Senate Says: No Smart People, Please

by rrusczyk, Feb 11, 2009, 5:29 PM

The NY Times reports that the Senate has voted to restrict financial institutions that receive taxpayer bailout money from hiring immigrants on H-1B visas.

Having battled with the stupidity of the H-1B restrictions a few times, I could go on and on and on about how utterly stupid this is. H-1B's are given to smart people (people in math/science fields) from other countries to get them to work here. We should be shoveling these liberally around the world, and stapling them to PhD's from our top universities.

Instead, Congress restricts them more and more. Stupid, stupid, stupid. (And this is bipartisan stupidity -- Clinton & Republican Congress significantly, but temporarily, raised the number of H-1B's that could be given out in the late 90s. This increase expired shortly after 9/11, and Bush & the Republican Congress did nothing to change it. Now, the Democratic Congress wants to place even more restrictions on the country importing talent. Again: stupid, stupid, stupid. Yet another reason I will gladly vote for anyone who argues that the government should have less power.)

economics

politics

Comment

8 Comments

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

Yes, it is stupid, stupid and stupid. Those lawmakers do not want smart people, instead, they have been creating more and more people like Bearack Obearma:
http://ccforacc.blogspot.com/2008/12/meet-bearack-obearma.html

This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by shtsxc12, Feb 11, 2009, 7:16 PM

by shtsxc12, Feb 11, 2009, 5:50 PM

Report

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

Lobbyists of protectionism for people/products usually argue with the same phrases that it improves the job prospects of local people. But the idea is projected that this is of interest for the general population. But this actually has a negative impact for most people seen in a premium of prices and/or unavailability of certain products or not being able to fill certain positions. But when the going gets tough at in these times apparently it gets very popular again. Also have a look at the economist article: The return of economic nationalism.

by orl, Feb 11, 2009, 5:54 PM

Report

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

Those restrictions do fit the intent of the H-1B program: bringing foreigners in to do jobs that they can't find enough qualified Americans to fill. The line on the other side is that companies abuse the problem by firing Americans and hiring foreigners cheaper, using the visa to tie them to that job.
What would I do? Just make it a lot easier to immigrate in general. If those people can just get here without being tied to a particular job, the need for the program and the potential for abuse both dry up.

by jmerry, Feb 11, 2009, 8:08 PM

Report

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

Indeed -- the obvious solution is to make immigration easier.

This move just makes American financial institutions less competitive internationally. Brilliant thing to do to a struggling industry...

by rrusczyk, Feb 11, 2009, 8:47 PM

Report

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

Why does that make American financial institutions less competitive internationally? It allows more talent to come into the country. Do you think that so far talent was primarily targeting the financial sector? And now with less tight ties to a particular employers talent will diffuse into non-finance sectors?

by orl, Feb 11, 2009, 9:05 PM

Report

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

I mean that the Senate's move makes U.S. financial institutions less competitive by barring talented foreigners from working for them in the U.S. (Granted, most of these companies have overseas offices as well, which exacerbates the Senate's stupidity -- these U.S. companies will simply move more offices out of the U.S., just as many tech companies have done to get around the H-1B limitations. Stupid, stupid, stupid. They kill jobs to save them...)

by rrusczyk, Feb 11, 2009, 9:27 PM

Report

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

rrusczyk,
You should do something, seriously ! You are well known, your voice counts more ...

by shtsxc12, Feb 11, 2009, 9:40 PM

Report

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

This protectionism has always been self defeating but now companies like mine can make the simple choice to move tens of thousands of jobs to India, China and Malaysia. What started as lower end tech jobs are quickly climbing in importance. Clayton Christensen's Innovator's Dillemma is a good explanation of this phenomenon.

by djcordeiro, Feb 12, 2009, 1:05 PM