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Obama's Immigration Order To Give Tech Industry Some, Leave 'Em Wanting More
theodp writes: "The high-tech industry," reports the Washington Post's Nancy Scola, "will have at least two things to be happy about in President Obama's speech outlining executive actions he'll take on immigration. The president plans to grant the tech industry some, but not nearly all, of what it has been after in the immigration debate. The first is aimed at increasing the opportunity for foreign students and recent graduates from U.S. schools to work in high-tech jobs in the United States. And the second is aimed at making it easier for foreign-born entrepreneurs to set up shop in the United States. According to the White House, Obama will direct the Department of Homeland Security to help students in the so-called STEM fields — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — by proposing, per a White House fact sheet released Thursday night, to "expand and extend" the controversial Optional Practical Training program that now allows foreign-born STEM students and recent graduates remain in the United States for up to 29 months. The exact details of that expansion will be worked out by the Department of Homeland Security as it goes through a rulemaking process."
Why would Obama care about lobbyist money? As of two weeks ago, he's been freed of all political consequences to any of his actions. He can finally do what he thinks is right.
Seriously - the two biggest (ab)users of the H1B system are Tata and Infosys... and they're both Indian corporations.
{rant}I guess in fairness to Obama, he managed to screw both blue and white-collar workers in one fell swoop...{/rant}
Anyone know the lobbyist money trail for this bit of it, or can I safely guess Microsoft, Apple, Google, Intel, etc... ?
Hard time following this. The potential 4.7 million people contribute billions to the economy and without them we'd tank again. I heard the same screwing the american worker and milking entitlements myths repeatedly. It puts me in mind of what one commentator once referred to as "Factoids", arguments which have no truth at all, but people repeat over and over in hopes they will become true. Well, some of that is working, because some people are believing these tales as truths and would happily cut their own throats (mustard and onion extra) to act on these fantasies.
Tech, agriculture, service industries, foot services, etc. all benefit from the well behaved illegals. And we, the people who buy goods or services from these people benefit, as well. It's a mystery to me that so much untruth is accepted these days. I figure it began with Rush Limbaugh and is now carried out by hundreds of others since, who wind up people for profit. Nothing seems to sell like telling people what they need to fear and whom they need to loath.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
he managed to screw both blue and white-collar workers in one fell swoop
Only if you believe the Lump of Labor Fallacy. Real economies are not zero sum, and there is not a fixed number of jobs to be had. History has shown that countries with permissive immigration policies tend to have lower unemployment than more restrictive neighboring countries.
What Obama did is not only more humane for the families directly affected, it is also good for the American economy, and good for American workers.
Why do people run for any political office?
Is it because they wish to tirelessly dedicate themselves for the good of the people, promoting justice and freedom, working for prosperity and progress?
Or is it because they like to have power, want to gain some personal advantages that come with it, or just plain want to tell others what to do?
There's a tiny minority of the former, but they are outnumbered and out-psychopathed by the latter. The higher the position, the more of the latter kind of politician occupy it.
While I do believe the program was conceived with good intentions in 1990, it has grown into a labor market distorting farce.
Never mind the degree-factories that grant dubious advanced 'qualifications' to foreign born applicants. Never mind the quality of labor produced by the 'best-and-brightest' the H-1B system provides. This is about A) providing a slave-labor force to the Indian Off-shoring corporations and other participating domestic corporations, and B) lowering the market rates for competitive labor due to the effects of A.
As Robert X. Cringely pointed out years ago, there already is a visa that has an unlimited cap for the true 'best-and-brightest': Visa class 'O' for 'Outstanding'.
Anything else is simply criminal.
Why would Obama care about lobbyist money? As of two weeks ago, he's been freed of all political consequences to any of his actions. He can finally do what he thinks is right.
Apparently, he's can finally do what he thinks is wrong, too.
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
It's because you literally sound like you're on the cusp of quitting bathing and spending the rest of your life pushing a shopping cart around downtown with a cardboard sign hung around your neck that equates Obama with the antichrist.
There's absolutely no value in your linguistic torsion exercise that 'proves' the 'fact' that Obama doesn't like America. Why in the world does this have to be so black and white for you? Is it not possible to like America while being dissatisfied by some aspects of it? Isn't that the entire purpose of democratic government, that the people can influence the way the country changes over time?
And, given his dislike for America, he'll have two years to turn her into a 3rd-world country.
I've been calling us a banana republic for a few years now.
Spying on and harassing the press. Check.
Enemies lists. Check.
Spying on the mass of citizens. Check.
Payola to political cronies. Check.
Threatening opposition groups with legal action. Check.
Massive debt. Check.
Paying bills by firing up the printing presses. Check.
Indifference to the rule of law. Check.