recent years.

Most of the students in our undergraduate programs are native-born US students. During the years of the dot-com boom, we had great enrollments (again, most of them native-born, with large numbers of non-Asians) in our courses. Now, we are more than 50% below our 2001 peak. This leads me believe that one of the most important reasons for students to take up a particular course of study (particularly a professional one like CS/IT) is that there should be a reasonable expectation of a well-paying job at the end, with reasonable job security.

In recent years, we have also noted that among those who leave the CS/IT programs at the end of their first semester usually indicate that they are doing so because they could not handle Calculus, which they are required to take. This leads me conclude that better preparation in Math at the K-12 level is necessary - perhaps right from elementary school. Maybe a nationwide move to push learning science and math as a 'patriotic duty'. I am glad to report that in this area, a consortium of colleges is taking on something like this task.

Scholarships would help, esp. at the point of entry (freshman year). We have a scholarship program for students already in the program - it is a small amount ($ 500 per semester) given to the high performers who are US citizens or permanent residents . It is given in their junior and senior years. I don't believe it attracts too many students, and even those who would qualify for it sometimes don't even bother to apply. I think this is because by the time they are in their junior year, they have already figured out their financial plans, etc. and $ 500 per semester does not make that much of a difference. But if they were given the scholarship before they came to college, and it was for a larger amount, then that might be something.

I must say that this year the majority of our graduates found good positions soon after graduation. One of the major IT employers in our area in fact came to campus this past April and invited us - the faculty - to lunch at their facility, giving us a tour of it and asking us to tell our students what a great place it was to work, etc. The last time something this had happened was December 1999. Many of our better students went to work for them. Hopefully, this was not an isolated incident. Maybe - just maybe - all this outsourcing isn't really working out.

Let me also say that we do have native-born students who are extremely smart, and dedicated to their chosen field of work. They could hold their own against anyone from any other country. I have several such students in one of my classes this semester and they are a pleasure to teach. We just need more of such people.

[amandabeech]

42. Thank you for your very thoughful reply.

My large state university asks me for money regularly.

I intend to write them a letter this year with my check, and will include your comments.

Not that they'll listen.

I am thrilled to hear that your program is doing a good job.

Now if I could only get the high school in the small town where I grew up to offer calculus. Despite its failings, I know that just about everyone who was in trig/advanced math and took it in college--only the guy who went into accounting didn't--all did decently, but that was many years ago.

By the way,

[smitra]

52. Another comment...

Firstly, your response seems to have been truncated, perhaps by accident. I would like to hear what you had to say following this last phrase in your response: "By the way...."

Many of the native-born kids who major in CS/IT - especially the good ones - do so because they are truly interested in the discipline. Many of the foreign-born ones, on the other hand, get into it because they are compelled by 'other pressures' to do so. Some of them would rather have studied History, or Art, but their parents and others make them major in a technical discipline because that gives them a reasonable chance for a good paying job in their country, and/or a better chance to go overseas (preferably the US).

If you write a check for your local university, I do believe that you have the right to tell them that they should use it to fund scholarships for science and math studies. And yes, telling the schools to encourage their students to do Advance Placement courses in science and math is important. We owe it to our students - many of whom, as I said, are really good - to do whatever we can to ensure they get good jobs. With regard to these governors supporting this H-1B increase, please visit this site:

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/govh1b/

If you live in one of these 13 states (as I do) please consider writing to them.

[InkAddict]

49. I don't know how you got here, but biology is very "sexy"

it's just that there must be (at least)50 Ways to Leave Your Lover. This technology loving family has learned about 50% of them since the Neo-Cons and the BFEE's been plotting.

[ramapo]

14. What do they do about JOBS in math and science???

There is much lip service to the need to study math and science in our schools. What is really meant is get the scores up, teach to the test and never mind getting kids interested in a career in math or science.

The H1B program is all about flooding the market and keeping wages down while getting enough Indians trained to offshore even more jobs. In case anybody noticed, most H1Bs have excellent educations followed up with some real work experience. Somehow I don't think they get much of the "we're not hiring you because you have no experience".

I've seen more out of work scientists during my career in data processing than probably any other area except for well, data processing.

[rmgarrette64]

22. Teach to the test, fine - just teach

In math and science, I'd be thrilled if I could find folks who could pass the tests. There are facts you need to know, and you have to be able to apply specific methods to solve specific problems. Go right ahead and teach to the test. If you're successful, I'll be happier with those folks than I am on average.

I get a lot of applicants for programming positions who cannot do simple math. I quiz them on vector math, and see them drawing diagrams, without ever writing out the equations. At that point, I'll finish the interview - to be polite - but it's already over.

At least in my experience, we do not have a problem with teachers "teaching to the test." We've got a problem of teachers not teaching math (or, to be fair, students not learning math...)

A. Garrett

[BearSquirrel2]

31. Does the position require vector math?

If your positions require vector math that's certainly a good tactic. But I can tell you that I can go to lots of 4th year math majors ask them to do vector math and they won't be able to do it without refreshing themselves first. Memory and intelligence are not the same thing. When you don't do something for a long time, you forget the method. Why would you find it odd that a person who has immersed themselves in discrete methods for a VERY long time might forget formulas that they have not needed since they took the class?

Back to the H1-Bs. I think we're placing ourselves in a VERY difficult position here. Demand creates high wages and supposedly this is what is supposed to motivate kids to learn math and science. If you take away the higher then ordinary salaries, where is the motivation to educate one's self?

H1-Bs are systematically dumbing down this country. The lower we can keep them, the better off we'll be. Don't kid yourself. When aero grads were getting dig letters in the early 90s everybody new. And certainly the freshman aero students quickly figured some things out about where they wanted to be and what they wanted to invest there life efforts in. If the science and engineering grads are getting dinged, why bother going through all that hard work?

The irony here is that the very people who advocate the "free market" are the very same ones who are trying to circumvent it by changing the laws to import cheap labor from overseas. They simultaneously depress wages domestically while redirecting foreign service to multi-national corporations rather then their home countries.

The net effect of NAFTA/WTO is not to bring the world standard of living to the US. The effect is to demolish the American middle class and turn America into a sprawling slum with small pockets of wealth like India and China.

[w4rma]

15. Hell no. (nt)

[redqueen]

17. No easy way out?

How about passing a law that American companies can't offshore work unless the country meets high labor standards?

Fuck letting them offshore their work, outsource what they can't offshore, and then hide their profits in the caymans.

ENOUGH!

[goodhue]

21. I know its not popular on DU, but I support an increase in H1-B visas

The more the merrier, I say

[ProudDad]

27. I guess from your post that your tech job wasn't outsourced to India

like mine was...

I was near Silicon Valley in California with over 30 year's experience (part of the problem - age discrimination is RAMPANT in hi-tech)...

This is bullshit...What they really mean is they can't find folks who'll take their shit, be at their mercy (have to go 'home' if they don't like the job) and work 75-80 hour weeks on salary for less than a decent living wage...

We don't need a bunch of H1-B visas, we need free education for all who can hack it right up to the PHD level...

Fucking lying assholes...especially the groppensteroidenfuhrer...

[cascadiance]

43. Indian students get FREE college education for bachelor degrees...

They only have to be concerned about whether they should pay to get into a graduate program to better qualify themselves for H-1B entry into our country. I've talked to Indians who work here now who note this.

If we'd take out the "consulting firm" loophole that allows companies to pay far less than what normal workers would get paid here, which VIOLATES the terms of what this program was supposed to be about (just getting people with certain qualifications for the SAME pay as comparably qualified American workers), then they wouldn't NEED these increases in the H-1B quota.

This is all BS to help them flood the market with cheap labor. It REALLY DOESN'T MATTER how many of our kids are well trained or not. Only whether they will be willing to work for dirt wages like they can get people to work for from outside over here (who usually plan on just building up savings and sending that back home to their families that live on FAR LESS than we do here).

[Deja Q]

37. I wish you'd explain why, so we could understand.

Those against, at one point or another, have said why we believe offshoring has hurt us. Now maybe there is something better in store for us because of offshoring, but without more to go on, we're left with inference and conjecture. Which isn't healthy, nor does it help anyone.

[ProudDad]

51. Hmmmm

<Crickets>

[AnneD]

24. One of them was Gov Good hair....

AKA Rick Perry, voted gov.by the lowest 'majority' ever. Unfortunately we had 4 folks running. I would not have given him a snow balls chance but Kinky Friedman and Scott McClellan's mom, Carol Strayhorn sucked off votes from Bell.

It is an effort to outsource on our own soil. They use it to hire cheap workers-in Nursing for instance. Instead of correcting the problems that drive Nurses from the bedside they go for the cheap labour, load the Nurse with more patients and pay her less. As long as the hold her visa, she's not inclined to make waves.

We are trying to unionize Nurses in Texas and they would love to strangle the union before it gets started.

[fujiyama]

25. I think it's great to allow skilled and educated immigrants into the country

but I agree that this program seems to have so many loopholes that it's obvious that companies are using it to bring in people that will work for less.

There are many unemployed qualified engineers and scientists. It's unfortunate that the government is doing little in the way of placement and training and or education (after all didn't the government keep saying that retraining is vital? Why not assist in it?).

Our schools are NOT doing a very good job teaching math or science. I was speaking to a coworker with a daughter in middle school, who lives in an upper middle class suburb in MI. He mentioned how weak the school is in basic mathematics. He said at 6th grade at this school they have no real math course, but give her just a few handouts during the week. Keep in mind this is a crucial time to learn algebra and geometry, keys for trigonometry and later calculus. My friend is an engineer and understands this, so that's why he's looking to leave the district.

From the looks of it NCLB has done nothing to increase teaching standards. Until the nation becomes serious about education - and it obviously isn't by electing someone like Bush, the unemployed and qualified engineers out there will be screwed, because companies will use the "there aren't enough qualified people" excuse.

There's a lot of backwards thinking as well - why are schools here still debating the teaching of fundamental biological subjects like evolution?

I also think it's a poor excuse to say that people in the US aren't going into these subjects because of outsourcing. Sure that has a psychological effect on some, but the fact is that science and engineering careers are still more likely to land employment and higher incomes than many others.

[varun]

26. All H-1B applicants pay a fee

and included in the fee is about $1000 per applicant that goes towards training US workers (to get employment).

So if 65000 H1 visas are given out each year, we have $65 million generated for training US workers.

Not a small amount.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Here are my observations as an Engineering teacher (graduate level) in a University:

1. Engineering is one of the "hard" subjects and the students have to put in long hours.
2. The US government gives numerous scholarships to minorities (US citizens only) to take up Engineering as their major. They get a handsome stipend besides full tuition waiver.
3. Most engineering graduates get jobs starting at 50K (Master's level) within a few months of graduation.
4. Foreign students who come here usually are the "cream of the crop", so they have a headstart over their US counterparts.
5. Foreign students also work in teams (with other students from their country) and support each other in their education and career search.
6. Foreign students usually do not get financial assistance here, so they have to work while studying.
7. Many of these foreign students end up remaining in US. However, more of them are now returning to their countries, because:
(a) getting a green card is very difficult
(b) The economy in their country is doing well, and they get good jobs back home
8. Most foreign students have to finish their degree, otherwise they have to leave the country. So they are determined to complete their degrees. Many US students have other options, and they end up doing something else that is more lucrative and less demanding.

Surprisingly, Engineering attracts many students from the lower economic background (US citizens) and they do quite well. Well to do students go for medicine and law. I think its a good degree to have if one is looking for steady employment (even with outsourcing, unemployment in engineering is low).

[w4rma]

29. Training? We already have trained US workers. And $1k/applicant is chump change anyway. (nt)

[amandabeech]

40. Do you think that it would help if we had more scholarships for

U.S. citizens and permanent residents regardless of minority status?

[BearSquirrel2]

32. Part of the education problem ...

Part of the Math education problem is the people we are licensing to teach mathematics and science to elementary school children. There are special courses specifically for teaching math to grade schoolers. And if you talk to the people who teach these courses you will find out that the vast majority of those seeking elementary licensure are mathematically incompetent and math phobic.

Thats not to say they're not otherwise smart and capable people. They just don't get math. And when they are licensed they pass their fears and phobias onto their their students implicitly and through a shortchanging of mathematics. We have to get serious in pushing specialized licensure down into grades 4-6. There are special art teachers, music teachers and gym teachers in elementary. Why not specialized Math and science teachers. Leave reading and social studies to a home room teachers and send the kids to the people with the knowledge so we don't have to play such serious catchup in grades 6-8.

[ProudDad]

50. They are NOT immigrants

they are REPLACEMENT WORKERS!

They have to work for less money, have no rights and displace native USAmericans...

Then nearly ALL of them go home...

When they get back "home", they create companies that employ their other countryfolk to receive the jobs OUTSOURCED to THEM...FROM HERE...

Wonderful system...for the corporate capitalist masters...

[antigop]

33. Law Firm Teaches how to avoid hiring Americans

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Fx--jNQYNgA

[Solar_Power]

34. Well, why not drive down wages for US citizens?

when will this nonsense stop?

[Deja Q]

36. Or the cost of living.

I will re-iterate, Indians are not feeling exploited by any of this; otherwise they surely wouldn't be signing up in droves. Now look at their booming economy and, no, they are not being exploited -- and the wages they are getting are seen as being quite lucrative. $10/hr to them goes much farther than $10/hr in the US does.

I dunno when this trend will stop, but plenty of average people see what's going on and know the same thing.

And with Intel saying it laid off 10k workers in America just to go move to China, the reason being they wanted to be "closer to their customers"...

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/r/relocation_of_business/index.html?query=COMPUTER%20CHIPS&field=des&match=exact
(quite a list, but Intel's article is at the top. Also note how some companies are moving their offices to the US, and are things as bad as we think them to be at times...)

http://blog.dacare-group.com/index.php
(scroll down to 09/10/07 for the actual quote on this no-registration-required site)

[OhioChick]

45. What a Bunch of Bullshit....

There is no damn "critical shortage of highly-skilled professionals."

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

April 4, 2007

A commonly heard defense in the arguments that surround U.S. companies that offshore high-tech and engineering jobs is that the U.S. math and science education system is not producing a sufficient number of engineers to fill a corporation's needs.

However, a new study from Duke University calls this argument bunk, stating that there is no shortage of engineers in the United States, and that offshoring is all about cost savings.

This report, entitled "Issues in Science and Technology" and published in the latest National Academy of Sciences magazine further explores the topic of engineering graduation rates of India, China and the United States, the subject of a 2005 Duke study.

In the report, concerns are raised that China is racing ahead of both the United States and India in its ability to perform basic research. It also asserts that the United States is risking losing its global edge by outsourcing critical R&D and India is falling behind by playing politics with education. Meanwhile, it considers China well-positioned for the future.

Duke's 2005 study corrected a long-heard myth about India and China graduating 12 times as many engineers as the United States, finding instead that the United States graduates a comparable number.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2111347,00.asp

On Edit to Add: http://www.eng-i.com/E-Newsletters.htm

[ChromeFoundry]

46. more bullshit....

...Hundreds of thousands of IT and engineering professionals lose their jobs do to economical relocation over the past 6 years, once again, big business cries a shortage of people able to perform these remaining jobs. The fact is, they are not willing to pay the wage for these qualified people. The profits to be made by undercutting current labor rates benefits the company in short-term gains. Ethics in this capitalistic world are in steady decline. Tell me these governors are not being wined, dined and gifted by the lobbyists of these corporations.

Stay tuned to see what happens to our truckers over the next few months.

[OhioChick]

47. Hell Yeah, They are Indeed Being Wined and Dined....

Indian companies are learning the Washington lobbying game

The US-India Political Action Committee has defended outsourcing vendors, most of whose employees are in India. In a sign of their changing approach, the Indian vendors are also imitating a tactic used against them in the last election: putting a human, and preferably American, face on the issue.

In the heat of the 2004 US presidential race, John Kerry likened outsourcing to treason, Lou Dobbs harangued against it from his CNN anchor chair and the Indian outsourcing vendors were left scrambling.

Engineers to the core, their leaders fired back with data-packed PowerPoint presentations. Outsourcing is good for the economy, they said; it increases efficiency; it creates more jobs than it costs. But in the eyes of Americans, those arguments proved no match for vivid tales of laid-off software engineers.

“Telling someone who loses their job in North Carolina or Jacksonville that this is good for the economy doesn’t work,” said Phiroz Vandrevala, Executive VP, Tata Consultancy Services.

Now as the 2008 US election starts to sizzle, the Indian outsourcing firms have returned to win Washington over as veritable insiders, slicker and better connected than ever. They have hired a former high official in the administration of President George W Bush as a lobbyist. They are humanising the issue by bringing Americans they have hired into meetings with politicians.

http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Aug272007/eb2007082621598.asp

[InkAddict]

55. Get news you can use here re: H1B

Free newsletter in your e-mail too:

http://www.jobdestruction.com/shameh1b/

[OhioChick]

56. Interesting Site.....

Thanks for posting. :thumbsup: