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Ted Cruz Wants Minimum H-1B Wage of $110,000 (computerworld.com)

dcblogs writes: U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, has morphed from a vocal supporter of the H-1B program to a leading critic of it. He has done so in a new H-1B reform bill (PDF) that sets a minimum wage of $110,000 for H-1B workers. By raising the cost of temporary visa workers, Cruz is hoping to discourage their use. Cruz also wants to eliminate Optional Practical Training Program (OPT). The co-sponsor of this bill, The American Jobs First Act of 2015, is U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), who called the OPT program "a backdoor method for replacing American workers."

543 comments

  1. C'mon, read the newspape by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    That's still poverty in Silicon Valley

    1. Re:C'mon, read the newspape by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Still over 3x what I get doing the same work, so for once I would have to agree with Cruz. I presume, however, that means I am hopelessly deluded and bound for failure.

    2. Re:C'mon, read the newspape by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      They're just taking jobs that Americans don't want to do.

      Like programming in PHP. Let's face it, nobody really wants to code PHP.

    3. Re:C'mon, read the newspape by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Silicon Valley is not the only place in the US where there are IT jobs.... snob...

    4. Re:C'mon, read the newspape by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's fine since Silicon Valley is a shithole, unless you like strip-malls and traffic.

      No amount of pay would be bring me back.

    5. Re:C'mon, read the newspape by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't forget the zealoutous, intentionally-ugly, gold-digging feminists! That's what makes living in Northern California a real joy!

    6. Re:C'mon, read the newspape by russotto · · Score: 1

      Don't forget the zealoutous, intentionally-ugly, gold-digging feminists! That's what makes living in Northern California a real joy!

      Ah, this is why I love New York. The gold-diggers are cold-eyed Russian women who won't give you a second look if the first look doesn't say "8 figures net worth", but at least they're actually hot.

    7. Re:C'mon, read the newspape by tompaulco · · Score: 1

      That's still poverty in Silicon Valley

      I live where $110k is a lot of money, and I still agree that a fixed amount is wrong. it should be tied to the prevailing wage, just as it is today. However, it should be highly buffered. I'm talking they should have to offer 50 to 100% over prevailing wage.

      --
      If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
    8. Re:C'mon, read the newspape by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You have an interesting definition of poverty. Likelly a result of having absolutely no experience whatsoever with financial hardship.

    9. Re:C'mon, read the newspape by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's still poverty in Silicon Valley

      Sorry, outsourcing or moving to Texas is preferable to India, for the US.

    10. Re:C'mon, read the newspape by zidium · · Score: 1

      As the owner of http://www.phpexperts.pro/ I totally disagree ;-) I love PHP with a passion.

      --
      Slashdot Valentines Beta Massacre: iT WORKED! The boycotts killed Beta!!
    11. Re:C'mon, read the newspape by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No Real American codes in PHP.

    12. Re:C'mon, read the newspape by eam · · Score: 1

      It should be tied to housing costs instead of prevailing wage:

      H-1B wage should be 5 times the annual mortgage payment for a 30-year-fixed mortgage on a median 4-person home in the county where the job is located.

    13. Re:C'mon, read the newspape by tompaulco · · Score: 1

      It should be tied to housing costs instead of prevailing wage:

      H-1B wage should be 5 times the annual mortgage payment for a 30-year-fixed mortgage on a median 4-person home in the county where the job is located.

      I don't like that. In the midwest, where houses are more reasonably priced, H1bs would be able to come in for $35k and bump out the locals who ar making much more.
      You shouldn't like that either. When a housing market crash occurs, you will also lose your job because it will become cheaper to hire H1bs.

      --
      If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
  2. I still say by ThatsNotPudding · · Score: 2, Funny

    I still say Ted Cruz is actually Al Lewis from The Munsters.

    1. Re:I still say by fustakrakich · · Score: 1
      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    2. Re:I still say by bobbied · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I still say Ted Cruz is actually Al Lewis from The Munsters.

      Yea, I noticed that too... But still, Mr. Lewis certainly wouldn't have the same politics and I think he'd be more interesting to listen too. However, who he looks like has nothing to do with his politics....

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
    3. Re:I still say by Maltheus · · Score: 1

      Al Lewis ran for governor of NY as a Democrat. But Paul Ryan is most definitely the grownup Eddie Munster. Or perhaps the love child of Eddie and Jake Gyllenhaal.

    4. Re:I still say by ClickOnThis · · Score: 1

      Al Lewis ran for governor of NY as a Democrat.

      Actually, he was a candidate with the Green Party.

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    5. Re:I still say by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually he ran as the Green Party candidate.

    6. Re:I still say by Bartles · · Score: 2

      Like he said, a Democrat.

    7. Re:I still say by jmcvetta · · Score: 0

      Former active Green here. Co-founder of my campus Green Party back during the Ralph Nader presidential campaign.

      I can say this: most early members of the GP were NOT Dumbocrat or Republicrook sympathizers. Much like the later Occupy movement, we explicitly rejected the disinformative left/right model of politics. Greens agreed on protecting the environment - along the lines of "hey man, let's not dump toxic waste into the river!" There was little consensus on social and economic issues.

      Sometime thereafter the Green Party organization in many areas was overtaken by militant authoritarian Progressives, almost all of them open Democrat partisans. At that point most of the early members walked away.

      Btw, true story: while working a Nader campaign booth at the state fair, I had a farmer read our literature. After looking at it quite a while, he said: "This guy sounds like my kind of conservative. I'm going to vote for him." Really made me think about how uselessly-vague labels like "liberal" or "conservative" do little but stultify discussion of real political issues.

    8. Re:I still say by Bartles · · Score: 2

      I'm sorry, but any party that has Social Justice as part of it's platform is militantly authoritarian. That's a fault of the left in general, and the reason their economic and political systems were responsible for so many millions of deaths in the 20th century.

    9. Re:I still say by el_chicano · · Score: 1

      That's a fault of the left in general, and the reason their economic and political systems were responsible for so many millions of deaths in the 20th century.

      The Axis powers during World War II were NOT on the left and they too were "responsible for so many millions of deaths in the 20th century". I seem to remember that they were also "militantly authoritarian".

      After reading your blather this quote seems apropos: “It's better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than open it and remove all doubt” -- Mark Twain

      --
      A man who wants nothing is invincible
    10. Re: I still say by Bartles · · Score: 1

      You can type it in caps, but it doesn't make it true. In fact axis governements had many elements from the left and some from the right. Fortunately, I'm not talking about the axis powers. I'm mainly talking about the revolutions in China and the Soviet Union that were responsible for 80 million people dying.

    11. Re:I still say by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Axis powers during World War II were NOT on the left

      It will never cease to amaze me how Westerners keep parroting this tired bit of Soviet propaganda that doesn't stand up to five minutes of research. Yeah, Germany under the control of the National Socialist German Worker's Party which was nationalizing industry and expanding social systems was totally not on the left, you rocket surgeon. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/1708-ps.asp

    12. Re:I still say by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      In other words, government shouldn't protect us from each other? Once we have laws against murder, we're already going slightly authoritarian. A minimum wage law is a bit more authoritarian, but not that much of a stretch, nor actually militant.

      Nazi Germany and Imperialist Japan were not left-wing, and they murdered people at a higher rate than the Soviet Union did. I'm not real fond of any collectivist and authoritarian political system.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    13. Re:I still say by Bartles · · Score: 1

      Oh, I see. Laws punishing murder are now Social Justice.

    14. Re:I still say by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Damn straight they are. Allowing people to kill one another for pretty much any reason would destroy most Social Justice.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  3. Ha! by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Good luck with that.

    No way will corporations and the lobbying of the chamber of commerce allow this intrusion of socialism to harm profits! Every .com and software company in existence will freak out and open their wallets in unifying opposition!

    I guess it shows the goverment hasn't worked for it's people in the US for a long time now. This is a show for votes as no way this will pass.

    1. Re:Ha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Two people in Congress finally do something that isn't complete self-serving bullshit and the best response slashdot can come up with is a guy making fun of them.

    2. Re:Ha! by swillden · · Score: 2

      Good luck with that.

      No way will corporations and the lobbying of the chamber of commerce allow this intrusion of socialism to harm profits! Every .com and software company in existence will freak out and open their wallets in unifying opposition!

      Silicon Valley tech companies that hire H-1Bs won't care much. Very few of their H-1B employees make less than $110K anyway. If the definition of "wage" includes not just base salary but also bonus (actual awarded amount) and stock (actual value, not some notional future value), then it's likely that all of their H-1B employees already meet this requirement.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    3. Re:Ha! by cayenne8 · · Score: 1
      If nothing else....

      They could also balance this, by giving HEAFTY tax deductions for hiring US Citizens for jobs...located IN the US.

      A two pronged approach to keeping US jobs in the US with US citizens working them...and ONLY after that resource is exhausted would it be necessary to have guest workers.

      Do everything possible to make external to the US workers that absolute last resort.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    4. Re:Ha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      it's means it is

    5. Re:Ha! by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      Two people in Congress finally do something that isn't complete self-serving bullshit

      Seriously?

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    6. Re:Ha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      So, crank up the numbers. Sen. Cruz's proposal is a rough draft idea. Not written in stone.

      If the H-1B program is honestly trying to recruit the best and brightest in the world, the real cream of the crop, then make it a 4-year visa with a starting minimum wage of $150,000 base salary, and annual cost of living raises to match inflation or GDP or pick your metric. Also, why not include an automatic path to citizenship at the end of those 4 years?

      The H-1B website clearly states that it seeks "workers in specialty occupations" and goes on to specify "distinguished merit and ability." These are the types of people that the USA as a whole should be actively seeking out. The H-1B program seems like a perfect venue for that.

    7. Re:Ha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No way will corporations and the lobbying of the chamber of commerce allow this intrusion of socialism to harm profits! Every .com and software company in existence will freak out and open their wallets in unifying opposition!

      I guess it shows the goverment hasn't worked for it's people in the US for a long time now. This is a show for votes as no way this will pass.

      Nope. None of the big software companies like Apple, Google, Red Hat, etc. would even care. Their junior staff make that much or more already.

    8. Re:Ha! by DogDude · · Score: 1

      It's self-serving, I'm sure. Somebody's paying him. The guy's already demonstrated that he's a dick-for-hire. Just because some asshole comes up with an idea that might make ME money doesn't make him any less of an asshole.

      --
      I don't respond to AC's.
    9. Re:Ha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Two people in Congress finally do something that isn't complete self-serving bullshit

      Seriously?

      Cruz is nowhere near as self-serving as Hillary! No one is. Seriously, name ONE legal thing Hillary! has done. And lying about things doesn't count.

      Remember, Hillary! was named after Sir Edmund Hillary - six years before he climbed Everest.

      She was shot at when getting off a helicopter in Bosnia.

      Chelsea Clinton was jogging around the WTC on 9/11.

      Bill and Hillary! were broke when they left the White House.

      Seriously - Hillary! herself made all those claims.

    10. Re:Ha! by larryjoe · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Silicon Valley tech companies that hire H-1Bs won't care much. Very few of their H-1B employees make less than $110K anyway. If the definition of "wage" includes not just base salary but also bonus (actual awarded amount) and stock (actual value, not some notional future value), then it's likely that all of their H-1B employees already meet this requirement.

      Here are the numbers for 2015:

      Rank H1B Visa Sponsor Number of LCA * Average Salary
      1 Infosys 23,816 $76,794
      2 Tata Consultancy Services 14,096 $67,673
      3 Wipro 8,365 $69,936

      I suppose that these workers might have received some significant additional compensation above their salary, but my guess is that the probability is pretty close to zero.

      These top three companies received 46,277 visas, which is over half of the total visa issued. Their average salaries are way below $110k.

      If the speculation that companies above abuse H1B visas by importing low-wage earners is true, then the $110k wage limit would eliminate those visa uses. Of course, that assumes that the changes forces companies to actually pay that much. I can easily think of many ways to circumvent the $110k limit, including paying that amount and deducting most of it back (a la indentured servitude).

      But the key point is that the abuse is predicated on saving money for the ultimate users of the companies' services. Kill off the financial incentive, and the problem completely disappears.

      There is actually a reasonable case for some companies to need something like an H1B. There are actually quite a few US companies that pay decent H1B wages. Instituting a minimum financial threshold allows separation of these arguably more legitimate cases from the arguably job killing cases.

      13 Google 3,059 $125,596
      18 Amazon 1,600 $113,163
      19 Qualcomm Technologies 1,585 $111,816
      21 Apple 1,464 $133,593
      24 Oracle America 1,073 $119,506
      40 Facebook 780 $133,535
      50 Ebay 664 $121,691
      55 Yahoo! 619 $132,752
      59 Paypal 576 $124,616
      63 VM Ware 535 $121,203
      70 Cisco Systems 494 $121,899
      74 Salesforce.Com 483 $124,063
      96 Linkedin 382 $139,634

    11. Re:Ha! by bigmattana · · Score: 2

      That makes total sense. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    12. Re:Ha! by Bartles · · Score: 1

      Have fun voting for Hillary.

    13. Re:Ha! by Bartles · · Score: 1

      Or just end the program altogether.

    14. Re:Ha! by One+Intention · · Score: 1

      Reminds me of the time that the Republicans tried to get the Fair Tax passed when they knew they didn't have enough votes to pass it. It's all for show.

    15. Re:Ha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sad news for you. $110k / year is what they're already getting.
      Hr1B contractors are paid hourly, and it's usually > $55.00 / hour
      (which is about $110k).

      CAP === 'caustics'

    16. Re:Ha! by operagost · · Score: 1

      So is Bernie Sanders, right?

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
    17. Re:Ha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Two people in Congress finally do something that isn't complete self-serving bullshit and the best response slashdot can come up with is a guy making fun of them.

      Or just call it "Indian exclusion act" and be done with it.

      The current republicans stance is racism under the veil of immigration.

      When their racism and your racism coincide, your self-serving and their self-serving coincide, then it's all peachy.

    18. Re:Ha! by wyHunter · · Score: 1

      Yes but no Democrat would believe that. They're worse than the Republicans when it comes to self delusion.

    19. Re:Ha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The guy will flip in a New York Minute! This is all a load of horseshit!

    20. Re:Ha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seriously, Slashdot became an echo chamber for left-wing douchebags years ago. Occasionally you'll hear dissenting views, but the are usually mocked and mod-bombed into oblivion. The fact that you are currently at +5, Insightful, gives me hope that I'm wrong and we can have a forum for mature arguments here once again.

    21. Re:Ha! by JoeMerchant · · Score: 1

      It actually follows quite logically from the H1-B charter: "An extensive search for domestic talent has come up empty and we need to go outside to fill our needs." A flat $110K is a little un-imaginative, but I prefer it to a complex system of prevailing "market rates" in each area.

      Even if this initiative fails, I would hope something like it would be passed to mandate demonstration that the job has been offered on the local market and was unable to be filled at market rate salary - as evidenced by the fact that market rate + x% is currently being paid for the position.

    22. Re:Ha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah! This must be the list of company's paying for this law.

    23. Re:Ha! by sumdumass · · Score: 1

      Do you actually believe that? Better yet, Do you actually expect others to believe that?

    24. Re:Ha! by russotto · · Score: 1

      Silicon Valley tech companies that hire H-1Bs won't care much. Very few of their H-1B employees make less than $110K anyway. If the definition of "wage" includes not just base salary but also bonus (actual awarded amount) and stock (actual value, not some notional future value), then it's likely that all of their H-1B employees already meet this requirement.

      Which would tend to return the program to its stated purpose. It's not people who would otherwise be working at big tech companies who are being hurt by H-1B. It's the people who would be doing business programming if H1-B body shops weren't lowballing them with "programmers by the pound".

      The big losers under this proposal would be Infosys, Tata, Wipro, and IBM Global Services (despite the parent company, still a body shop),

    25. Re:Ha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mid grade cleared defense contractor employee here and I make less than $100k. Part of that is the area of the country though. Cost of living is cheaper here. Still, I'd love to see H1B's reduced. It would drive up my own wages. Even though you can't hire an H1B for defense work, they still make the pool of those you can hire larger. Defense work also usually is actually 40 hours a week, while some jobs apparently are not.

      Strange as it is to say, the idea of putting a floor on H1B salaries is something I could support. Sadly, Ted Cruz is certainly not someone I could ever support, nor would this idea ever have a prayer of being made law...

    26. Re:Ha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If the speculation that companies above abuse H1B visas by importing low-wage earners is true, then the $110k wage limit would eliminate those visa uses. Of course, that assumes that the changes forces companies to actually pay that much. I can easily think of many ways to circumvent the $110k limit, including paying that amount and deducting most of it back (a la indentured servitude).

      You can't deduct it back, the Department of Labor WILL look into that if they receive a complaint. In order to file an H-1B, you have to file an LCA (Labor Condition Application) that attests you will pay the prevailing wage for a job (determined through a government database) based on the geographic area the job site is located at and the level of complexity (recent grads are Level 1, senior staff would be Level 4). For somewhere like Santa Clara, the H-1Bs my company sponsors have LCA wages set at $110-130k to meet the prevailing wage. Having been through a DOL audit, they look VERY carefully into all payroll deductions, regardless of the terms of the employee's contract. If there are enough deductions that you drop below the area's prevailing wage, you are in trouble. At that point, you become a willful H-1B violator, and it becomes MUCH harder to employ H-1Bs, as you then have the burden of proving you are not displacing American workers. That does mean that non-violating companies don't have to provide proof they are not displacing non-exempt American workers (I can't think of an H-1B position that wouldn't be exempt, particularly since pretty much all IT work is considered exempt automatically).

      Also, don't be fooled by those companies you listed with higher H-1B salaries. What they are doing is employing tens of thousands of H-1B workers through consulting companies, and hiring the top performers to maintain control of them (since the contractor could theoretically move them elsewhere or fire them, or the worker could accept another H-1B at a different consulting firm that doesn't have a contract with them), usually by offering a higher salary, benefits, and sponsorship of a green card.

      Also, those salaries aren't exactly charity, and there are ways for companies to get around them. For instance, the prevailing wage in the Santa Clara to Palo Alto area is about $20,000 higher than Fremont for some high-end engineering classifications. Relocate a team of contractors to an office 30 minutes away and save 20k per head - hundreds of thousands of dollars - and they can still legally attend meetings or work short-term at your main office when needed. It's not quite that simple as there are other complications setting a wage, but it's definitely something that happens.

      The $110,000 minimum would hit a lot of companies hard, as most jobs, particularly software-only, don't have that low a prevailing wage. Since prevailing wage is also based on the job level and worker experience, that would highly discourage hiring Level 1 (0-3 years exp) and Level 2 (3-5 years exp) workers as they are typically tens of thousands of dollars cheaper.

      (Posting anon because I handle the filing of H-1Bs at my company)

    27. Re:Ha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well increasing the number of H1B visas could be called the "Fuck the American Middle Class Act"

      It has nothing to do with race, it has everything to do with cheap labor driving down wages. My guess is you are butthurt cause you are the cheap labor.

    28. Re:Ha! by tompaulco · · Score: 1

      Note that the top three companies actively engage in sidestepping the H1b rules. Companies want to hire cheaper H1bs to replace their prevailing wage workers, but that would be illegal. So they hire from companies like TATA, which hires primarily H1bs. These consultants then replace your prevailing wage workers and everything is all nice and legal. Well, to the letter of the law it is legal. In the spirit of the law it is highly, highly illegal.
      The very fact that a company would be able to say with a straight face that they were unable to find ANY qualified candidates anywhere in the U.S. and that is why 99+% of their workforce is H1b ( and all from one country, too)...it's just wrong on so many levels. The federal government needs to fine them for however much money they have collectively stolen from the American people and multiply that by 10.

      --
      If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
    29. Re:Ha! by swillden · · Score: 1

      Or just end the program altogether.

      Just give them all regular work visas and be done with it. Protectionism is foolish and shortsighted.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    30. Re:Ha! by Jack+Griffin · · Score: 1

      1 Infosys 23,816 $76,794 2 Tata Consultancy Services 14,096 $67,673 3 Wipro 8,365 $69,936

      Last time I was in the job market I got interviewed by two of those companies. Both times it was a phone interview with someone in India who couldn't speak English well enough to have a conversation with. Why anyone would give companies like this business is beyond me.

    31. Re:Ha! by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      Perhaps you have failed to hear how empty political promises are. Let's see some legislation written up and put to a vote and then and only then can any say with any semblance of certainty what the politician is saying is actually what the intend. Years back, prior to right wing outsourcing, couldn't find trained people, then you trained them. Now, it's like they have never ever heard of it, what train people for the position, what a crazy idea. The modern corporate era is such a fuck up.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    32. Re:Ha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Two people in Congress finally do something that isn't complete self-serving bullshit and the best response slashdot can come up with is a guy making fun of them.

      Of course, it's self-serving bullshit. The problem is that you are so gullible that you believe this self-serving bullshit.

    33. Re:Ha! by NostalgiaForInfinity · · Score: 1

      If the speculation that companies above abuse H1B visas by importing low-wage earners is true, then the $110k wage limit would eliminate those visa uses.

      And what do you think is going to happen next? One of three things:

      (1) US labor costs go up and US companies raise prices on US consumers.

      (2) US labor costs go up and US companies move jobs overseas to stay competitive.

      (3) US labor costs go up and US companies lose business and jobs to overseas companies.

      Brilliant plan!

    34. Re:Ha! by frank_adrian314159 · · Score: 1

      You want serious commentary? OK.

      A) Ted Cruz will never amass the actual power needed to bring about such a change. As such, his statement, though music to the ears of many people beset by the problems of this visa program, is, frankly, irrelevant.

      B) This is merely posturing. He notices that Trump is making political bank with his nativist spiel and wants to jump on that bandwagon. This is a way for him to send a dog whistle to the nativist base without seeming too extreme and, ultimately, without doing anything about the visa program.

      --
      That is all.
    35. Re:Ha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry, it is been a long time since I studied English.

    36. Re:Ha! by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      (4) Labor costs go up, and the increase in economic activity improves the US economy.

    37. Re:Ha! by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      That would do more harm that good, as the sales force and PMs would be in the US, but all the workers would be in India. The contract for the work would be made in the US, and the work would be done outside.

      What I think would work is to charge a visa fee equal to the cost of training, then train an American for the job. Eliminate H-1B visas one job at a time.

    38. Re:Ha! by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      A flat $110K is a little un-imaginative, but I prefer it to a complex system of prevailing "market rates" in each area.

      The government already calculates a COLA for differences in areas. $100k+COLA would likely be more fair, but since nearly all of those jobs are concentrated in a few areas with high costs of living already, probably not an issue anyway.

    39. Re:Ha! by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      name ONE legal thing Hillary! has done.

      I'll betcha she cooked breakfast once or twice.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    40. Re:Ha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is insane. People really think this is a problem? Cruz must have some weird idea of what problems this causes. There is not an unemployment problem among tech workers. These employees serve a very important function in supplementing the workforce in America. We have a shortage of tech talent. I have been arguing we should double legal immigration and cut illegal immigration. The people who come in via legal immigration are highly educated, earn good wages which pay substantial taxes, contribute massive intellectual property to the US. I remember in 2000 there were 10 billionaire foreign executives from h-1b or student visas who had started companies that were employing thousands and thousands of employees who were largely american citizens. I remember my friend from Britain who was being told he had to leave the US even though he was a hi-tech guy spending 150,000 a year on housing and skiing in Tahoe. His job didn't pay that much but he had a family endowment. He eventually did get his h-1b and he will become a US citizen soon but why would we in our right minds ever be thinking of throwing these people out? It's incredibly counter productive and short sighted.

      On the other hand we let a million or whatever number want to cross the border illegally who have no credentials, no money, may be criminals, drug dealers or anything. I just went to be selected for jury duty in a case of a mexican man who was accused of possession of meth, didn't speak english and was undocumented. I didn't get selected for the jury and while I feel we don't need such people in this country I personally think it's stupid to put such people in jail. Cruz's prioirties are upside down. We need to stop the illegal immigration somehow and get control of our borders but that doesn't mean cutting back on the great number of people who are highly educated who want to come here and contribute to this economy. They create jobs and help pay for the incredible stupidity of our illegal immigrant policy. We need to double the h-1b program and student visas and find someway to get control of our border from illegal immigrants. This is not racist or whatever. It is what every sane country in the world does.

    41. Re:Ha! by russotto · · Score: 1

      I'll betcha she cooked breakfast once or twice.

      I'd bet on an illegal alien cook that she paid less than minimum wage to.

    42. Re:Ha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Two people in Congress finally do something that isn't complete self-serving bullshit and the best response slashdot can come up with is a guy making fun of them.

      It is absolutely self-serving. He is hoping it will get him the votes he needs. This is what flip floppers do.

    43. Re:Ha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      (4) Labor costs go up, and the increase in economic activity improves the US economy.

      And that makes people better off... how?

      Really, your economic beliefs are the equivalent of a Young Earth Creationist.

    44. Re:Ha! by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      So a better economy doesn't help people? And more money in their hands doesn't help them either?

    45. Re:Ha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The challenge is how do we allow companies to hire top talent while discouraging abuse.

      The fix is really simple and if they really wanted to fix it.

      1. Limit H1Bs to 1000 per organization per year.
      2. Exempt those with salaries over $125,000 from the yearly limit.
      3. The numbers would be tweaked by USCIS every year as per previous year's data.

      The 1st would prevent Indian companies from gaming the lottery system, and would encourage the training and hiring of American workers.
      The 2nd would exclude folks with exceptional talent from getting hired e.g. MBAs from top universities, PHDs etc.
      Most startups and small companies who hire far less than 1000 would fly under the radar, and that would encourage innovation.

      The tragedy is that the lobbies are too strong on both sides and politicians get more funding by taking sides with a lobby than solving the problem.

    46. Re:Ha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >> (4) Labor costs go up, and the increase in economic activity improves the US economy.
      > And that makes people better off... how?

      "Labor costs go up" == "bigger paychecks"

      So you're asking how bigger paychecks make people better off. Meditate on this.

    47. Re:Ha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually this bill also requires that all H1-B hires have a PhD, which would cause massive problems for big tech companies that hire plenty of masters graduates etc.

  4. I support this. by generic_screenname · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If a company truly needs expertise that just simply cannot be found in the US, then a six figure salary is probably a bargain. Of course, this will never pass. I can dream, though.

    1. Re:I support this. by acoustix · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Instead of dreaming, perhaps you need to look in the mirror and see why corporations would rather employ Joe Unknown from the other side of the world than you. If you have value, you will always get a job over someone trying the H-1B route. Presumably you have limited skills and no experience. And "web" isn't a skill, bad luck.

      Tell that to the former senior engineers at Texas Instruments who were laid off while making $150k while their Indian replacements were paid $50k.

      --
      "A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
    2. Re:I support this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Source?

    3. Re:I support this. by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      The Texas attorney general is full of fail if he can't prosecute comanies that do that. Assuming Texas outlaws it, as many states do.

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    4. Re:I support this. by thaylin · · Score: 2

      http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/1...

      they were so skilled they were snaped up because they were so talented:

      http://www.dallasnews.com/busi...

      --
      When you cant win, ad hominem.
    5. Re:I support this. by crackspackle · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If a company truly needs expertise that just simply cannot be found in the US, then a six figure salary is probably a bargain. Of course, this will never pass.I can dream, though.

      If it does pass, I'm leaving the country and coming back on a visa.

    6. Re:I support this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If a company truly needs expertise that just simply cannot be found in the US, then a six figure salary is probably a bargain.

      Of course, this will never pass.

      I can dream, though.

      H1B is not expertise that cannot be found in the US.

      It is expertise that cannot be found locally and currently. There might be expertise present but they are either in another location in US or are already involved in other projects.

    7. Re:I support this. by guruevi · · Score: 1

      Texas Instruments planned to lay off 1,700 workers between FY2012 and FY2014
      Texas Instruments Incorporated has filed 1247 labor condition applications for H1B visa and 583 labor certifications for green card from fiscal year 2011 to 2014.

      The wages for the H1B Analog Design Engineers was $90-100,000. The average wage for that job in Dallas, TX was $152,000 when the layoffs began, it went down to $120,000 after that.

      Citizenship: India(274),China(35),South Korea(22),Canada(16),Taiwan(11),France(11),Nigeria(9),Germany(6),Malaysia(5),Japan(5)

      --
      Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
    8. Re:I support this. by JoeMerchant · · Score: 1

      The Texas attorney general is full of fail if he can't prosecute comanies that do that. Assuming Texas outlaws it, as many states do.

      Which side is Texas Toast buttered on? Both.

    9. Re:I support this. by fatwilbur · · Score: 2

      Tell that to the former senior engineers at Texas Instruments who were laid off while making $150k while their Indian replacements were paid $50k.

      Who cares? It was a business decision by those who OWN the business - it was either a good move and it will work out well or it wasn't and the company will suffer. If someone is as good or better than you and willing to work for a third of what you do, then suck it up and YOU have to up your game.

      People here worry far too much about this crap. I've been through it multiple times, and it's actually made me much more confident in my employability. Repeatedly, I've found those people who'll accept a third of the salary deliver far less than a third of the value. This isn't 2000 anymore, anyone overseas who is competent and highly talented doesn't settle for cheap wages anymore - they want the same $150k the North American was earning, and they do find it.

    10. Re:I support this. by PortHaven · · Score: 2

      It's a business decision that is only allowed because of bribing congress. It shouldn't be an option...that's the point.

    11. Re:I support this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have hired an H-1b worker - back in the late 90's tech boom. There really was a paucity of talent available. I had people coming in for help desk jobs who couldn't find the start menu in Windows. No, that's not a joke - it literally happened.

      I needed developers with talent and motivation. We were willing to do the training ourselves. So I hired an American with a newly minted chemistry degree. And another american with a PhD in biology. And a guy recently out of the air force who was a brilliant go getter. To get that crew I had to wade through over 1,500 resumes and do dozens of interviews. The PhD didn't last too long before he found another gig.

      The immigrant worker we hired was in her practical training. She was brilliant and extremely hard working. Like all of my employees, she was a rare jewel who was not easy to find. It took us 3 years and many thousands in legal fees to get her visa. We also helped her get her green card. She was worth the extra investment. She also didn't get paid chump change. We paid more than market for her. (We actually paid less than market for the american guys who didn't have the training - until they had experience under their belts.)

      She regularly amazed us by finishing prototypes before we could finish describing them. We'd have a conference call where we were brainstorming a solution, and as one of the senior developers and I hashed it out and then described what we wanted, you'd here this furious clicking in the background. Then before you could finish describing the final idea she'd say "OK, I have something for you to look at".

      Great people like that are not just hard to find. They are almost impossible to find. No number of years of experience is going to trump motivation and intellect over the long haul. That's what the visa program is supposed to be all about. Getting world class talent to settle here in the US and make this a better place.

    12. Re:I support this. by swillden · · Score: 1

      It's a business decision that is only allowed because of bribing congress. It shouldn't be an option...that's the point.

      Why shouldn't it be an option? Why shouldn't anyone who can do the job get to compete for it? Why should the fact that you happened to be born here give you an advantage over someone who wasn't?

      I can see the complaints against offshoring, somewhat. Yeah, that Indian guy can do your job for 1/3 the money because his cost of living is 1/5 of yours. That sucks (though I still don't see why he shouldn't have that chance). But in the case of someone coming here, living where you do, there's no cost of living differential.

      The only bad things about the H-1B program, IMO, are (1) the limited quotas and (2) the way it turns the visa holders into indentured servants, almost. We should just give them regular work visas and be done with it.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    13. Re:I support this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Who cares? It was a business decision by those who OWN the business - it was either a good move and it will work out well or it wasn't and the company will suffer. If someone is as good or better than you and willing to work for a third of what you do, then suck it up and YOU have to up your game.

      Unless of course they are only willing to accept a lower wage because their cost of living is 1/7 as the people they're competing with.

    14. Re:I support this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If it does pass, I'm leaving the country and coming back on a visa.

      If you don't get 110K as an American local, I doubt you'll get 110K as a foreigner.

    15. Re:I support this. by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      The problem is you will never be able to work for as little as someone in India. Even if you are willing to give you first world standards of living, the cost of living the developing world life is lower there.

      Companies will also expect more of you if you live in the same country. Move closer to the office so you can be there in person. You probably need a car. Dress appropriately too.

      Forget the race to the bottom.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    16. Re:I support this. by Ash-Fox · · Score: 1

      She regularly amazed us by finishing prototypes before we could finish describing them. We'd have a conference call where we were brainstorming a solution, and as one of the senior developers and I hashed it out and then described what we wanted, you'd here this furious clicking in the background. Then before you could finish describing the final idea she'd say "OK, I have something for you to look at".

      Note: I am in Northern Ireland and so is my company.

      This is the kind of people we're trying to find in my company (currently a small start up) and we've been offering higher wages, better benefits, real flex time benefits, a strict policy on maintain work-life reasonably and trying to find people that have enthusiasm is really hard, trying to find someone with enthusiasm and a bit of sense is harder and finding the rare jewels like you describe, we have utterly failed to find them. I see a massive brain drain of technically literate and enthusiastic people going else-where in the UK, U.S. and many other countries, it's ridiculous. I'm involved in the local hackerspaces, amateur radio scene and so forth as part of my interest and it's disheartening seeing people just going else where (that actually has a worse standard of living compared to what they can get here). It's a little heart breaking to actually try to help build a company that really has a viable business model and you're having to turn away business constantly because you can't find the right people and you can really make a difference locally... And that's when you're providing the salaries, benefits etc. to the point that nobody else in similar industries can compete. We've had more luck with finding the right people across other continents than we have in ours.

      --
      Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
    17. Re:I support this. by pipingguy · · Score: 1

      We doan need no steeenking middle class anyway.

    18. Re:I support this. by NostalgiaForInfinity · · Score: 1

      It's a business decision that is only allowed because of bribing congress.

      Congress can kill immigration if it likes to, that's one of its delegated powers. However, there are two other business decisions it can't disallow: a company can move its operations overseas, or a company can simply close shop and its owners can invest their money in something more profitable. Either way, the jobs are gone too.

    19. Re:I support this. by NostalgiaForInfinity · · Score: 1

      The problem is you will never be able to work for as little as someone in India. Even if you are willing to give you first world standards of living, the cost of living the developing world life is lower there.

      And the cost of living is so high because government makes it that high: minimum wage, insurance requirements, zoning laws, building codes, etc.

      Many people in many countries don't want that crap, so their cost of living is lower and they end up working cheaper. Welcome to the real world. You ignore it at your own peril.

    20. Re:I support this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's a business decision that is allowed because of the constitution. Congress has been enumerated no power to interfere.

      Their actions are illegitimate, and could easily be nullified if the states recovered their backbones.

      To regulate interstate commerce means to promote free commerce between the states. The current usage of the clause is a joke.

    21. Re:I support this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why shouldn't it be an option? Why shouldn't anyone who can do the job get to compete for it? Why should the fact that you happened to be born here give you an advantage over someone who wasn't?

      If it were a level playing field, I would agree with you. I lean libertarian and believe in competition, but it has to be honest, fair competition.

      Right now the advantage is heavily to the employers, and US workers have to score all their goals uphill.

    22. Re:I support this. by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      You should try living in one of those low tax countries where you can live like a prince on 50k. You will find you actually do want all that "crap" three government pays for with tax.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    23. Re:I support this. by swillden · · Score: 1

      Why shouldn't it be an option? Why shouldn't anyone who can do the job get to compete for it? Why should the fact that you happened to be born here give you an advantage over someone who wasn't?

      If it were a level playing field, I would agree with you. I lean libertarian and believe in competition, but it has to be honest, fair competition.

      Right now the advantage is heavily to the employers, and US workers have to score all their goals uphill.

      And how do US workers' obstacles compare with those of workers from Brazil, India, Romania or Mexico? I'll tell you: those workers would be very happy to come to the US and score uphill goals, because the hill is a hell of a lot less steep than the one in their country.

      You're still arguing that US workers should be privileged above others merely for having been born here, just trying to throw up a smoke screen to distract from what you're actually saying.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    24. Re:I support this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And you're arguing that US corporations should be free to proceed with destroying our high standard of living, so that those at the top can have bigger piles of money to sit on. Here's a clue: most of those foreign workers want to come here because we have a higher standard of living.

      Good luck running a business when the middle class is gone and there's nobody with any money to buy the crap you're trying to sell...

    25. Re:I support this. by NostalgiaForInfinity · · Score: 1

      You should try living in one of those low tax countries where you can live like a prince on 50k. You will find you actually do want all that "crap" three government pays for with tax.

      I have lived in half a dozen US states and half a dozen countries internationally. In my experience, the lower the taxes in a state or country, the better the quality of life.

    26. Re:I support this. by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      My experience and many studies show that high tax European countries are the best places to live, in terms of quality of life.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    27. Re:I support this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's a great place to live, if your ambitions and expectations are low, or if you're a member of one of the European privileged classes (who, coincidentally, author those studies). I'm glad there is a place for people like you. I'm also glad I got out.

      The fascinating thing about people like you is your obsession with the US and US internal policies, and your incessant participation in arguments about how the US should be more like Europe and how wonderful and superior Europe supposedly is. It really looks to me like you have something to prove. Perhaps deep down you realize that that restoring old Nintendo games in what looks like your mom's basement is aiming a bit low for your life. As for me, I really don't care how people in Europe live; I just don't want bad European ideas to make it to the US.

    28. Re:I support this. by Aqualung812 · · Score: 1

      Why shouldn't it be an option? Why shouldn't anyone who can do the job get to compete for it? Why should the fact that you happened to be born here give you an advantage over someone who wasn't?

      The issue is that they didn't have to become citizens first.

      We're not saying you have to be born here, but you have to be a citizen here to work here.

      Allowing H-1B's to skip the immigration line that fruit pickers have to go through is discrimination.

      --
      Grammer Nazis - I mod you "troll" unless you actually add something on-topic. Yes, I know I have mispellings in my sig.
    29. Re:I support this. by swillden · · Score: 1

      We're not saying you have to be born here, but you have to be a citizen here to work here.

      ROTFLMAO. That's effectively the same as saying you have to be born here, especially without H-1Bs and similar.

      Before you can become a citizen you have to get a work visa, and that's all but impossible for most of the world. For example, my wife has a good friend from Italy who wanted to come to the US. We offered to sponsor her, even support her if needed. We spent three years and thousands of dollars before we gave up. Her *only* option was to (a) return to her home country (Nigeria) and submit an application for the immigration lottery, for which she'd have a roughly one in two hundred chance of winning[1].

      The congressional staffer who was trying to help us got so frustrated that he eventually suggested that maybe she should just come on a tourist visa and overstay. Seriously!

      Allowing H-1B's to skip the immigration line that fruit pickers have to go through is discrimination.

      It varies depending on country of origin, but for most of the world that "line" is over 100 years long. See, there isn't really a "line", there's a lottery, and the odds of getting picked in any given year are pretty low. If you are persistent and try again every year you'll eventually get in with reasonable probability... or, more likely, your grandchild will because you'll be dead.

      Also, you should consider that many H-1B employers would still hire these people if it couldn't bring them to the US. Without H-1Bs, my employer, Google, would just set up more overseas engineering offices. If the H-1B program didn't exist and instead they could all just get regular work visas (or green cards), Google would likely set up fewer overseas offices and bring more foreign workers here -- and that would be a good thing.

      The US leadership in technology derives primarily from the fact that we've got a high standard of living and a great deal of freedom, and those characteristics attract the best and brightest of the world to come here. For about three generations now we've successfully drained a large portion of the world's brainpower and concentrated it here. That's not something we want to stop doing, in fact it's something we need to accelerate if we're going to stay ahead. If you don't want unlimited immigration, you should absolutely want to bring the smart, educated, valuable people here ahead of the "fruit pickers".

      [1] In her case she would have had a zero chance of winning the lottery, because as soon as her family realized she was back in Nigeria her brothers would have murdered her. I don't know the details but she had somehow dishonored the family by getting involved with a boy she wasn't supposed to and they needed to kill her to recover their honor. That's why she fled to Italy in the first place.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
  5. and make 80 hours a week cost $150K+ by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    and make 80 hours a week cost $150K+

    also needs COL added as well.

  6. Not always a good idea by grilled-cheese · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Companies are going to do whatever makes the most money. The H1-B program gets them cheap labor in the US. Take away cheap labor, jobs will simply move offshore. If the labor is at least based in the US, those workers are still participating in the US economy.

    1. Re:Not always a good idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      And then those companies will realize that it's actually a bargain to pay labor costs here and get an actual working product. Every single product I've seen shipped offshore for "cheaper" labor has ultimately resulted in massive cost overruns and a product that doesn't meet expectations (at best) and frequently just doesn't work. There's a lot to be said about being able to work with your business face to face or at least in the same daylight hours when you're both awake.

    2. Re:Not always a good idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not all of them CAN move offshore.. for example the similar program in canada

      http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/mcdonald-s-canada-ceo-calls-foreign-worker-controversy-bullshit-1.2621151

      How you're going to have a remote McDonald's worker would be interesting to see...

    3. Re:Not always a good idea by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      Take away cheap labor, jobs will simply move offshore...

      That's only a theory; everybody has theories. I'm willing to test by limiting work visas to real and verifiable needs for a while. If you are right, we switch back to the old way.

      Empiricism is good.

    4. Re:Not always a good idea by Martin+Blank · · Score: 2

      Entire restaurants can't be outsourced, but there are companies that provide order-taking services where the person actually taking the order is sitting hundreds or thousands of miles away. They enter the order into the computer and it gets relayed back to the restaurant for local employees to make. The service costs less than an employee taking the orders because the person actually taking the orders will get shifted to a different restaurant during quiet times. There's no technical reason that this can't be done by someone overseas for even less money.

      --
      You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
    5. Re:Not always a good idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The practical reason this would be difficult to offshore to a cheap country (like India) is because their English is notoriously poor. The entire point of order taking is to quickly and accurately communicate by spoken word. I think outsourcing potential is limited to cheap, rural American towns for this one. Try India and you'll just end up with pissed off customers.

    6. Re:Not always a good idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And there's no technical reason that ordering food at a restaurant can't just be done by a machine. (See also: Ziosk)

      Companies that hire people who don't natively speak the local language to take orders from bigoted Americans? Bitch, please.

    7. Re:Not always a good idea by sbaker · · Score: 2

      OK - you can't have it both ways! If you think the H1B guys are good enough to come here and take your jobs - then they are good enough to do the same job in whichever other country will physically house them. If it turns out that those guys are best able to do the job - then you can either pay them to come here and do it (and thereby claim their taxes and have them spend their earnings in the US economy) - or you can pay them to work someplace cheaper and spend all of their earnings and pay all of their taxes over there.

      If you want less overseas workers doing your work - then you have to either get better at it - or get paid less. It's a market economy and with the Internet, you can't force tech jobs to stay in a particular physical location by passing laws that only operate in other physical locations.

      So - better education or lower wages...you choose.

          -- Steve

      --
      www.sjbaker.org
    8. Re:Not always a good idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Outsourcing *can* work. But only in one set of conditions.

      1) The team doing the work must be competent. Know what it takes to make a product, ship it, and support it.
      2) The team you end up with can NOT job hop. Meaning they are paid and treated decently. Meaning you are going to pay more.
      3) *You* will have to manage them. I mean on the phone 12-14 hours a day 2-3 people managing them. It is not a fire and forget thing. Meaning you have PMs and developers doing management work instead of making new things. Which is why you outsourced...
      4) The people you get actually have to know how to do the outsourced job. Not 'yeah we know that' and they stick you with the guy they just hired last week and fixed up their resume.

      What I found most times it was easier for me to just do the work the work than sit there and teach 4 other programmers how to do their job. Just so they can under cut me. Then turn around and charge me more hours just to fix what they didnt deliver in the first place.

    9. Re:Not always a good idea by oh_my_080980980 · · Score: 0

      LMOL yeah float that canard won't you. NO SINGLE US CORPORATION HAS MOVED OVER SEAS. Hasn't happened. Never will. Ball all means move to India or China. I would love to see a U.S. CEO living in Bangalore...

    10. Re:Not always a good idea by Mike+Van+Pelt · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I used to work in network operations for a company that did this sort of thing. Housewife in Minot, ND, sits down to her computer in the spare bedroom and logs in. A script pops up on her computer and her phone rings. "Welcome to Chikin Lickin, may I take your order?" When done, a minute or two later, the popup/phone again, "Thank you for calling Fat Burner Delux, the miracle weight loss supplement endorsed by Dr. Oz." It could be anything that someone had contracted with the company to do "virtual call center" for, ranging from very much upstanding legitimate companies and organizations, to ... not so much.

      At the time (it was years ago) their phone answering people were all U.S. based, and that was one of their selling points, that they were Americans and sounded like it. I'm not sure if that's still the case or not, but there's certainly little barrier to having phone reps anywhere on Earth.

    11. Re:Not always a good idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      With moving factories offshore, there's the check of tariffs.
      With moving coding offshore, so long you're sending a spec and getting a package back, there's still checks and balances.
      With moving knowledge workers offshore, there are no checks. It's the wild wild west.

      Core Problem: It's an absolutely fantastic way to conquer a nation is by outsourcing the administrative and management staff overseas by lobbying their government not to pass laws against such things and by pegging your currency to keep labor cheap. When it comes time to invade, you take away the guns and pass a few laws, nobody knows how to run the country anyway. Of course this starts out as "we can make a lot of money in the business of wage arbitrage"; achieve that end, the next step is genocide of the native population. See AT&T playing all sorts of games doing their project management out of the Philippines.

      Core Solution: If the server or client you are doing work on is physically located here in the states, you have to have a physical presence here, and those workers are working at that physical location, being paid US wages, Paying US taxes, and following US laws. You get to register with the government, and not only do they get to tap your network connection onsite and you have zero privileges as to privacy, you get to pay an admin fee for it too. Your business address can be a rack of systems in a data center. They are also no overtime-exempt workers that get to work out of a rack, those people have to be physically in the US. So management, IT Admin, software dev, and so forth are out of question.

    12. Re:Not always a good idea by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

      Take away cheap labor, jobs will simply move offshore.

      Horseshit! Regardless of insourcing via H1Bs, outsourcing has and will continue to occur regardless. They are, and will be, two entirely separate things. One does not effect the other. The only reason some jobs haven't moved offshore is because they're isn't a market yet for them. But cooperation do try and do both insourcing and outsourcing at the same time regardless.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    13. Re:Not always a good idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I guess that depends on if you want a dedicated on-shore manager to spend 60 hours a week micro-managing and checking up on the off-shore workers. Otherwise, who knows what goes on, continents away. I certainly can't figure it out.

    14. Re:Not always a good idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      LMOL yeah float that canard won't you. NO SINGLE US CORPORATION HAS MOVED OVER SEAS. Hasn't happened. Never will. Ball all means move to India or China. I would love to see a U.S. CEO living in Bangalore...

      Get a clue, noob. Do you have any idea how staggeringly huge the number of corporate branch offices for software development there are in India or China? Even mid-sized business have them these days. Except for the time zone issue, it works just as well as a H1-B brought onsite. (The language and cultural barriers are more or less the same.)

      And it doesn't even matter if Cruz's idea passes or not. This type of offshoring is still growing at a fantastic pace to tap the skills of people who don't want to move out of their home country but are still technically talented.

    15. Re:Not always a good idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are first world western countries that have easy tech immigration, where the worker can switch jobs and actually get perm residence status easily.
      If the USA makes it super hard for companies to get tech workers they will open up shop somewhere else. It a global economy now!

      And yes I agree with most of the concerns voiced on here and no it is not right the the big South Asian IT firms break the rules to get cheap labour into the USA, those companies suck. My arguments are for the companies that actually want the talent and are not after cheap labour.

      When ever I worked in the USA, it was for my talent and yes I got paid above market rates, and thats what H1B should be for.

    16. Re:Not always a good idea by I4ko · · Score: 1

      So let it be, but limit the H1 only to those countries or the current agglomeration of countries that had citizens on US soil during the first states being formed. That would mostly be the EU and some of the Scandinavian countries. I can assure you, most nobody will come over as H1.

    17. Re:Not always a good idea by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 1

      It is a good point, but that's also a management issue.

      I've seen projects work when off-shored as well as fail miserably. The reason they usually fail miserably is managing the time-space problem. Lots of managers do the MBWA thing--management by walking around--which doesn't work very well in these situations. Issues that come up overseas can bring teams to a halt while they wait a few days for guidance. These have to be factored into timelines and such, but usually aren't. Exact specifications must exist--you can't get subtle with these sorts of things unless you want to create a mess--and should include performance metrics (yes, everybody can write a quick sort, but using one with 1,000,000 records may be somewhat less than ideal). Writing these specifications can take as long as writing the code, because you basically have to spell everything out (and you need someone who has the skill set to know exactly what is needed). In some cases, by the time you finished writing the spec, someone could have actually written the code that would do the task!

      Usually, the stuff that has worked has been more like libraries and the like. I need a set of functions, clearly defined, which will perform these tasks when called with the appropriate inputs and return these results in this amount of time. Things that are iterative and fuzzy--like UI design--don't really work well ("Can you make it more webbish--but not too webbish?")

    18. Re:Not always a good idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      McDonald's tested a system that put all the drive-thru order takers in a call center in Fargo (IIRC).

      It had a number of advantages: Plenty of quality workers, who actually spoke a clear and understandable version of English, and were happy for the opportunity to make a reaonsable (for that area) wage.

      It also optimized the workload. Instead of having order-takers in each restaurant who were only busy during the local "rush" hour, the call center order takers had a more consistent workload, as the "rush" moved across the country.

      I don't know why they didn't move forward with it. Perhaps the network infrastructure wasn't up to the task at the time, or maybe the independent operators didn't want to turn that function over to the corporate overlords.

    19. Re:Not always a good idea by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      How you're going to have a remote McDonald's worker would be interesting to see...

      You're not. You're going to eventually see us swing full-circle to the "automat" model for fast food restaurants. A McDonalds will basically be a big printer for food, and it will be loaded with cartridges of meat and buns and whatnot which machines will shit into a box and deliver to the customer via conveyor belt, or show up in their cubby or fall out of the ceiling and land in their trough with a splat, whatever makes the most sense at that time. McDonalds has always been testing this kind of crap, they've had french fry robots and so on. So far it still costs less to hire a high school dropout than to buy robots, but that will change eventually.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    20. Re:Not always a good idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Someone taking a job and someone doing a job are vastly different things. Someone doing said job well is a whole other level of different. Someone "from over there" doesn't actually have to be capable of doing a job to "take" it, and they often aren't. Most of the positions I have seen go overseas are filled by people incapable of performing most of the duties requires. However, the bean counters that decided to move those positions offshore to save money are usually not impacted by the loss when thing start to break and not get repaired. Then the executive congratulate themselves on the money they saved as the company crumbles around them. VW does this and the results of outsourcing everything to vendors and/or sending everything offshore can be clearly seen in the news lately...

    21. Re:Not always a good idea by supremebob · · Score: 1

      The H1-B guys can do a decent job when they have a good working relationship with the stakeholders of the project AND they are supervised properly by senior developers. That's a hell of a lot harder to do when they are on the other side of the planet with a completely different work schedule.

      Status meetings can help, but they are a poor substitute for human interaction in the same room for someone who is new to a project. That's why companies want to bring them over here for training before shipping them back overseas.

    22. Re:Not always a good idea by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 2

      Why not offshore US workers to somewhere cheaper? I'm surprised no one's proactively creating a tech hub in Latin America,

      Let's say Alphabet, or some other large corp, are working on a new project that will take 3 years and employ 100 people. But the budget can only support 60 people over 2 years.

      So they rent an office space in, say, Peru where the weather's fine 9 months of the year and language isn't a problem because everyone in California speaks Spanish anyway, right? So you're only a couple of hours time difference and everyone can fly home to visit their folks once a fortnight because airfares are cheap. We can only pay you 70% of what you'd normally get but that's okay because the cost of living is a fraction of back home and you get a cultural experience. All that tax I hear American corporations don't want to repatriate can be invested in infrastructure in the host country which benefits foreign relations.

      If you're a kid fresh out of a 4 year degree and you can't find work in the Bay Area, wouldn't you jump at the chance?

      If that seems far-fetched, I once met a beautiful Swedish blonde in Barcelona (but that's another story!) Her company in Sweden decided it was cheaper to relocate a couple of hundred Swedes to Spain and rent out an office than do business in their home country.

    23. Re:Not always a good idea by dpidcoe · · Score: 1

      I don't know why they didn't move forward with it. Perhaps the network infrastructure wasn't up to the task at the time, or maybe the independent operators didn't want to turn that function over to the corporate overlords.

      Because while I'm sure it works well for 90% of the use case in which the order follows a preset script, it's not very adaptable. e.g. if their ice cream machine goes down, that somehow needs to get communicated to the remote order takers in a timely fashion. There could also be problems such as if the remote order taker is rude (or perceived by a rude customer as rude), the people at the window taking the money will take the heat for it without really knowing if the customer is an asshole or they just got unlucky and had to deal with a bad order taker. It's just a lot of overhead, coordination, and unnecessary complexity for something that's really handled just as easily by minimum wage workers locally.

    24. Re:Not always a good idea by mattack2 · · Score: 2

      NO SINGLE US CORPORATION HAS MOVED OVER SEAS.

      You may call this a nitpick, but if a company moves its headquarters overseas, it *has* moved overseas.. and then (likely) still has a U.S. branch.

      I simply googled "companies moving headquarters offshore". This first result:
      https://www.washingtonpost.com...
      mentions Burger King and Chiquita.

    25. Re:Not always a good idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Indeed. I'm pretty sure that oh_my_080980980 neither works for Oracle nor knows anyone who does, just to cite a *cough* random example *cough*.

    26. Re:Not always a good idea by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1

      The *CEO* need to live in Bangalore does *not*, young Jedi. Just the codeslingers who money for him make.

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
    27. Re: Not always a good idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    28. Re:Not always a good idea by fatwilbur · · Score: 1

      Bingo. The "cheap" labour has shown time and time again to be factory educated folks with singular skill sets and no ability to think critically or act independently. Globalization has changed everything, and it's fun to watch the death of overseas outsourcing - anyone over there who is remotely competent will no longer work for pitiful wages.

    29. Re:Not always a good idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When ever I worked in the USA, it was for my talent and yes I got paid above market rates, and thats what H1B should be for.

      Then what is the problem with requiring a minimum of 110k for the h1b visa holders? Paying above market rates right?

    30. Re:Not always a good idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The H1-B program gets them cheap labor in the US. Take away cheap labor, jobs will simply move offshore.

      Maybe or maybe not. Have you ever been to India? They don't call it a "developing" country for nothing. The power grid is a joke with multiple blackouts per day, sometimes lasting for hours. Not to mention the filth and stench of the average Indian city where people shit openly in the streets and the air and water are so fouled with smog, raw sewage and garbage as to be practically unbreathable and unusable. Operating in India is like operating a space station. You need a walled compound with guards and razor wire, your own backup generators with enough diesel to run for days off grid, an extra powerful HVAC system to purify what passes for air over there before it's recirculated inside your building and food service with on site water treatment. All of this costs money and pretty soon you're not only not saving money by outsourcing but losing money. Of course the Indians work very hard to conceal these facts and they are very good salesmen, but when you cut through their bullshit it doesn't take long to see that you've been had.

    31. Re:Not always a good idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So when all of these companies cut the standard of living in the US, who is going to buy products? Many companies say, "We don't serve the consumer market". CEOs who state that should be fired. Every single company serves the consumer market, with the exception of companies that sell to the government. If you don't sell directly to consumers, your customers do. When their sales drop, so do yours. It becomes a death spiral. So all these companies trying to improve the bottom line are merely committing Seppuku. So while you may improve you bottom line for a few years, you will eventual go out of business. I've seen this in a number of companies I've worked for.

    32. Re:Not always a good idea by Jack+Griffin · · Score: 1

      With a local order taker, that person sits there whether orders come on or not so you pay for idle time. By outsourcing, you get the benefits of scale, and the client only pays a fee per call, so can manage costs better.
      You get ice cream machine broken/rude operator issues even with local workers, so this makes no difference.

    33. Re:Not always a good idea by Ash-Fox · · Score: 1

      Why not offshore US workers to somewhere cheaper? I'm surprised no one's proactively creating a tech hub in Latin America,

      I'm trying to do something similar at my own company (although in Europe), I've been very sorely disappointed by how few takers we've managed to get. Most of which lack actual enthusiasm for any of the work and have been too lazy to even do minimum research on what they're even applying for.

      --
      Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
    34. Re:Not always a good idea by Ash-Fox · · Score: 1

      If the server or client you are doing work on is physically located here in the states, you have to have a physical presence here, and those workers are working at that physical location, being paid US wages, Paying US taxes, and following US laws. You get to register with the government, and not only do they get to tap your network connection onsite and you have zero privileges as to privacy, you get to pay an admin fee for it too. Your business address can be a rack of systems in a data center. They are also no overtime-exempt workers that get to work out of a rack, those people have to be physically in the US. So management, IT Admin, software dev, and so forth are out of question.

      I've seen regulation similar to what you describe in one country, this resulted in expensive consultancies that bought 'products' from their parent companies (in the UK, US etc) to meet demands of their clients. The consultants really had no influence due to the nature of regulations set in place and I've seen some pretty awful infrastructures and solutions that were delivered because of this and they were the only workable options. How would you propose that is prevented?

      --
      Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
    35. Re:Not always a good idea by Ash-Fox · · Score: 1

      Every single product I've seen shipped offshore for "cheaper" labor has ultimately resulted in massive cost overruns and a product that doesn't meet expectations (at best) and frequently just doesn't work. There's a lot to be said about being able to work with your business face to face or at least in the same daylight hours when you're both awake.

      I'm guessing you decided to filter out the companies that moved to Ireland, Germany, France and the UK from that list of companies for cheaper operational costs?

      --
      Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
    36. Re:Not always a good idea by NostalgiaForInfinity · · Score: 1

      I've seen projects work when off-shored as well as fail miserably. The reason they usually fail miserably is managing the time-space problem. Lots of managers do the MBWA thing--management by walking around--which doesn't work very well in these situations.

      True. But the result of keeping foreign workers out of the US won't be that US companies will hire US workers at higher salaries to be close to US management, it will be that management itself moves to foreign countries. That happens either by the US company creating foreign subsidiaries to take advantage over lower labor costs, or by foreign companies out-competing US companies, like what we have seen with consumer electronics and many other industries.

    37. Re:Not always a good idea by NostalgiaForInfinity · · Score: 1

      Let's say Alphabet, or some other large corp, are working on a new project that will take 3 years and employ 100 people. But the budget can only support 60 people over 2 years.

      Companies like Google, Microsoft, Apple, and IBM have tech employees all over the world. It looks like Google has development in Brazil, Switzerland, and China; I'd guess they also have labs in India. In my experience, these companies hire you close to where people want to work and where they can get a visa. If they want you and they can't get you an H1-B visa, they'll hire you in Europe or Asia instead.

    38. Re:Not always a good idea by NostalgiaForInfinity · · Score: 1

      LMOL yeah float that canard won't you. NO SINGLE US CORPORATION HAS MOVED OVER SEAS

      You must have missed all the brouhaha over "corporate inversions". That's what "moving overseas" means: moving your headquarters there. Obviously, companies don't just drop all US sales and offices when they do that.

      More importantly, though, a lot of companies don't move overseas because they don't know how to; instead, they just go out of business. That's what happened with a lot of consumer electronics, computers, and appliances.

    39. Re:Not always a good idea by dpidcoe · · Score: 1

      By outsourcing, you get the benefits of scale, and the client only pays a fee per call, so can manage costs better.

      We're talking about a fast food restaurant. The costs of the call center infrastructure, fragility introduced to the system (ever been to a drive thru when the speaker is broken and there's a worker standing there taking orders by hand? Good luck doing that if you've got a call center), etc. really outweigh the savings from not having a minimum wage worker (who presumably can be cleaning or interfacing with dine-in customers or whatever when not busy taking orders).

      You get ice cream machine broken/rude operator issues even with local workers, so this makes no difference.

      Did you not read the justification after the ice cream machine breaking example? The entire point is that a remote order taker wouldn't know it was broken and would take the order, whereas a local person would and could inform the customer. The entire point about rude local workers is that you can handle it rather than file some random complaint to be filed away as a statistic against some faceless remote worker somewhere (if in fact, they were actually rude. It could have just been an asshole customer, at which point having local people is great because presumably a good manager would know his people and know the correct side to take).

    40. Re:Not always a good idea by Jack+Griffin · · Score: 1

      The costs of the call center infrastructure, ...outweigh the savings from not having a minimum wage worker

      Well quite clearly the savings are there, otherwise McDonalds wouldn't be doing it. Say what you like about their food, but McDonalds has a good track record with finding even minuscule gains in efficiency to improve margins.

      You get ice cream machine broken/rude operator issues even with local workers, so this makes no difference.

      Did you not read the justification after the ice cream machine breaking example? The entire point is that a remote order taker wouldn't know it was broken and would take the order,

      This is trivial with any sort of automation. How do you think NOCs work? There aren't teams of engineers all crawling around data centres to figure out when a HDD has failed.

      whereas a local person would and could inform the customer

      I can only assume you've never been to a fast food restaurant. The order taker is a monkey, who can easily be replaced by another monkey who can take more orders per hour by consolidating all orders to a centralised location.

    41. Re:Not always a good idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Companies are going to do whatever makes the most money. The H1-B program gets them cheap labor in the US. Take away cheap labor, jobs will simply move offshore. If the labor is at least based in the US, those workers are still participating in the US economy.

      ONLY IF YOU ALLOW IT, AND IT SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED, TWIT!

  7. Dammit! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's bad enough that you give my job to some foreign worker, but now your going to pay them twice as much as you were paying me?

    You SUCK!

    1. Re:Dammit! by bobbied · · Score: 0

      Way to miss the point... Do you work for CNN or MSNBC?

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
    2. Re:Dammit! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There needs to be an accepted notation for when a thread run's into Poe's Law ... the same way "Godwinned" has entered into common parlance.

      captcha: awakened

    3. Re:Dammit! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What would really suck is if they go ahead and pay the $100k+ to H1Bs instead of hire local talent. It just might be doable if they save the costs of benefits. Backfire!

    4. Re:Dammit! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Right On

    5. Re:Dammit! by naris · · Score: 1

      He most likely works for Fox News.

    6. Re:Dammit! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's bad enough that you give my job to some foreign worker, but now your going to pay them twice as much as you were paying me?

      You SUCK!

      Way to miss the point... Do you work for CNN or MSNBC?

      woosh....

    7. Re:Dammit! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Way to miss the joke.

    8. Re:Dammit! by j-beda · · Score: 1

      What would really suck is if they go ahead and pay the $100k+ to H1Bs instead of hire local talent. It just might be doable if they save the costs of benefits. Backfire!

      Forcing a company to pay higher wages for workers could have a negative impact on the company, but in general it has benifits for the local economy and the tax basis. The company is supposed to be hiring local talent where available, so the local talent should be happy to see the H1Bs being paid more as it should result in the local talent being more likley to be hired at wages they are willing to work at.

      If there is currently local talent going unhired, increasing the wages of H1Bs might make them more attactive to be hired, and if it does not then they are no worse off then they currently are.

    9. Re:Dammit! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's bad enough that you give my job to some foreign worker, but now your going to pay them twice as much as you were paying me?

      You SUCK!

      Exactly. They should be raising EVERYONE's minimum wage to $110k..

  8. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by phantomfive · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Ted Cruz used to be the Republican candidate who I considered the most arrogant, and most annoying to listen to (he started running for president years ago!).
    Sometimes things change.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  9. That he may be by Pollux · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't like Ted Cruz. I don't like that he has double-standards. I think he's a hypocrite. And I don't like the platform he has chosen to run on.

    But a good idea is a good idea. And when someone we disagree with shares a good idea, we should unite behind it, rather than censor it because of its source. If we don't, we just divide this nation further.

    1. Re:That he may be by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 4, Insightful

      But a good idea is a good idea.

      It's not though. That salary might be low in some places and high in others. It might be low in one industry or high in another. In my area/industry that's actually really low, but there are a lot of H1Bs here. Additionally, salaries change over time, do we need a federal fiat every time? Will we have to fight for "minimum indentured servant wage increase" every N years?

      H1Bs should stop being granted. Offer green cards to present holders, but no more new ones. Either they come in with a green card and you take the risk that they leave or suck, or they don't come in.

    2. Re:That he may be by Fire_Wraith · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'd say it's a better idea than the current setup - which isn't saying much.

      The H-1B program definitely needs to be massively overhauled. I wouldn't say it needs to be permanent residency, but it certainly needs to entitle the holder to freely move to another job, just like any other worker. The companies also need to be made to pay enough in fees for sponsoring it that they won't be making money - let's say, $100k per year of the visa. There also shouldn't be any rebates if the worker quits, so there's incentive to pay the person well and treat them well. For people who really represent such critical skills that there really is no American available to do the job, that shouldn't be an issue at all.

    3. Re:That he may be by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No its not a good idea. Why does Ted Cruz want foreigners to make more money than the average American. Just tax the hell out of it. $1m for each H1-B worker you employ. Suddenly cheaper to employ Americans isn't it?

    4. Re:That he may be by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      This makes it an imperfect idea, perhaps... but not a bad one.

      The main argument against H-1B visas (at least the most vocal argument) is that big corps are using cheap foreign labor to cut costs, at the expense of American workers. Do you disagree?

      Putting a high threshold on entry is an elegant solution. Much more creative and clever than the usual thinking present in Washington. Maybe the exact numbers proposed are imperfect. Those can be fiddled with easily enough. But the broad concept of a minimum H-1B wage allows the original spirit of the H1B program to soldier forth -bringing the best and the brightest from around the world to help the USA- while reducing the abuse as laid out in the above paragraph.

    5. Re:That he may be by thaylin · · Score: 1

      It does not matter if it is low because it can always be higher...That it may be high in some areas is not really an issue either. You should only be hiring someone for that position if you cannot find local talent for it, by law, therefore the pay should be hiring than normal.

      --
      When you cant win, ad hominem.
    6. Re:That he may be by thaylin · · Score: 5, Informative

      Umm you do realize that if H1-Bs are paid more than American workers it would be cheaper to employ Americans, right?

      --
      When you cant win, ad hominem.
    7. Re:That he may be by ClickOnThis · · Score: 2

      That salary might be low in some places and high in others. It might be low in one industry or high in another.

      This.

      H1-B jobs are supposed to be paid at the prevailing wage for the position and the industry it's in. We can be cynical about how some employers scoff at this and misuse H1-Bs, but the solution is to enforce the existing law, not break it with an unworkable across-the-board salary threshold.

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    8. Re:That he may be by Faust6 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's a good idea to jump on it (read: appropriate) early, because it's a rather left-leaning populist idea. If the Dems pushed this bill first he'd have to cry bloody murder.

    9. Re:That he may be by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Cruz is just trying to position himself as a less of loose cannon than Trump by appropriating Trumps positions. He's worse than Trump in a lot of ways.

    10. Re:That he may be by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How is this a good idea? It will only stifle free market competition. I'm sure the leftist love the idea though, seeing how they believe the employers are required to pay them more than their effort is worth in the global market. The reality of the situation is that if you want good pay, you need to have some good skills to offer in return. Ordinary doesn't cut it anymore, because there are millions of ordinary people on the planet willing and able to do your job. Maybe you can force some companies to pay extraordinary amounts for ordinary work through legislation, but it's only a temporary solution as those companies will perish in global competition.

    11. Re:That he may be by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The main argument against H-1B visas (at least the most vocal argument) is that big corps are using cheap foreign labor to cut costs, at the expense of American workers. Do you disagree?

      It is one strong argument citing abuse. Other good arguments are: second class (non)citizens, lack of freedom to negotiate salaries, lack of freedom to leave bad employers, not to mention idealistic failure.

      Putting a high threshold on entry is an elegant solution.

      It is not high for say: engineering R&D, it's quite low, entry level in some fields. It may be high for IT... hard for me to say. However it WILL sound high to a lot of voting americans, particularly the ones voting republican. It is a political stunt. Divide your enemies against each other, most americans can't differentiate between "wealthier middle class" and "filthy rich". They do this all the time in union areas to try to deflate strikes.

      bringing the best and the brightest from around the world to help the USA-

      Or, we give qualified candidate first dibs at green cards, and allow them to negotiate with their own employer. Some might believe this is more in the spirit of "free market" than a federal fiat is. Except we don't like free markets when they work against the rich guy.

    12. Re:That he may be by Wycliffe · · Score: 2, Interesting

      That salary might be low in some places and high in others. It might be low in one industry or high in another.

      This.

      H1-B jobs are supposed to be paid at the prevailing wage for the position and the industry it's in. We can be cynical about how some employers scoff at this and misuse H1-Bs, but the solution is to enforce the existing law, not break it with an unworkable across-the-board salary threshold.

      The prevailing wage is not good enough because it can be gamed and also because foreign workers can be treated more harshly because they can't quit. A better solution would be pay the h1b holder the prevailing wage but then pay an additional 50% tax on their salary on top. I wouldn't be opposed to even a 100% tax. That money should then be donated to organizations that are able to train americans to do whatever job that apparently has no local talent (colleges, trade schools, etc.. depending on what industry the h1b1 is being granted in).

    13. Re:That he may be by erice · · Score: 3, Interesting

      That salary might be low in some places and high in others. It might be low in one industry or high in another.

      This.

      H1-B jobs are supposed to be paid at the prevailing wage for the position and the industry it's in. We can be cynical about how some employers scoff at this and misuse H1-Bs, but the solution is to enforce the existing law, not break it with an unworkable across-the-board salary threshold.

      You need both: a requirement to pay at least the prevailing wage and a requirement to pay at least a fixed wage.

      Prevailing wage should generally be best but, without a hard number, it is too easy to game. That is what the fixed minimum would come in. No matter how you classify a position to try to work around the prevailing wage requirement, you can't pay less than the fixed minimum.

    14. Re: That he may be by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Another problem that would likey come up is employers or lower down management requiring them to return much of their 110,000 salary back to their boss in cash or get deported.

    15. Re:That he may be by godrik · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I aggree with this. The main problem is that H1B employees are fairly "trapped" in their job. That creates an artificial pool of employees that are likely not to leave the company which drives bargaining power down for the workers.

      Also you could tie future H1B visa for a company to the number of retained H1B.

    16. Re:That he may be by Bartles · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It doesn't need to be overhauled. It needs to be ended.

    17. Re:That he may be by Bartles · · Score: 2

      A market with H1-B visas is not a free market.

    18. Re:That he may be by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The main problem is that H1B employees are fairly "trapped" in their job.

      They're not "trapped". They can leave any time they want to.

      They just can't switch jobs in the United States. But, apparently, even with this restriction, they have it far better here than they did in their home countries. Otherwise, they would leave.

    19. Re:That he may be by Rob+Y. · · Score: 2

      The H-1B abuse that's been in the news lately is by Indian tech outsourcing firms, and it has nothing to do with low wage H-1B workers. These firms use H-1B visas to bring temporary workers to the US for the explicit purpose of documenting the jobs currently being done by US workers. Then most of the US workers are fired and replaced with offshore workers a prevailing Indian rates. This should be flat-out illegal. Having to pay these guys $100K wouldn't stop this abuse, because they're only in place for a few months at most, and the savings from offshoring dwarf the expense. I'll leave my rant about how badly offshore workers duplicate the work of the US workers they replaced - I've made that here before.

      --
      Posted from my Android phone. Oh, I can change this? There, that's better...
    20. Re:That he may be by bondsbw · · Score: 1

      Furthermore, that consideration is also often applied to the standard federal minimum wage. If you require documented workers to make a certain wage, then it will encourage the use of undocumented workers.

      --
      All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
    21. Re:That he may be by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just link it to inflation. Every fixed dollar amount in the law should be.

    22. Re:That he may be by Locke2005 · · Score: 2

      Fair enough, H-1B workers should get paid TWICE the prevailing wage for their job description, then let's see if companies still argue they need H-1B workers because can't find any Americans to do the job, when the reality is they can't find Americans to do the job at the price they are paying for H-1B indentured servants. Anybody want to argue that not being able to change jobs because you're only in the country at the behest of a sponsor doesn't make you an indentured servant? Didn't think so..

      --
      I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    23. Re:That he may be by bigpat · · Score: 2, Informative

      The H-1B program definitely needs to be massively overhauled. I wouldn't say it needs to be permanent residency, but it certainly needs to entitle the holder to freely move to another job, just like any other worker.

      What do you mean? H1B workers are perfectly capable of getting another job... they just have to get their new employer to file a petition for a new H1B visa... which includes (I'm sure this won't scare off any hiring managers):

      Initiating a new H1B visa application including

      Two or three most recent pay stubs. (Not required if the existing H-1B was never used and the transfer is applied from outside the U.S.)

      Copy of your most recent H1-B approval notice, Form I-797[1]

      Copy of all pages of your passport[2] (including blank ones), which is valid for your entire requested period of stay in the U.S.

      Photocopy of Form I-94[3]. Do NOT send the original. You are not required to send the original. If you sent the original by mistake, and if you need it back, you can file form G-884 with USCIS. G-884 is not available online. You have to request it by mail.
      More details[4].

      Copy of the most current visa stamp[5]. Visa stamp does not have to be unexpired.

      Latest resume.

      Copy of social security card[6].

      All previous approval notices.

      Copy of all degrees, diplomas, transcripts and mark sheets.

      Copy of work experience letters, offer letters and relieving letters.

      W-2's and tax returns, if applicable.

      -http://www.immihelp.com/visas/h1b/h1-transfer.html

      Best part is that you can start your new job right away... only drawback being that if the application gets rejected by the government then you need to immediately stop working and leave the country... but no biggie. Easy right!

    24. Re:That he may be by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I see this "he's a hypocrite with double standards" stuff on feeds from friends and acquaintances of mostly left-of-left-left-leaning persuasion but...I can never get them to substantiate or point me to a reliable source of documentation on what they're actually referring to with their characterizations. Meanwhile all of Cruz's former colleagues (including left-of-left-left types everywhere from academia to clerks of the Supreme Court) say he has one of the finest minds and best work ethics they've seen--among other praise.

      You mind providing something that isn't a propaganda rag so I can check into it? I really would, quite sincerely, be grateful. May even go beat-up the types who say this stuff but merely as gossip, rather than something they've seen established for themselves.

    25. Re:That he may be by jmcvetta · · Score: 1

      Very sensible idea. But how to set the fixed minimum?

    26. Re:That he may be by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But a good idea is a good idea.

      It's not though. That salary might be low in some places and high in others. It might be low in one industry or high in another. In my area/industry that's actually really low, but there are a lot of H1Bs here. Additionally, salaries change over time, do we need a federal fiat every time? Will we have to fight for "minimum indentured servant wage increase" every N years?

      H1Bs should stop being granted. Offer green cards to present holders, but no more new ones. Either they come in with a green card and you take the risk that they leave or suck, or they don't come in.

      This won't work for the simple reason - diversity quotas.

      Per year, only 10% of the green cards can be given to a certain country.

      70-80% of H1B is from India, next is China with 10-15% and the followed by others.

      This is the reason why people are in H1Bs for ages. You were supposed to transition from H1B to green card within a year or so but diversity quotas have made the wait over 15 years.

    27. Re:That he may be by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 2

      You know, not all the world is a teeming cesspit. I've had H-1B coworkers from first world countries who like living in America and want to be a part of it but who couldn't otherwise migrate in a reasonable timeframe. They're not escaping fleeing London and Paris.

      --
      Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
    28. Re: That he may be by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      No kidding... How can Cruz be so certain an hourly minimum wage is terrible, but a minimum wage for foreign resident tech workers is good?

      The rationale is no different than saying we need a higher hourly minimum wage so that he rest of the US population doesn't have to provide food stamps for someone with a full-time job. You know: Walmart is abusing the US taxpayer system by paying employees too little to live on. But Cruz would NEVER support that line of thinking.

    29. Re:That he may be by Khashishi · · Score: 1

      There's a bunch of nationalists who don't want foreigners in the US regardless of the effect on wages, although few will say so directly.

    30. Re: That he may be by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just think it through- why would he rail against the existence of a federal minimum wage yet _propose_ a minimum wage for H1B holders? Because he has no ideological consistency. Feature or bug?

    31. Re:That he may be by ranton · · Score: 1

      They're not "trapped". They can leave any time they want to.

      They just can't switch jobs in the United States.

      That is effectively the same thing, or at least as it pertains to peoples' complaint about the H1B program. Everyone understands these workers have it better in the US and this is why they are easily exploited. To stop employers from being able to exploit them, they would need to be allowed to easily find new jobs in the US.

      By "trapped" the GP means more trapped than a native worker. The goal would be to make an H1B worker have the same flexibility as a native worker for as long as their H1B lasts. This way they could demand competitive wages like everyone else.

      --
      -- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
    32. Re:That he may be by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Silicon Valley-based SoftE hiring manager here.

      It's not easy to game. Really it's not, and the government is surprisingly good at spotting BS (eventually--you might be able to get away with it for a while, but definitely not forever).

      The pattern of:

            * Undergrad at foreign school
            * A few years of (IMO generally crap) experience overseas and
            * Grad in US school
            * OPT in US for ~ 2years

      Means that, on paper, candidates should make 1.3x what a fresh-grad US citizen makes, despite being barely on-par practically. So you have one of two things to deal with:

            1. Pay 1.3x for the supply you can get (and that will be somewhat constrained by law) or
            2. Work super hard to avoid that trap if you're a manager and get someone with existing GC or better.

      (I tend toward the latter, which is easy to argue because dollars) ...AND up until fairly recently, we couldn't legally ask the question "Do you require sponsorship to work in the US?" before offer time so I've wasted tons of time talking to candidates (and getting offers to candidates) that we couldn't convert because H1- or GC-required salaries exceeded what the candidate was actually worth.

      Translation: The system is broken, but not in the way you think, and candidates are plenty good at gaming their side too (at least if they were smart enough to hire in the first place ;-) ).

      I'm all for immigration, and the grumbling political masses are quite correct that OPT is being gamed heavily by everyone, but prevailing wage actually benefits candidates more than anyone thinks (to the point that I'm personally disincentivized to hire H1-Bs).

    33. Re:That he may be by Wycliffe · · Score: 1

      Silicon Valley-based SoftE hiring manager here.

      It's not easy to game. Really it's not, and the government is surprisingly good at spotting BS (eventually--you might be able to get away with it for a while, but definitely not forever).

      If it's not easy to game then there should still be a 30% tax to hire h1b. H1b's are supposed to be a last resort option when there is a labor shortage. If you really have exhausted your options and can't find any local talent then a 30% "finders fee" paid to the government to help prevent future shortages shouldn't be a problem.

    34. Re:That he may be by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We are engineers here, right?

      Incremental steps are a good thing.

    35. Re:That he may be by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just shitcan the H-1B program. Outside labor can go get a work permit, just like they did before the rules went into effect.

      The H-1B program has been so abused, it basically is to the average worker what a scab is to a union worker. Not the fault of the immigrant who wants a better life... but the only reason he was allowed in, is that he works cheaper, and will be FEROCIOUSLY loyal, because he knows that if he gets fired, he goes back to the place he came from. However, it doesn't do them good, because in 90 days, they get sent back home, and there is another face fresh off the boat.

      Don't forget the side benefits. I've seen some H-1Bs come to the job in their second or third trimester of pregnancy, just so they can have an anchor baby on US soil. This guarentees that they are not being deported.

      There is no place for the H-1B program in the US. It is just to abused to let it continue. Either have people get a work permit or green card (which is fine), or just be honest and offshore stuff.

    36. Re:That he may be by tompaulco · · Score: 1

      That salary might be low in some places and high in others. It might be low in one industry or high in another.

      This.

      H1-B jobs are supposed to be paid at the prevailing wage for the position and the industry it's in. We can be cynical about how some employers scoff at this and misuse H1-Bs, but the solution is to enforce the existing law, not break it with an unworkable across-the-board salary threshold.

      Prevailing wage is not paid because the workers are a) abused into working far more than 40 hours a week so they can replace greater than 1 citizen and b) given entry level titles and wages and expected to perform the senior level job of the citizen they replaced.
      Even if prevailing wage WAS paid, this is not high enough. Could they not find anyone at prevailing wage? Then they did not offer enough. People who have positions are not going to jump ship for the exact same salary. You probably need to add 15 to 20% to that just to entice people over. That doesn't mean you need an H1b, that just means you need to offer more money.

      --
      If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
    37. Re:That he may be by tompaulco · · Score: 1

      Umm you do realize that if H1-Bs are paid more than American workers it would be cheaper to employ Americans, right?

      Indeed. The H1b program is supposed to bring in highly skilled talent in specific areas which can't be found in America. If it is cheaper to higher an American with that talent, that indicates that there IS an American with that talent and therefore there is no need to hire an H1B for that position.

      --
      If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
    38. Re: That he may be by tompaulco · · Score: 1

      Just think it through- why would he rail against the existence of a federal minimum wage yet _propose_ a minimum wage for H1B holders? Because he has no ideological consistency. Feature or bug?

      Think it through even more. A federal minimum wage encourages employers to employ illegal foreign nationals in America. A minimum wage on H1B discourages employers from employing legal (in this case) foreign nationals in America.

      --
      If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
    39. Re: That he may be by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hmm nobody does all that themselves. Companies pay immigration attorneys who handle all the paperwork. It costs about 5k in legal fees but thats basically a rounding error relative to annual payroll and benefits (and explains why you might want to pay 5-10k less for an equivalent H1B employee).

    40. Re:That he may be by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You forgot to mention that the job has to be vetted as well. The position must be posted and you have to show that you cannot find another qualified worker. (to get around this you have to tailor your offering to the employee. Instead of posting for a realtime systems engineer, you post for a realtime system engineer with 3 years experience in diabetes metering and insulin injection systems and a medical technologist bachelor's degree. Then there's only one person who fits the bill)

    41. Re:That he may be by jimngo · · Score: 1

      But a good idea is a good idea.

      I don't mind good ideas, but this isn't one. The problem is an engineering shortage in the U.S. There are currently way more good ideas than there are engineers to implement them. H1Bs at least keep the job in the U.S. with the option of filling it with an American if we can ever get a decent number recruited into STEM and properly trained.

      If you forcibly reduce the ability to use H1Bs then companies will either become less competitive and/or go out of business or they hire offshore consulting firms to do the work. Either way, the job is gone.

    42. Re:That he may be by swillden · · Score: 1

      The H1b program is supposed to bring in highly skilled talent in specific areas which can't be found in America.

      This is true, but I think it contains some assumptions which are not. It seems to imply that whether or not talent can be found in America is a boolean. Suppose you have a successful, fast-growing tech company with lots of hot projects and more starting up all the time. Suppose, for example, you're Google, and you need to hire 100 highly-capable software engineers per week to keep up with your various teams' demand for headcount. You employ thousands of full-time recruiters who are doing everything possible to find these people, including actively recruiting from competitors. You offer large referral bonuses to existing employees. You advertise (but carefully, because ads tend to find very few good people). You bring in and interview thousands of candidates every week, but you only find about 90 per week who meet the criteria. You offer them lots of money and perks so that 89 of the 90 offers you extend every week are accepted.

      Where do you get the other 11? Is H1B hiring a legitimate choice? I mean, you're doing everything you know how to do to find and hire Americans, but you can't find enough. If you only hire Americans you'll fall short of your annual hiring goals by 520 engineers, which will require you to cut some projects and reduce others. On the other hand, it's not true that there are no qualified engineers in the country; heck you hire 89 of them every week! But you need 100.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    43. Re:That he may be by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A market with H1-B visas is not a free market.

      A market without H1-B visas is not a free market,

    44. Re:That he may be by will_die · · Score: 1

      Compared to the things that had to be done for me to get a job in Europe yes.

    45. Re: That he may be by el_chicano · · Score: 1

      A federal minimum wage encourages employers to employ illegal foreign nationals in America.

      Nope, a lack of morality, ethics and patriotism encourages employers to employ illegal foreign nationals in America.

      --
      A man who wants nothing is invincible
    46. Re:That he may be by KGIII · · Score: 1

      Here's a tiny amount of information about Bernie Sanders' thoughts on the subject of the H-1B visas:
      http://www.computerworld.com/a...

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    47. Re: That he may be by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wonder how you got into this country

    48. Re: That he may be by Bartles · · Score: 1

      A market without H1-b visa's may be a free market. One with h1-b's cannot.

    49. Re:That he may be by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      By "trapped" the GP means more trapped than a native worker. The goal would be to make an H1B worker have the same flexibility as a native worker for as long as their H1B lasts. This way they could demand competitive wages like everyone else.

      I've changed jobs on an H1-B. It's already easy, and your old employer doesn't find out.

    50. Re:That he may be by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      which includes (I'm sure this won't scare off any hiring managers):

      That list seems long, but it's actually all stuff people on an H1-B have around anyway; it's mostly the same documents they submitted for their original H1-B. It means no extra work for the "hiring manager". The actual submission is usually handled by an attorney anyway.

      Best part is that you can start your new job right away... only drawback being that if the application gets rejected by the government then you need to immediately stop working and leave the country... but no biggie. Easy right!

      That's bullshit. If your H1-B transfer is rejected, you can simply continue working as you did before. However, H1-B transfers are quite routine and simple.

    51. Re:That he may be by Duhavid · · Score: 1

      The H1B program in it's entirety is a market distortion.

      The reality is that if companies want workers with good skills, they should have some good wages to offer in return.
      Ordinary should not cut it. But, because they have the reins of government, they can now force lower wages.

      --
      emt 377 emt 4
    52. Re:That he may be by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why would anyone sane want to make replacing American workers easy? I am trying to figure out who to petition to require DNA checks and interviewing the extended friends of family of the worker to slow things down a bit more.

  10. the mouse does not want this and if you want that by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    the mouse does not want this and if you want that free VIP trip for your family we need an copyright extension and no $15 HR min wage.

  11. Great idea! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually, if he really wanted to get rid of them he would propose a bill to end the program, right? Wouldn't that make more sense than offering more money? I could see this actually passing, and the companies hiring H1B taking a percentage of it.

    1. Re:Great idea! by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 1

      Actually, if he really wanted to get rid of them he would propose a bill to end the program, right?

      The program was SUPPOSED to bring in a handful of rare talents. It was corrupted to bring in wholesale replacements for native white-collar workers (just as illegal immigration brings in wholesale replacements for blue-collar workers, breaking unions and depressing blue-collar wages).

      Putting a realistic floor on the H1B salaries, and prioritizing the visas so they go to the highest-paid guest workers first, should bring the corrupt gaming of the system to a screeching halt while still serving the original purpose for the few special talents that ARE hard enough to get that they can command the high price.

      (And I say that as someone who IS a high-priced native talent and would still face competition from H1Bs at that price floor. I believe I can hold my own, even in the estimation of fad-driven pointy-haired-bosses, against people at and above that price range, but not against the (IMHO incorrect) perception that three or more lesser talents might provide more value for the same bucks.)

      --
      Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
    2. Re:Great idea! by MoarSauce123 · · Score: 1

      Yes, but no. You are right on what the original intent is, but forcing H1Bs to compete with high paying jobs is the wrong approach. The simplest of all fixes is to increase the ridiculously low filing fee to a six figure value. Rather than setting 110k as minimum wage for H1B make that the non-refundable filing fee. That will limit H1B truly to those positions where talent cannot be found in the US. For all other cases it is cheaper to hire local talent or pay for moving expenses and provide a sign on bonus. It is even cheaper to pay the education of potential candidates. In regards to your post's footnote, the TSA generated a lot of jobs. It is a massive government employment program and sadly that is the only thing it accomplished. It did not make air travel any safer than it already was.

  12. Benefits? Vacation" by MDMurphy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    First "loophole" I could think of off the top of my head would be: "Sure we'll pay them $110K". Oh, those jobs include no paid health benefits, no vacation, no sick leave. That could drop the "cost" of the employee down to someone making $70K.

    While that sounds bad at first, it wouldn't really be horrible, heck I might even be interested in having all the cash my employer was willing to put out and leave it up to me to spend it. For couples where the other spouse has a good deal on insurance, it might be nice to have the money rather than overlapping policies.

    1. Re:Benefits? Vacation" by gQuigs · · Score: 2

      >For couples where the other spouse has a good deal on insurance, it might be nice to have the money rather than overlapping policies.
      So ask for it. My wife has negotiated higher wages because she doesn't need to use her companies' health insurance.

    2. Re:Benefits? Vacation" by sunderland56 · · Score: 2

      It not only sounds bad, it sounds illegal. H1B workers must, by law, be paid the same as a resident worker, and get the same benefits.

      Which raises a question: I'm not sure if it is legal to pay a H1B worker *more* than a normal worker. So, if you're forced to pay a H1B worker $110K, and your normal staff currently happens to earn $95K, do you (a) raise your salaries to match, or (b) tick off your current staff so they quit?

    3. Re:Benefits? Vacation" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It not only sounds bad, it sounds illegal. H1B workers must, by law, be paid the same as a resident worker, and get the same benefits.

      Which raises a question: I'm not sure if it is legal to pay a H1B worker *more* than a normal worker. So, if you're forced to pay a H1B worker $110K, and your normal staff currently happens to earn $95K, do you (a) raise your salaries to match, or (b) tick off your current staff so they quit?

      Yeah - you don't get it. You FIRE the H1B workers hire another American, thus saving money, decreasing unemployment, keeping consumer spending in the USA

    4. Re:Benefits? Vacation" by bennebw · · Score: 1

      Since Congress are the ones taking this up, they can fix your legality concerns given the fact that the laws they make are what determines what is legal and what is not.

    5. Re:Benefits? Vacation" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tell that to every company who has replaced workers this way. If someone isn't making at least this amount, then they aren't valuable enough to insource. We have plenty of people who can write crappy code for 50K/year. We should encourage well paid immigrants to come and *stay* in the country. If they are valuable enough to bring here in the first place, they are valuable enough to incentivize to stay.

    6. Re:Benefits? Vacation" by DarkOx · · Score: 1

      No because you should only be using an H1B worker if there was no domestic talent available to do the work.

      There are a lot of jobs in the high five figure low six figure range, and this is a BIG country. If the market rate for the work you are seeking is only around $95K than it must be the case there is a supply of available labor. If you are trying to put an H1B worker in that seat its almost certainly because you are trying to game the system. You want to higher someone for $70K when the position ought to command $95 or your working conditions are shit compared to your competitors and you want someone who can't easily leave for green pastures.

      Putting a price floor for H1B workers is probably a good way to protect American workers from the system being abused while keep a guest worker program in place so a company that really needs the one guy or gal who wrote a PHD thesis on the Psychology of Sheep and has 10 years .Net development experience can get that person.

      --
      Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
    7. Re:Benefits? Vacation" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      [Old tech bubble flashback] Could stock options be a part of that $110k?

    8. Re:Benefits? Vacation" by phantomfive · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Many tech companies already pay more than $100k per employee. Microsoft, Apple, Google, etc. Making a minimum wage is a benefit for those companies, because they will be able to get more H1-B visas for themselves, whereas companies in middle-America where cost of living is lower won't be able to afford hiring people on the visa anymore.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    9. Re:Benefits? Vacation" by fatwilbur · · Score: 2

      Do you realize how f*cked up it sounds to someone outside of the US that you'd need to negotiate health insurance with a company that's hiring you? Do you negotiate police response coverage and home fire insurance as well?

    10. Re:Benefits? Vacation" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ....in other words you want to be a contractor?

      Its actually pretty sweet, I've been contracting for the last 4 years.

    11. Re:Benefits? Vacation" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, no, you negotiate home fire insurance with your insurance agent with post-wage money, just like you'd negotiate auto insurance or life insurance or liability insurance or the like. Because insurance is a financial product to reimburse people for unexpected expenses, not a fucking maintenance and service contract.

      The deep and abiding inability of people, especially outside the US, to tell the difference between medical services and financial products is just an indication of how fucked up their thinking is.

    12. Re:Benefits? Vacation" by debrisslider · · Score: 1

      Not a loophole. You have to offer the exact same benefits - health, vacation, sick leave, stock, etc - to H-1Bs as you do to American workers, and prove it in the case of an audit. They are free to opt out of benefits, but you do have to offer them.

      And lest you think there are ways the company can coerce the employee... one complaint from an anonymous disgruntled employee can trigger an audit. Even better, an anonymous complaint from a competitor who knows your practices because your disgruntled employee transferred to them can do it too.

    13. Re:Benefits? Vacation" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The H-1B worker must be paid at the higher of:

      The prevailing wage of the classified position in the geographic area

      The actual wage of other workers at your company with similar skills, job duties, job title, etc.

      Now, if your resident workers are all senior staff with 10+ years and Masters degrees, you can still hire junior H-1Bs with 5 years and a Bachelor's and pay much lower. And even among those workers you can have wage disparities if you can prove they are not 'similar' enough.

    14. Re:Benefits? Vacation" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wtf are you talking about? Most middle class families could never afford the $1-2k per month for decent health insurance. Having an employer include this as benefit is good for society and lower costs by being able to negotiate in volume.

    15. Re:Benefits? Vacation" by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

      But if they have more then 50 worker then have to have health benefits or they pay the fine.

    16. Re:Benefits? Vacation" by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      Yep. In fact, this figure is such an accurate cut-off for these exact companies that you've listed, that I can't help but wonder if Cruz got this bright idea courtesy of some anonymous campaign donor.

    17. Re:Benefits? Vacation" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do you realize how fucked up it sounds to many in the US that some people view the right to negotiate your own deals with your employer as some sort of chore that one shouldnt have to do?

    18. Re:Benefits? Vacation" by NostalgiaForInfinity · · Score: 1

      You don't need to negotiate health insurance with your employer if you don't want to; you can pay for it yourself, like you do in many other countries. However, many employers have negotiated group rates and there are tax advantages, which makes employment-based health insurance attractive for Americans. It's something that started because employers wanted to be more attractive to employees, and it got cemented into place with lots of special interest tax legislation.

      If you think, though, that this is a case of "the US vs the rest of the world", you really don't know much about the rest of the world. There is a wide variety of systems by which people pay for health care.

    19. Re:Benefits? Vacation" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Umm yes?
      http://www.nbcnews.com/id/39516346/ns/us_news-life/t/no-pay-no-spray-firefighters-let-home-burn/

      Firefighters let this mans house burn to the ground because he had not paid a 75 dollar fee. He even offered to pay whatever was necessary to put out the fire and they refused.
      That's ok Though because even when they did show up to keep it from spreading to a neighbors house (who had paid the fee) They wouldn't even point the hoses at the burning house. They let the mans pets all die inside as well.

    20. Re:Benefits? Vacation" by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      I checked out his donor list. Apparently Goldman has a lot of H1Bs, who get paid just above $100k. Maybe the banks are the ones?

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    21. Re:Benefits? Vacation" by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      It could be. I suspect the figure is actually similar for all organizations that use H1-Bs to supplement their main workforce during rapid expansion times or when there's otherwise a pressing need to fill an open position (i.e. when the local job market is unable to keep up), rather than replace it altogether for the sake of savings. With the former approach, salaries are basically what the market would pay for such a job in a given location, since companies effectively compete for talent, even among H1-Bs; and so all companies in the same location have similar baselines. If banks in those locations have similar demands for talent, they have to advertise a similar wage, too. And if you look on GlassDoor, $100k is basically where the bottom line is for Amazon and Microsoft, and that is also what you generally expect as a starting point for software developer in Seattle area. It's higher in the Bay area, naturally, because of higher cost of living, which is reflected in Google and Facebook figures.

      All in all, if you wanted to draw a cut-off line such that it would cover only the tech companies in Seattle and Silicon Valley (and other companies also located there and competing with them for tech talent), this amount would be just about right.

    22. Re:Benefits? Vacation" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Spouse of H1B holder does not have employment authorization

    23. Re:Benefits? Vacation" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you could hire an american

  13. Jobs will be offshored by unencode200x · · Score: 2

    I tend to agree in theory BUT the big corps will just take the H1B and a bunch of other jobs and move them elsewhere. They don't give a crap.

    Well-intentioned things like this and (some) tariffs sound like a good idea but have a tendency to not work out as intended. I wish there was an easy solution to this erosion of jobs/income.

    --

    Chance favors the prepared mind.
    Perfect is the enemy of good.
    1. Re:Jobs will be offshored by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I tend to agree in theory BUT the big corps will just take the H1B and a bunch of other jobs and move them elsewhere.

      Exactly. I am all in favor of this. It will move more software development to my country.

      You cannot change it being a global market. All you can do is compete. If you are unable to compete, protectionism will not help you in the long run.

    2. Re:Jobs will be offshored by tsotha · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If they could offshore these jobs they would already have done it.

    3. Re: Jobs will be offshored by Billly+Gates · · Score: 2

      You still lose anyway as these shops won't hire you regardless. Nothing to loose as appeasement won't win with corporations

    4. Re:Jobs will be offshored by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Every job that could be offshored profitably is already done so. Companies hire local IT staff not because they have a big heart, but because it's more profitable than offshoring. Sure, the workers in India are cheap, but trying to coordinate projects on a half day communication delay with people who have no loyalty to your business is difficult to get right. Many of the projects fail, and all that money used to offshore just gets wasted.

    5. Re:Jobs will be offshored by sclark46 · · Score: 1

      Tell this to the Disney workers: https://www.numbersusa.com/new...

    6. Re:Jobs will be offshored by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      H1B is outsourcing, not offshoring. Outsourcing is very profitable, that's why there's need for legislation like this.

    7. Re:Jobs will be offshored by Tailhook · · Score: 1

      I tend to agree in theory BUT the big corps will just take the H1B and a bunch of other jobs and move them elsewhere.

      The quota would still be filled at the higher wage, but the H1-Bs would be higher quality and possess skills for positions that are actually difficult to fill, as opposed to just cutting labor costs. So it's a net benefit to the nation.

      As for $110k still being too little for Silicon Valley et al.... whatever. It's a free country. Move. There are plenty of tech employers that exist in places where compensation is aligned better with costs. Your poverty is self-inflicted. Enjoy.

      --
      Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
    8. Re:Jobs will be offshored by oh_my_080980980 · · Score: 1

      And you can stop relying on other countries to fix you pathetic little pissant country sanjay. Fuck Off.

    9. Re:Jobs will be offshored by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If they could offshore these jobs they would already have done it.

      Yes, but in some cases these H1B jobs are actually the onsite facilitator for a foreign shop.

    10. Re:Jobs will be offshored by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep.

    11. Re:Jobs will be offshored by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Doesn't sound like he is. Sounds like your country is wanting to transfer jobs to his. That's on you, not him.

      It's quite OK: you transferred your manufacturing jobs to China. You can transfer your software jobs to India, if you want.

    12. Re:Jobs will be offshored by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Everybody belabours over how this problem is so hard and wonders and pontificates and thinks so hard on how to solve it. The answer though is so unbelievably simple and standing in front of your face. Democratic socialism is so obviously the answer to income inequality but people will dismiss it with no credible thought just on deep amygdala fear that was programmed into Western peoples sublimally that socialism will cause societal collapse. The biggest con of our species is that without the extremely wealthy we would all be in poverty.

    13. Re:Jobs will be offshored by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They did it, it failed, they expanded H1b as a result.

  14. Yeah right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    How about a $15/hr minimum wage for actual citizens?

    1. Re:Yeah right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Why? The minimum wage just normalizes out eventually anyway and the standard of living stays the same.

      So, if it costs you 1/2 an hour of work to buy that Gallon of milk at the current minimum, it's going to cost you 1/2 hour of work to buy that $7 gallon of milk when you get paid $15/hour.

      The problem is the transition time. You raise the minimum wage and *some* will get a wage increase, but *some* will get a pink slip too. Unemployment will tick up and automation will be more cost effective so some jobs will disappear forever. For a short time, a few folks will have a bit more, but soon enough inflation will eat away at their buying power and folks like you will be out crying for $20/hour..

      Leave the minimum wage alone....

    2. Re:Yeah right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      that works with regular minimum wage increases, without annual Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) adjustments to the minimum wage, things get bad and more people will live below the poverty line after a few years, when your income doesn't go up, but the cost of living does, thats simple economics. there have been far too many years between COLA increases for minimum wage, hence the request to raise it to $15, it's not about buying power, it's about livability... people in the minimum wage jobs, know they have no buying power. That comes with struggling to keep the lights on and food on the table...

    3. Re:Yeah right by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      Why? The minimum wage just normalizes out eventually anyway and the standard of living stays the same.

      Slashdot Economics 101: when in doubt, just throw up some horseshit.

      So, if it costs you 1/2 an hour of work to buy that Gallon of milk at the current minimum, it's going to cost you 1/2 hour of work to buy that $7 gallon of milk when you get paid $15/hour.

      That only assumes that the milk company has perfect pricing power. It does not. Since there is more than one milk company, there is a limit to how high the price can be raised. Since a rise in the minimum wage does not immediately raise the wages of ALL non-minimum wage workers, the effect of raising the minimum wage is not the same as saying "Every dollar is now worth TWO dollars". Rising wages have a minimal effect on inflation. For example, it's been shown that doubling the minimum wage for fast food workers would add about $0.04 to the price of a Big Mac.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    4. Re:Yeah right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, if it costs you 1/2 an hour of work to buy that Gallon of milk at the current minimum, it's going to cost you 1/2 hour of work to buy that $7 gallon of milk when you get paid $15/hour.

      It's going to take a long time for that price increase.

      The problem is the transition time

      Yes, raising the minimum wage will NOT increase prices overnight.

      Unemployment will tick up and automation will be more cost effective so some jobs will disappear forever

      Nope, you're contradicting yourself. You claimed rampant inflation, so how is it that the cost of automation also doesn't increase? Costs more to buy robots and computers now, don't forget...

    5. Re:Yeah right by operagost · · Score: 1

      Do you think it's going to work to only double the wage for fast food workers? Don't retail sales workers deserve a raise, too? How much will prices go up then? How about for janitors?

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
    6. Re:Yeah right by bondsbw · · Score: 1

      Rising wages have a minimal effect on inflation.

      Immediately, you are correct. That's because the company has to find a way to continue business while being competitive. Aside from keeping prices low, the number of employees will be reduced. The result is that prices don't double the day the new minimum wage goes into affect, but the quality goes down and more people are out of work. Eventually companies will normalize on higher prices as they all decide that it's better to do good business for more cost than bad business for less.

      Look at Seattle, they are raising the MW to $15/hour but they didn't do it all at once. They are doing it in stages, because they realize that a sudden change would cause more problems than most low-wage employers can handle. (Even so, Seattle is already witnessing some of these effects.)

      Since a rise in the minimum wage does not immediately raise the wages of ALL non-minimum wage workers,

      "Immediately" again being the key word. Skilled workers who are currently making below or near the new minimum wage will demand higher wages. There's no way a cashier at Walmart works hard for years to become a manager making $15.18 an hour, but feels fine when Walmart raises new cashiers to $15 an hour. She will demand a higher wage, or threaten to go back to a less stressful job getting paid essentially the same.

      For example, it's been shown that doubling the minimum wage for fast food workers would add about $0.04 to the price of a Big Mac.

      Bullshit, you got that number out of your ass. The real numbers paint a picture close to what you are suggesting... hyperbole isn't necessary. Put up real numbers. (Hint: giyf)

      By the way, I'm not against the idea of wealth redistribution, so let's go ahead and nip in the bud any response that I'm some ultra-conservative wacko that wants to enslave all the poor so that some fat CEO slob can gobble up all the wealth. I'm actually just in favor of direct across-the-board wealth redistribution instead of ideas that punish market segments which disproportionately involve the poor and unskilled.

      Regardless, a minimum wage increase of such proportions will not be the end of the world. At the same time, it will not be a solution that only ends in people being less poor nor will it allow the economy to continue completely unscathed. It will harm the economy (mainly more unemployment and higher costs), it's just a question of whether we feel the cost is justified.

      --
      All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
    7. Re:Yeah right by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      The real numbers paint a picture close to what you are suggesting

      So all that was your roundabout way of agreeing with me?

      It will harm the economy (mainly more unemployment and higher costs),

      There have been 22 increases in the minimum wage. Not a single one of them was followed by higher unemployment. In fact, history shows exactly the opposite:

      http://cepr.net/blogs/cepr-blo...

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    8. Re:Yeah right by bondsbw · · Score: 1

      So all that was your roundabout way of agreeing with me?

      No, that one paragraph was my way of saying you lose credibility by falsifying data. I am not in agreement with you; minimum wage does not need to be increased, but rather replaced by a direct wealth redistribution system (such as a progressive tax that is redistributed to all citizens, not just workers).

      There have been 22 increases in the minimum wage.

      And not a single one increased the minimum wage by the proposed level of $7.75... WELL above any minimum wage increase in the history of the United States (even when adjusting for inflation).

      In fact, history shows exactly the opposite:

      "History"? That's one set of state minimum wage increases. And I'm more concerned about federal minimum wage increases, which can't adequately account for local conditions and cost of living which varies tremendously across the country.

      There is a lot wrong with that article and the conclusions that it makes. For one, the increases most associated with better unemployment (except 1) were automatic raises with inflation... the best form of minimum wage increase due to being small and easier to plan ahead for. The other 4 states that increased it with legislation had a lower change of unemployment than the average of states that did not increase. (The 1 state I mentioned is Rhode Island, which had the best outcome of the 4 but the smallest increase in minimum wage and smallest population.) Another problem is that the chart doesn't account for population, which is why Rhode Island makes things seem peachier for minimum wage increases than they really are.

      --
      All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
    9. Re:Yeah right by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      Unemployment will tick up and automation will be more cost effective so some jobs will disappear forever.

      Which is a good thing! The sooner we get to the point where the majority of people cannot get a job, the sooner we get rid of that stupid notion that in a high-tech society like ours, everyone must work to feed themselves.

    10. Re:Yeah right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For example, it's been shown that doubling the minimum wage for fast food workers would add about $0.04 to the price of a Big Mac.

      Bullshit, you got that number out of your ass. The real numbers paint a picture close to what you are suggesting... hyperbole isn't necessary. Put up real numbers. (Hint: giyf)

      Well he is correct and incorrect.
      According to Perdue university:
      https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2015/Q3/study-raising-wages-to-15-an-hour-for-limited-service-restaurant-employees-would-raise-prices-4.3-percent.html
      Prices would go up 4.3% which means a dollar hamburger would cost 4 cents more but a big mac would be closer to 12 cents more.

      If you have an actual study that predicts more then that I would like to see it please. If not please apologize to the other commentator for falsely accusing them of making up numbers. Yes there was a slight mistake, but you are the one that wildly expects the prices to skyrocket, which they clearly will not.

  15. Close.... by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Add $80,000 to that number for any H1B in California or New York City.

    Honestly, H1B is NOT for cheap labor, it 's for highly skilled professionals that you cant find anywhere else. Force the scumbag CEO's to pay for them.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    1. Re:Close.... by nobuddy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What it is for and how it is used are two very different things.

    2. Re:Close.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      H1B Visas do not go to highly skilled professionals, they go to teams of the 80%ers from India, where the top 1% out-numbers our top 20% in the U.S.

      That means they go through millions of idiots to find one person who almost knows as much as a high school graduate in the U.S.

    3. Re:Close.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where are these people going that they become "highly skilled professionals" without ever holding an actual job?

      Is US education THAT corrupt and in the pocket of inefficient corporate bureaucracy?

    4. Re:Close.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There seem to be two classes of H1B users: insourcing mills which bring in large numbers of cheaper workers to do contract work, and regular companies which have specific foreign candidates they want to hire. My personal experience is all with the latter, and it's been frustrating to search the world over for a candidate and be thwarted because all of the H1Bs are used up. For some reason the insourcing mills get allocated a majority of the visas, so companies which have a legit need for skilled, imported labor can't hire people AND get to share the bad rap.

    5. Re:Close.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No. I'm in NYC. I get paid what my colleagues are paid., 125k.

      Has anyone actually performed a decent survey of H1-B wages, or is this a political football, like those purported "drug millionares" from Freakonmics?

    6. Re:Close.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i have seen no survey of H1-B receipients.

      I am a Brit, I supposed I am highly-skilled - I have more than twenty years of coding experience, and I specialize in ultra-high performance programming - and I have a H1-B.

      Mind you, the actual work I've ended up doing could have been done by a decent python coder. My specific skills (as opposed to my general skills as a programmer) have not been used.

      The whole H1-B application process those is asinine. It has nothing whatsoever really to do with skill or suitability or business need or anything. It is wholly bizzare and contorted. All it really does is impose a ton of legal costs. The whole system is dsyfunctional, in any terms, because it makes on sense of any kind, whether you're for or against State intervention in the market.

    7. Re:Close.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Like http://www.myvisajobs.com/Repo... ?

      It's entirely possible that Tata can't find 23,800 Americans to fill their desks, but it's much more likely that the problem is that they can't find 23,800 Americans to fill their desks for only $76k.

    8. Re:Close.... by guruevi · · Score: 1

      H1B applications are freely available for your review here: h1bdata.info (historic data also available directly from the government): Software Developer in NYC, Median Salary $85,000. In Las Vegas, NV it is $65,000.

      --
      Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
    9. Re:Close.... by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      That can apply to anatomy also.

    10. Re:Close.... by Lumpy · · Score: 1

      the 85K software developer is readily available all over the place in NYC. force the company to pay $235,000 for a H1B and they will be forced to not be dicks and hire one of the very capable local programmers.

      That is the point. H1B needs to be not for a code monkey developer, but for a 3 Masters degree holding AI expert. force those scumbags to pay for it and you fix the H1B problem.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    11. Re:Close.... by guruevi · · Score: 1

      85k in NYC? Unless you get a very junior dev that sticks around for 3 months. The average offer I got a few years ago for a dev position was 120k.

      --
      Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
  16. Extend Sarbanes Oxley by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Make it illegal to even "view" the PII and PCI outside the borders of our country or by people who aren't citizens of our country.

    That alone will kill the H1B-Visa and off-shoring problem immediately, while being disguised as protecting our financial and health information.

    1. Re:Extend Sarbanes Oxley by sunderland56 · · Score: 1

      Most H1B jobs are in computer programming and hardware design; no PII is involved. Your proposal would have essentially zero effect.

    2. Re: Extend Sarbanes Oxley by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wrong. Most are in technology support roles (operations).

    3. Re:Extend Sarbanes Oxley by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He may have been a little misguided, but I'm pretty sure the financial, healthcare and any other sectors in that group cover a fuck-ton of IT jobs.

  17. Law of unintended consequences by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That would mean that just the "rich" multinationals with their offices on the east and west coast can afford "cheap" imported labor, and the rest have to make do with what they can get on the domestic market.

  18. Ted Cruz said it... by Bartles · · Score: 1

    ...so it must be racist and evil.

  19. R's, WTF by Tablizer · · Score: 0

    U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas),...Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), ...

    Republicans the ones being the most rational & informed on an issue?

    If this keeps up, Trump will get a real haircut.

    1. Re:R's, WTF by bobbied · · Score: 1

      Well, to be fair, neither Cruz or Trump are "establishment" republicans. In fact, most of the top prospective nominees on the republican side are pretty much outsider, non-establishment types. If you are an establishment republican, you are running no higher than about 5th in the polls... In my opinion, this fact is way over looked by most of the media and the significance of this way under played.

      However, it is clear that candidates like Trump, Carson and Cruz are the ones with the best chance for the nomination which will make this presidential cycle very interesting indeed given the democrat's almost certainly nominating Hillary. But I'm getting the impression that what's really going to happen is that Trump will have a LOT of support going into the convention, but it will not be the majority by a long shot. There will be a brokered deal which will put someone a bit more establishment in the race than Trump. At that point, everything will hinge on what Trump does. If he goes independent, Hillary wins comfortably. If Trump backs down and supports the nominee, Hillary won't know what hit her in the electoral college... On the other hand, if Trump manages to broker a deal and becomes the nominee, Hillary will be behind most of the way but have a good chance if they come up with a good October surprise..

      So what we will likely have is a race between the quintessential "Establishment" candidate on the left with Hillary and a anti-establishment like candidate on the right. This in a time where the majority is disapproving of the current establishment administration. Remember, there is a yearning in the public towards the non-establishment types these days, and that will draw voters away from what will clearly be the establishment candidate Hillary.

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
    2. Re:R's, WTF by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Trump will almost certainly be VP.

    3. Re:R's, WTF by rock_climbing_guy · · Score: 1

      You assume he would take the job, if offered.

      --
      Wh47 d1d j00 541, 31337 15n't t3h r0xor5 ne m0r3???
  20. Re:These politicians are either evil or incompeten by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe he should move to a more ethical nation. Like Somalia.

  21. Re:These politicians are either evil or incompeten by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    American government ostensibly works for the American people, only the American people, and not any other country's people. (Yes, "ostensibly" is a big word, but it's an important one. Go look it up.)

    What has been happening is that American companies, formerly hiring American people, and carrying out operations within the sovereign borders of America (the "U.S. of", at least) have been hiring non-American workers. This, by itself, is not a bad thing. But these companies have been using immigration laws to turn those non-American workers into indentured servants. "Work," they say, in essence, "or we'll have you deported back to your foreign hellhole. And no, you may not have a pay raise."

    So a native worker can ask for $100k salary until he's blue in the face, but the job will always go to an H1B worker that has a Hobson's choice of either working for $60k or getting deported.

    What Ted Cruz just did was throw down the legislative gauntlet, advocating for a law that will castrate the either/or choice that companies are forcing upon H1B workers, and free those H1B workers from indentured servitude. It also makes a local American worker a much more viable candidate, since they can now be hired for less than an H1B.

    Personally, I find Ted Cruz to be an unhinged nutcase with decent comedic value in most instances. But on this issue, he cut to the heart of the matter and made a sensible proposal. That said, it won't go anywhere because too many people profit from the status quo.

  22. Getting there by blue9steel · · Score: 1

    Now index it for cost of living and include automatic inflation adjustments and we've got something to talk about.

    1. Re:Getting there by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 1

      Now index it for cost of living and include automatic inflation adjustments and we've got something to talk about.

      According to TFA, he DID. B-)

      --
      Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
  23. A nice step by reemul · · Score: 2

    I just want a company officer to sign off, under penalty of perjury, on the supposed prevailing pay for the position they are seeking to fill. Right now the company gets to essentially make up a number, which no one checks and carries no penalty if anyone were to find out that they massively lowballed it. Put a company officer on the hook for it and suddenly those wages are going to jump up to a competitive level. Putting an artificial floor on the pay for visa holders is a nicely simple step that is hard to evade, but I'd really rather we just force the companies to pay the real wage for the job or have someone high ranking head to jail. There might genuinely be a job at a lower pay level that we simply can't get enough qualified Americans to fill. I don't know what it might be, but I don't want to close the door, I just want to cut back on the abuses.

    --
    You're just jealous 'cuz the voices talk to *me*
    1. Re:A nice step by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is no requirement that the H1-B employee be paid prevailing wage IF they are paid at least $60k:
      http://www.infoworld.com/article/3004501/h1b/proof-that-h-1b-visa-abuse-is-rampant-in-tech.html

    2. Re:A nice step by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... prevailing pay for the position ...

      I hear the law demands the prevailing rate is paid to visa holders, upto $60k/year. This isn't about HR departments being pricks, it's about the US government helping HR departments be pricks. Once again, the government protects corporate profits, not tax-paying workers.

      Increasing the limit to $110k/year means more jobs can be outsourced. I think $110k would include middle managers who could then increase the wages for their immigrant brethren. So the CEO may not get the bonus he expected.

    3. Re:A nice step by PortHaven · · Score: 1

      Thing is, when H1B's were established in 1990. That $60K if adjusted for inflation would be.....you guessed it - $110K

    4. Re:A nice step by NostalgiaForInfinity · · Score: 1

      I just want a company officer to sign off, under penalty of perjury, on the supposed prevailing pay for the position they are seeking to fill. Right now the company gets to essentially make up a number, which no one checks and carries no penalty if anyone were to find out that they massively lowballed it.

      That's bullshit. H1-B jobs go through a DOL labor certification.

    5. Re:A nice step by NostalgiaForInfinity · · Score: 1

      I don't know where this "$60k" figure is coming from. H1-Bs need to be paid at least prevailing wage for the occupation. That number is determined by a government labor certification, and the number is adjusted annually based on actual labor market conditions.

    6. Re:A nice step by frank_adrian314159 · · Score: 1

      A DOL labor "certification" which is never actually checked.

      --
      That is all.
    7. Re:A nice step by NostalgiaForInfinity · · Score: 1

      I see. So, if, according to you, the problem is that the administration just ignores salary requirements altogether, what's the point of changing the salary requirements?

  24. wow, look at that! by Tumbleweed · · Score: 1

    The stopped clock is right on something.

  25. Fin Toil Hat [Re:I still say] by Tablizer · · Score: 2

    I still say Ted Cruz is actually Al Lewis from The Munsters.

    And John Kerry is Herman Munster. Illuminati at work?

    Newt's "ice queen" wife doesn't directly match any of the characters, but she's gotta be a relative. (And Newt talks like a muppet, something's going on.)

    1. Re:Fin Toil Hat [Re:I still say] by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      I still say Ted Cruz is actually Al Lewis from The Munsters.

      And John Kerry is Herman Munster. Illuminati at work?

      Probably.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  26. I thought Cruz was a libertarian? by JoeyRox · · Score: 3, Funny

    Libertarians don't call for government enforcement of minimum compensation stipulations, especially not for specific priviledged groups over others.

    1. Re:I thought Cruz was a libertarian? by SuiteSisterMary · · Score: 2

      He's calling for a tariff, more like. Which is, of course, also not a Libertarian ideal.

      --
      Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
    2. Re:I thought Cruz was a libertarian? by Tokolosh · · Score: 1

      He's not a libertarian.

      But to people who like to hate Libertarians, it is useful to call him one, then point out that he is an idiot (which he is), and therefore all libertarians are stupid. Solid logic.

      --
      Prove anything by multiplying Huge Number times Tiny Number
    3. Re:I thought Cruz was a libertarian? by DogDude · · Score: 0

      Libertarians are generally self-centered teenage boys, or adults who think like them.

      --
      I don't respond to AC's.
    4. Re:I thought Cruz was a libertarian? by bigmattana · · Score: 0

      Liberatrians (aka "classical liberals") have been shown to be smarter than both liberals and conservatives and multiple studies.

      http://www.sciencedirect.com/s...

      Data contradicts your assertions that libertarians think like a teenage boy, unless you only know teenage boys with higher than average IQ.

    5. Re:I thought Cruz was a libertarian? by JoeyRox · · Score: 1

      I'm a libertarian so that definitely wasn't my goal. Cruz has claimed himself to be a libertarian.

    6. Re:I thought Cruz was a libertarian? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Citation?

      Because by your argumentative skills, liberals are all authoritarian assholes who feel the need to tell everybody else exactly how they should live their lives.

    7. Re:I thought Cruz was a libertarian? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Liberatrians (aka "classical liberals")

      Uh no. A classic liberal is someone who favors government intervention in business, but wants it out of their personal lives. Libertarians are feudalists. They want a return to might makes right. There's nothing liberal about that. It's fascism with a stop in anarchyland.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    8. Re:I thought Cruz was a libertarian? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is a waiver to allow non-citizens to work in the country. Unless the border is completely opened to all comers, government must set some minimum stipulation on who can enter. I'm not sure that Libertarians want a completely open border, as it would lead to tens of millions of immediate entrants, with hundreds of millions soon after, eventually making the US the most populous nation on the planet.

    9. Re:I thought Cruz was a libertarian? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wikipedia disagrees with you on both definitions.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_liberalism
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarianism

      I am a minarchist libertarian. When you vilify libertarians, you are vilifying me. Please don't do that.

      I do not, in fact, want fascism or anarchy, or "might make right" or feudalism. Your version of libertarianism sounds horrible... good thing it is a fantasy inside your own head, and not what I actually believe.

      What I want is for government to do the things for the people that the people cannot do for themselves. I would whittle the size of government down to a fraction of its current size, but I wouldn't do it overnight; for one thing, the government needs to keep its promises, so the current entitlements can't just be chopped to zero overnight. Government needs to stay out of the bedroom and not lock up people for silly things like smoking weed; but also it needs to leave companies mostly alone. Unless companies have the power of government in their pocket, there is a limit on how much damage they can do and how much they can control a market. Remember that IBM was feared back in the day, yet it was market forces and not government that slapped them down and turned them into the better-behaving company they are today.

      Above all, government should let people keep the fruits of their own earnings. Right now government makes it really expensive to hire people legally, with taxes and regulations and minimum wages and so on, such that people are tempted to hire illegal aliens under the table because it is so much cheaper. That sucks for everyone. Young black women who want to start a hair-braiding business should not be forced to get a beautician degree first; taxi companies shouldn't be forced to jump through hoops and pay ruinous licensing fees, but equally Uber and Lyft shouldn't be blocked from competing with taxis.

      Let people vote with their feet: if a job sucks, let them walk away from it. Reduce the barriers to hiring.

      It's possible you disagree with me on the desirability of all this freedom; you might think that people won't walk away from a lousy job, they need government to protect them. But you can disagree politely rather than viciously.

    10. Re:I thought Cruz was a libertarian? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Many are contradictions. One that is utterly hilarious is the guy that wants to turn Belle Island at Detroit into another Singapore only without tax - and "complete freedom" other than it being illegal to drive a vehicle in the place in daylight. Many reveal that they are all about looking after number one and liberty can go and fuck itself.

    11. Re:I thought Cruz was a libertarian? by NostalgiaForInfinity · · Score: 1

      And Hillary Clinton claims to be a liberal, and Bernie Sanders claims to be a socialist, and they are neither. Does it surprise you that politicians aren't actually what they say they are?

      Some libertarians consider Cruz to be the least bad of the handful of plausible presidential candidates, but that doesn't make him a "libertarian". Between Obama, Clinton, and McCain, Obama was the "least bad" from a libertarian point of view (given his statements on civil liberties and foreign interventions), but nobody confused him with a libertarian either.

    12. Re:I thought Cruz was a libertarian? by NostalgiaForInfinity · · Score: 1

      A classic liberal is someone who favors government intervention in business, but wants it out of their personal lives.

      False. E.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      Libertarians are feudalists. They want a return to might makes right. It's fascism with a stop in anarchyland.

      Take this quote:

      we are enemies of today’s capitalistic economic system for the exploitation of the economically weak, with its unfair salaries, with its unseemly evaluation of a human being according to wealth and property instead of responsibility and performance

      Now, does that sound like a libertarian or free market advocate to you, or does it sound more like a US-style "liberal"? According to Toland, the quote is from a 1927 Hitler speech (there are plenty of other statements to that effect from leading fascists). Fascism is simply an extreme form of progressivism, and "government intervention in business for the benefit of society" is one of the hallmarks of fascism.

    13. Re:I thought Cruz was a libertarian? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Government needs to stay out of the bedroom and not lock up people for silly things like smoking weed; but also it needs to leave companies mostly alone. Unless companies have the power of government in their pocket, there is a limit on how much damage they can do and how much they can control a market.

      Nonsense. After a certain point of growth, a corporation will become essentially another government.

      Above all, government should let people keep the fruits of their own earnings.

      You have to pay for the government somehow. It doesn't just magic itself into existence.

      Let people vote with their feet: if a job sucks, let them walk away from it. Reduce the barriers to hiring.

      People can already walk away from jobs which suck. The problem is, they can't afford to, and your system would increase that tendency, not reduce it.

      It's possible you disagree with me on the desirability of all this freedom;

      If your basic needs are not met, then freedom is a sad joke.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  27. Re:Republicans... by bobbied · · Score: 1

    Yea, and kill half of the population of the USA, yea that's going to help... Real bright idea there AC..

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  28. There are lots of qualified people in the US by deodiaus2 · · Score: 2

    It is surprising how many middle aged obsolete technology professionals you will find if you care to visit your local job career transition networking meetings. It not always that the people don't want to learn a new skill set, but more times than not, its a matter of cost of training. Its hard to fork down money for a training program if you are not working. Moreover, there is another problem in that people are reluctant to lay down cash on a skill set if they are unsure that it will be used in two years. I remember learning COM & OLE. I thought that it was hot shit. Well, it was more worthless than Elvis paraphernalia in another two years. Moreover, most head hunters or corporations will not want you if you only have a training program or a homemade portfolio (or open-source project). Its hard enough selling yourself to upper management if you have the skill set, but are an outsider without business contacts. There is an strong and established good old boys network for most upper end jobs. About the only way to circumvent it is if you know something that some business owner cannot find something thought his connections. I worked in finance, and it is ironic how many people knew each other from early childhood.
    On the other end of the age spectrum, I have met many a Ph. D. s in fields that had a glut of people, e.g. medical sciences or in fields that do not have a high demand, Philosophy, Mathematics, Literature, or Oceanography. Most of these former students had unrealistic expectations of job prospects or believed that somehow they would be the one to overcome the odds and land a professorship. After about a two year job search, most come to the realization that they should have became a "short order chef: which has better career prospects. Being broke and destitute, they are looking to retool to become a programmer or bank administrator or "tech writer" and have the mental aptitude to learn what is necessary.

    1. Re:There are lots of qualified people in the US by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I see it first hand, visa holders typically get paid 2/3rd a US worker salary, typically the grey haired US employee get sent to the unemployment line. Cruz has a good idea but make it 150k, which for a highly trained specialized person isn't too much to pay. This would at least kill the body shops like Cognizant who use the visas to bring people client side so that they can manage shipping the work offshore. Abuse of L1 visas should also be addressed as well.

    2. Re:There are lots of qualified people in the US by bigpat · · Score: 1

      I see it first hand, visa holders typically get paid 2/3rd a US worker salary, typically the grey haired US employee get sent to the unemployment line. Cruz has a good idea but make it 150k, which for a highly trained specialized person isn't too much to pay. This would at least kill the body shops like Cognizant who use the visas to bring people client side so that they can manage shipping the work offshore. Abuse of L1 visas should also be addressed as well.

      Good points

    3. Re:There are lots of qualified people in the US by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "it is ironic how many people knew each other from early childhood"

      This is what I've been dealing with lately. A few of the C-level guys at my company are fucking morons, but I've come to find out they are insanely well-connected. Their best buddies are like a who's who of VPs/C-levels at good companies. And no seriously this is not a jealousy thing or anything like that. They are absolutely fucking morons and you have to wonder how they could land any decent job, let alone as a boss.

      As the adage goes, it is who you know, not what you know.

      Separately, I disagree with the companies who gripe about "cost of training." A few guys I work with have 5-10 years of experience doing web code, who worked at some of the top tech companies on the planet. Yet they often run into issues like not knowing how to enable/disable an HTML button using javascript. Even I know how to do that and I'm a DBA.

    4. Re:There are lots of qualified people in the US by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Its hard to fork down money for a training program if you are not working. Moreover, there is another problem in that people are reluctant to lay down cash on a skill set if they are unsure that it will be used in two years.

      It's hard to lay down cash on a skill set when companies won't hire you anyway if you're old. It's also hard to lay down cash on a skill set when the job requirements usually say they want years of experience with a technology, so you won't be "qualified" for the job even if you do get training.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    5. Re:There are lots of qualified people in the US by theskipper · · Score: 1

      Good post. As an aside, here's something interesting I stumbled across recently: applied mathematicians are actually in very high demand right now and salaries have caught up with that demand.

      And it kind of makes sense given what's happened in the last 20 years in finance (quant), biotech (statistics), etc. But before that it was pretty much assumed that any math major would be limited to a lower paying field like education.

      http://www.forbes.com/pictures...
      http://www.careercast.com/jobs...

    6. Re:There are lots of qualified people in the US by Jack+Griffin · · Score: 1

      It not always that the people don't want to learn a new skill set, but more times than not, its a matter of cost of training. Its hard to fork down money for a training program if you are not working. Moreover, there is another problem in that people are reluctant to lay down cash on a skill set if they are unsure that it will be used in two years.

      I have a solution to this. I never learn anything properly. When I hear some new buzzwords doing the rounds (last time it was AWS and Devops) I learn enough to know the jargon EC2! Bamboo! and wing it. This is enough to get past the head-hunters and even a lot of managers, because the thing with fast moving tech is that no-one else knows it either, so everyone is bluffing to some degree.

  29. Better yet... by Dcnjoe60 · · Score: 1

    Better yet, instead of an artificial minimum wage, have them pay the wages of the displaced worker, PLUS the cost it would take to retrain the displaced worker PLUS the cost of vetting H-1B workers by the government.

    Then, a business can determine if there truly are no qualified works, is it in their best interest to import labor or train their existing labor.

    Of course businesses, particularly IT ones, will complain that if they train or retrain workers, the workers will just leave and they will still be out the money. The answer to that is simple -- quit treating your workers like shit!

    1. Re:Better yet... by muffen · · Score: 1

      have them pay the wages of the displaced worker

      There are legitimate reasons to take in foreign workers, that help fuel the economy and keep other jobs in the country; making the assumption that every visa given is also a displaced worker is just wrong.
      Even Ted Cruz isn't asking for a complete stop to the visas, which indirectly is what you are asking for.

      Limits its one thing, blocking them is another!

    2. Re:Better yet... by uncqual · · Score: 1

      Why should employers train/retrain employees in basic skills? Do you expect to 'train' your doctor? Do you expect to 'train' the electrician who you hire to rewire your house?

      If you want to get a job programming in R, learn R on your own and then apply.

      When an employer brings in a new technology into an existing job, they are generally eager to train valued employees with potential in the new technology (less valued and easily replaced employees, of course, need not apply).

      --
      Why is there an "insightful" mod and why isn't it "-1"? If I wanted insight, I wouldn't be reading /.
    3. Re:Better yet... by Dcnjoe60 · · Score: 1

      Why should employers train/retrain employees in basic skills? Do you expect to 'train' your doctor? Do you expect to 'train' the electrician who you hire to rewire your house?

      If you want to get a job programming in R, learn R on your own and then apply.

      When an employer brings in a new technology into an existing job, they are generally eager to train valued employees with potential in the new technology (less valued and easily replaced employees, of course, need not apply).

      Employers shouldn't need to train employees in basic skills. H-1B visas aren't issued for jobs requiring basic skills. To hire an H-1B visa, one has to show that it is a special skill that is needed.

      The problem is not as simple as if you want a job in R learn R. It is if you have been a programmer in X for 10 years for your company and they now switch to Y and lay you off and hire H-1B visa workers.

      Your are wrong about companies wanting to retrain existing talent. Existing talent usually means experienced employees. Experienced employees usually are at a higher wage than a new inexperienced employee. Since both are going to need training, the experienced employee is let go and cheaper, younger employees are hired. However, that is still too costly, so the company goes for a foreign worker, because there are no cheap employees with the skill set needed. That is the rational behind H-1B workers and why it is displacing regular workers. It's all about the bottom line, not the skill set of the worker.

    4. Re:Better yet... by Dcnjoe60 · · Score: 1

      have them pay the wages of the displaced worker

      There are legitimate reasons to take in foreign workers, that help fuel the economy and keep other jobs in the country; making the assumption that every visa given is also a displaced worker is just wrong.

      Even Ted Cruz isn't asking for a complete stop to the visas, which indirectly is what you are asking for.

      Limits its one thing, blocking them is another!

      Since the economy is not a full employment, one cannot argue that foreign workers are needed, with the rare exception of truly unique jobs. IT jobs don't qualify as that. For 2013, the last year on record, Computer Science graduates, only 60% were hired in their field. Now, it is possible that the other 40% are worthless misfits, but that is unlikely. It is hard to argue that more IT workers need to be brought into the country when we can't even employee all of those with college degrees.

      H-1B visas were originally designed when an somebody with expertise in a field, say a physicist or neurosurgeon wasn't available. Today, however, they are mainly used for general programming and tech support jobs.

      I'm not suggesting stopping H-1B visas. I am suggesting that they be used as originally designed - hiring talent when such talent truly isn't available.

    5. Re:Better yet... by uncqual · · Score: 1

      Your are wrong about companies wanting to retrain existing talent.

      Then why work for those companies? I've never worked for one. If you're not contributing sufficiently that your employer would rather hire unproven outsiders and train them than train you, a known quantity, that's a pretty good hint that they don't think much of you. You probably then should do something different -- either improve your skills or switch to a company whose needs better match your capabilities and interests.

      Experienced employees usually are at a higher wage than a new inexperienced employee.

      If "experienced" employees are making more money but are not worth that much money, of course they will be replaced by those providing better ROI. Why would employers pay more just because someone is older unless that also inferred some useful (to the employer) increase in productivity, quality, or something similar? If you begin to find that younger workers are more desirable to employers because they are cheaper, either stop accepting raises to avoid pricing yourself out of the market or step up your game.

      Assume you have the option of two plumbers, one 35 years old with 15 years of experience and one 65 years old with 45 years of experience and you have a fairly routine job to do. People you trust have recommended both plumbers to you based on both work quality and them meeting commitments. You've seen both plumbers' work and believe that both do good work. However, the 35 year old quotes $6K for the job and the 65 year old quotes $9K for the work. Do you hire the 35 year old or spend another $3K to hire the 65 year old just because they are older? I can't think of any reason in this case not to select the 35 year old.

      To be honest, of the American engineers I've worked with who complained about H-1B visas in general, I would hire virtually none of them -- and that's not because they are complaining about H-1B visas, it's because they just aren't very good at their jobs which, I suspect, results in them being insecure and fearing any competition. Obviously there have been individual H-1B "mishires" that I've heard complaints about from people I do respect and would hire -- but even that has been fairly rare (again, this may be because I haven't worked for companies that abused the H-1B program -- I'm all for eliminating abuse of the program by those who use it not to hire the best workers, but the cheapest workers).

      --
      Why is there an "insightful" mod and why isn't it "-1"? If I wanted insight, I wouldn't be reading /.
    6. Re:Better yet... by Dcnjoe60 · · Score: 1

      You must not understand how H-1B works. Again, the example you give is meaningless, plumbers cannot get H-1B visas. However, let's say you have a brain tumor and you can have a neurosurgen with 25 years experience or a 26 year old H-1B visa. Which would you choose?

      You seem to believe that experience doesn't amount to anything. Don't worry, one day you, too, will be downsized and see what the real world is like. Just like all of the Walt Disney programmers who were let go and replaced with H-1B workers that they even had to train.

      H-1B has nothing to do with getting needed workers. It is a government sanctioned method to hold down wages and maximize profits. But, hey, you can believe whatever myth you want to. After all, it is a free country, at least for some.

    7. Re:Better yet... by uncqual · · Score: 1

      I've spent way too many hours in my life w/lawyers when I've needed to deal with H-1B issues. I would have loved, in every instance, to find an"American" developer even nearly as qualified and even at a higher salary (the H-1B process costs money for the employer and pain for me, the hiring manager, I would much rather be spending my time reviewing designs, mentoring young employees, mediating conflicts between good but strong minded developers, and defending resources) -- but they just didn't exist. So, yes, I know something about H-1Bs

      My plumber example was simply an economics test in real life related to the notion that somehow experience, alone, is a very relevant factor. Are you willing to pay more for something just because an old fart produced it? Of course not if it is YOUR money.

      It would be pretty hard to find a 26 year old licensed and respected Neurosurgeon. But, H-1B or not, that must be a pretty awesome person if they existed and I might prefer they operate on me than some old fart who graduated at the bottom of their class and had managed to keep their job for 25 years and hadn't kept up on the latest developments very well. Dealing with family members' serious medical conditions, I've actually most respected some of the youngest doctors at teaching universities and have assisted in having relatives transferred from the care of old fart doctors to much younger, and more qualified, doctors.

      I value useful experience which is applied to the job at hand highly. However, I don't value age or number of years of repetitious experience. I much prefer an employee that embraces new technology, learns new stuff, takes responsibility for their code and, if it fails, takes it as a personal failing that they will go to the ends fo the Earth to fix and mitigate the impact of the bug. I don't care what age the developer is and I've worked with many and many have worked for me that ARE older and get it. What happens is that it's hard to judge 22 year olds and they all think they are the best thing since sliced bread so managers (myself included) hire them on a gut feel. Sometimes this works out, but sometimes it doesn't. However, when I'm looking at a 45 year old, they have a work history and career trajectory, I may know people they have worked with, I can ask them questions regarding enterprise reality (customer crisis situations etc.) and I can evaluate them on their performance so I don't hire them on a 'gut feel'. Of course, when layoffs come, I toss the least productive members of the team and, unsurprisingly, they are often young people that my "gut feel" was not right on. One reason older workers feel "discriminated against" is that once one has 15 years of experience, failure or meritocracy is obvious -- with a 22 year old, you are looking for untapped potential

      BTW, I graduated university in the (very) early 80's. Do the math. I've lived through many a downsizing and never was threatened (and, in my early years, when very rich "termination packages" were being offered, my managers sat me down and said "I have to approve the package, I won't approve it for you because I want to keep you" -- in later years that became something we [as I was then a manager] couldn't do any more unfortunately because the lawyers didn't like it).

      --
      Why is there an "insightful" mod and why isn't it "-1"? If I wanted insight, I wouldn't be reading /.
  30. Didn't Trump say... by theendlessnow · · Score: 1, Funny

    Didn't Trump say he was going to fire any CEO of a company that hires H1-B workers... maybe not... but sounds like something he'd say...

    1. Re:Didn't Trump say... by Jack+Griffin · · Score: 1

      I always wondered what that Mexican lift guy who works in the Trump elevator in The Apprentice thinks of his boss's opinions?
      That guy has been there since season one. 10 years of operating Donald's elevator only to hear him say that he thinks he's a rapist.

  31. Another dumbfuck politician. by jcr · · Score: 0, Troll

    I'm sick to death of these assholes who believe they can "run the economy". NOBODY knows enough to produce better results than free trade.

    -jcr

    --
    The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    1. Re:Another dumbfuck politician. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Just get everyone to agree on the precise boundary of what "free trade" is. Can you buy animals? Can you buy water rights? Can you own ideas? Writing? People? What about land? What if I just have enough guns?

      Your notions of property rights might seem obvious to you, but not everyone agrees with you. We, as a community, must come to a consensus. One man's free trade is another man's anarchy, and another's totalitarianism. Can't tell if I'm responding to sarcasm or not.

    2. Re:Another dumbfuck politician. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are right. The H1B program is government intrusion into the "free market".
      They should cancel the program instead.

      Force companies to hire american workers or move completely off shore.

    3. Re:Another dumbfuck politician. by FlyHelicopters · · Score: 2

      Just get everyone to agree on the precise boundary of what "free trade" is. Can you buy animals? Can you buy water rights? Can you own ideas? Writing? People? What about land? What if I just have enough guns?

      Your notions of property rights might seem obvious to you, but not everyone agrees with you. We, as a community, must come to a consensus. One man's free trade is another man's anarchy, and another's totalitarianism.

      ^ Why did you post AC? That is spot on the money.

    4. Re:Another dumbfuck politician. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seems like there used to be more free market, free trade opinions on /. ten or 15 years ago. Congrats for not submitting anonymously. Trade liberalization has brought down prices and gotten the most wealth, health and education to the most people in history. Trying to protect a class of worker from competition doesn't work any better than boycotting the Olympics makes them better.

    5. Re:Another dumbfuck politician. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Many people don't bother with creating accounts for slashdot. Like me. I just always post AC.

    6. Re:Another dumbfuck politician. by ljw1004 · · Score: 1

      I'm sick to death of these assholes who believe they can "run the economy". NOBODY knows enough to produce better results than free trade.

      -jcr

      Free trade will seek out a local maximum of *PROFITS*. That's not the same as better long-term profits, nor even the same as better long-term results. See Enron.

    7. Re:Another dumbfuck politician. by Khashishi · · Score: 1

      You can't have free trade without open borders. If this is what you are calling for, then I agree.

    8. Re:Another dumbfuck politician. by tempest69 · · Score: 1

      It's a sad band aid to a problem that is caused by impinging on the workers freedom to leave.
      And I'm pretty sure that truly free trade would be a damn nightmare.
      But a good chunk of the free trade is a damn fine answer.

    9. Re:Another dumbfuck politician. by jcr · · Score: 1

      Free trade will seek out a local maximum of *PROFITS*.

      You say that like it's a bad thing.

      See Enron.

      Enron was brought down by the market despite the efforts of their political cronies to prop them up.

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    10. Re:Another dumbfuck politician. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      AC doesn't imply cowardice. I like to post anonymously because I want you to judge my idea without regard to my celebrity status. I want you to judge that my idea is good or poor because it's honestly a good or bad idea, not because I happen to be the Queen of England. Being anonymous is the opposite of vanity.

    11. Re:Another dumbfuck politician. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Really, these questions are easy.

      Can you buy animals?

      Yes.

      Can you buy water rights?

      Yes.

      Can you own ideas?

      You own the ones in your head. Once you share them, you still own the copies in your head but other people own the copies in their heads.

      Writing?

      You can own the paper in your hand. Other people own their own paper, regardless of what's written on it. If you don't want people to copy your writing, don't show it to them... or else have them sign a contract promising not to disclose the contents before you do.

      People?

      No.

      What about land?

      Yes.

      What if I just have enough guns?

      Doesn't matter.

    12. Re:Another dumbfuck politician. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You know what makes the questions hard is that people disagree on every last one of those issues, including "might makes right".

    13. Re:Another dumbfuck politician. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There was originally a parent comment to this comment. Where did it disappear to?

    14. Re:Another dumbfuck politician. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My guess is because he/she is also moderating, and perhaps metamoderating. Notice the parent "dumfuck politician" comment on free trade is completely disappeared.

  32. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    "Sometimes things change."

    Yes, but not politicians.

  33. Yay for minimum wage by Tokolosh · · Score: 0

    By the reasoning of Reich, Stiglitz and Krugman, employment will increase and the economy will take off.

    [Not sure where the employment will increase, or whose economy, but yay!]

    --
    Prove anything by multiplying Huge Number times Tiny Number
  34. nothing but pandering & election noise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is nothing but pandering, and nothing will come of it. He already knows it and his H1B employing donors know it too.

    They also know that Trump, Carlson and Co. are dangerously close to handing the next presidency over to Bernie and that's something they absolutely don't want.

    1. Re:nothing but pandering & election noise by Tailhook · · Score: 1

      dangerously close to handing the next presidency over to Bernie

      Bernie Sanders wants to raise wages of H-1B workers - Nov 25, 2015

      Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) wants to reform the H-1B program, in part, by "substantially" raising prevailing wages.

      --
      Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
    2. Re:nothing but pandering & election noise by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

      Trump, Carlson, and Sanders all have one thing in common: none of them stand any chance of actually getting elected. Polls are bullshit, especially this far ahead of the game. I predicted a Bush/Clinton contest several months ago, and I'm sticking with that prediction, but a lot could happen in the next year to make that not happen too. It does look like both are keeping a really low profile while more arrogant candidates fight among themselves, might turn out to be a good long term strategy, despite both of them having a complete lack of charisma.

      --
      I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    3. Re:nothing but pandering & election noise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      dangerously close to handing the next presidency over to Bernie

      Bernie Sanders wants to raise wages of H-1B workers - Nov 25, 2015

      Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) wants to reform the H-1B program, in part, by "substantially" raising prevailing wages.

      The difference is that Bernie has been after H-B Visa abuse since at least 2007 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR9QdQIKqMc , unlike Ted.

      So this isn't something new, it's not pandering to get the nomination, it's what he's been doing for years.

  35. Exceptions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think an exception should be made for students who've obtained a graduate degree from a US school. I'd wager they'd contribute more in the long run than they'd take away.

  36. Lame.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Computer geek in sillycon valley looses thumb when inserting in rectal cavity..
    News at 11:00..

    Would that be just as interesting?

    Thanks,
    Eric

  37. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Sometimes things change."

    Yes, but not politicians.

    Sure they do. They flip-flop all the time!

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  38. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by parkinglot777 · · Score: 1

    Sometimes things change.

    Change to what???

  39. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by TWX · · Score: 1

    Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn from time to time.

    It sounds to me like the Distinguished Gentleman from Texas should continue to serve as a Senator, where as an idea-man his ideas can be presented and debated, and the good ones considered for real implementation, and where bad ones could be decided against.

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  40. Re:Republicans... by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

    Yea, and kill half of the population of the USA, yea that's going to help... Real bright idea there AC..

    On the upside, it would make it easier to get a parking place.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  41. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by phantomfive · · Score: 0

    Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn from time to time.

    I think you misunderstood me. I still consider Cruz to be arrogant and annoying to listen to. Unfortunately, another candidate has arisen who is more arrogant and insufferable.
    I didn't think it could happen.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  42. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by phantomfive · · Score: 2, Funny

    Changed.....he is now the second-most annoying presidential candidate.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  43. Minimum Wage Not as Important as Layoff Provision by Maltheus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The bill also calls for:

    that within 730 daysâ"two yearsâ"of âoean employee strike, an employer lockout, layoffs, furloughs, or other types of involuntary employee terminations other than for-cause dismissals,â a company cannot bring aboard any H-1B labor

    I think this is an even bigger deal than the $110k provision.

  44. Easy way to handle locality use GS Pay Scale by trout007 · · Score: 1

    Just use the top rate for technical people in the federal government. GS 13 Step 10. That way locality and cost of living increases are built in.

    http://www.federaljobs.net/pay...

    --
    I love Jesus, except for his foreign policy.
    1. Re:Easy way to handle locality use GS Pay Scale by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 1

      Except that many/most technical people I know won't work for the federal government on a bet because the wages are too low. The government is AN employer, and they pay what they pay.

    2. Re:Easy way to handle locality use GS Pay Scale by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just use the top rate for technical people in the federal government. GS 13 Step 10. That way locality and cost of living increases are built in.

      http://www.federaljobs.net/pay...

      That table is just hilarious. No wonder the government has trouble getting good people. I make more than GS 13 Step 10 for my region and I'm "merely" a QA developer.

    3. Re:Easy way to handle locality use GS Pay Scale by bdenton42 · · Score: 2

      The federal government pay scales are generally under market, but you get job security, a pension, and retiree medical benefits at the same subsidized cost as regular employees, all of which are unusual to non-existent in corporate America today.

    4. Re: Easy way to handle locality use GS Pay Scale by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      40.0 hours a week, perfect job security, good medical, matching 401k and did I mention that you don't actually have to work?

  45. popcorn AND nachos by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    this will be good. 128 comments.

  46. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by Darinbob · · Score: 1

    But give glasses to a politician and they still can't find their own nuts.

  47. Oh brother... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Once again, someone in government misses the point.

    The correct response to a broken law is not to introduce MORE regulation to it. Instead, the correct response is to remove the broken law.

  48. Prefer a tax by uncqual · · Score: 1

    I would prefer a substantial Federal tax (perhaps 25% of the reported W-2 income?) paid by the H-1B employer and removal of H-1B caps.

    Retain the prevailing wage requirement, but when computing general prevailing wages, include the H-1B tax the employers pay in the prevailing wage calculation for H-1B workers in general (but not in the wage of the specific H-1B position that is being evaluated).

    Just for show, also retain the 'must try to hire an American first' requirement - but that's really a joke as we all know the 'on paper' qualifications of a developer mean almost nothing as some of the worst performers have some of the best looking resumes so enforcement is impossible without hamstringing employers and American companies.

    The Federal government would first use the taxes so raised to sharpen enforcement of the provisions of the H-1B program (esp. as it relates to 'prevailing wage'), the rest could go into the Social Security Trust Fund to prop that up.

    This would go a long way towards making sure that the employers actually NEED to hire foreign workers and make it much harder to game 'prevailing wage' by making the out of pocket cost to the employer significantly higher for H-1B workers.

    In addition, by including the employer tax when computing prevailing wage and then requiring that the next H-1B worker get that higher wage it creates a snowball effect that discourages frivolous use of H-1Bs even more. One effect would be to drive the 'prevailing wage' for H-1B computations higher and higher as a larger percentage of comparable positions were filled by H-1B holders. Since the employer actually has to pay the H-1B holder the 'adjusted' prevailing wage, they would be making more than American workers overall which would make the H-1B option even less attractive AND would cause American workers to demand raises if they were, in fact, contributing as much. Rinse and repeat. To avoid a runaway situation which could have bad consequences (such as American workers abandoning the field entirely), there would probably need to be some sort of brake on this effect such as capping the 'prevailing wage adjustment' to 25% of the base prevailing wage.

    --
    Why is there an "insightful" mod and why isn't it "-1"? If I wanted insight, I wouldn't be reading /.
    1. Re:Prefer a tax by bigpat · · Score: 1

      Retain the prevailing wage requirement,

      The prevailing wage requirement is completely meaningless and unenforceable. Which is why a real number is required.

    2. Re:Prefer a tax by uncqual · · Score: 1

      It's pretty easy to detect when 'prevailing wage' has been set 25% too low -- esp. since the Federal government would, on a $140K/yr H-1B job get $35K they could use to fund investigating and enforcing the provision in that one worker's case. The goal of the 25% suggestion is to set it high enough it's NOT possible to, under scrutiny, game it.

      A fixed number is complete B.S. Wages vary by region and jobs.

      --
      Why is there an "insightful" mod and why isn't it "-1"? If I wanted insight, I wouldn't be reading /.
    3. Re:Prefer a tax by bigpat · · Score: 1

      It's pretty easy to detect when 'prevailing wage' has been set 25% too low -- esp. since the Federal government would, on a $140K/yr H-1B job get $35K they could use to fund investigating and enforcing the provision in that one worker's case. The goal of the 25% suggestion is to set it high enough it's NOT possible to, under scrutiny, game it.

      A fixed number is complete B.S. Wages vary by region and jobs.

      It is completely B.S. to suggest that "prevailing wage" language is as or more enforceable than a "$110k minimum". $110k is a clear number, and "prevailing wage" doesn't mean anything. Prevailing wage isn't actionable in most cases because to get the H1B in the first place they have to say how uniquely qualified for the position the person is. How do you even begin to compare the prevailing wage for a "unique" job?

      The point of the relatively high number is that if the foreign worker is so uniquely qualified to do a certain job, then they should be worth paying a very good salary. As for the markets where $110k isn't quite as high compared to the cost of living, then well at least it is a minimum that represents something livable. How many H1Bs now are making $70k or $80k now? A $110k floor (that adjusts up with inflation) represents a floor not a ceiling.

    4. Re:Prefer a tax by uncqual · · Score: 1

      The problem is that $110K is too low to be very useful in the SV and too high in other parts of the country. For somewhere that a nice house on a nice piece of property costs $300K, $110K is a ridiculously high minimum salary for an H-1B worker.

      If you need to hire a highly skilled individual in some small town in the midwest because you need a few specialists, you probably can't get anyone to move from the SV for almost any amount of salary (they have families and friends in the SV, they have a home, their partners have jobs, they like the weather and activities in the Bay Area, they may feel they would be committing career suicide by getting out of the churn of a high tech area, and they are really committing to two moves - one into the small town and one back to the "big city" when the job ends). $110K may much more than the existing specialists on your staff are already making (that would be the "prevailing wage").

      I think the goal should to impose a disincentive on hiring H-1B workers because they are cheaper. I think it's fine to hire them if they are better. I, personally, have no problem with H-1B's being issued to hire workers who are smarter, more productive, better educated, less annoying than "native" workers. Why drag America's economy down by handicapping our products by lazy or incompetent engineering just to protect "American Jobs". The economy is global and burying one's head in the sand about that fact would be stupid. It's dangerous to rely on protectionism to compensate for one's own inability to compete in the job market. By importing the cream of the crop, we motivate "native" workers to step up their game and everyone benefits (except those that probably should have picked a different field instead of, perhaps, picking a field that they thought paid well rather than one they had the skills for). We don't want to be a High School basketball team in an NBA world.

      (Tip to American kids: spend a little less time on Facebook and a little more time studying and building stuff, else you likely won't be the most qualified for the jobs you will be applying to).

      --
      Why is there an "insightful" mod and why isn't it "-1"? If I wanted insight, I wouldn't be reading /.
    5. Re:Prefer a tax by iamacat · · Score: 1

      I got a raise to INS-published prevailing wage for the area when my practical training was coming to an end and I was applying for H1. Coming from Russia, my salary even before the raise was much more comfortable than my living conditions earlier in life. I am saddened that I was able to afford a nice appartment next to work back then and have to spend 3 hours/day in commute now, earning a large multiple of that salary.

    6. Re:Prefer a tax by bigpat · · Score: 1

      If all the other costs are made lower by moving to a less expensive city, then hiring a few people for above market rate isn't going to break your budget if you really need them. Companies will often hire contractors for significantly higher than what they would usually spend on full time staff. What we are trying to deal with is the problem of low wage H-1Bs being utilized to undercut American wages.

      Also, at the very very least there should be priority given to approving H-1Bs based on salary with employers paying the most salary going to the front of the line and getting approved first. I am not sure if that is the case now, but that should be done by executive order today. That would also tend to increase salaries as long as the cap on H1Bs was set below the demand.

      Say, set a rolling cap of 80% of the number of applications, so the bottom 20% of proposed H1B salaries are never going to get approved. In that way, you will find equilibrium at a higher salary. In that case employers are going to want a threshold number like $110k where they can be assured they will get approved as long as no more than 80% of applications are above that number.

    7. Re:Prefer a tax by bigpat · · Score: 1

      But thinking about it a bit, you can't just have something like the 80% rule without a minimum salary, otherwise employers will game the system by flooding the H1B application system with low balled salaries.

  49. Can't believe Cruz would do this by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 0

    Ted Cruz is the douchebag of the first order and can't believe he would do anything good. I think he is doing this to be vindictive against Google, Facebook and Microsoft and other tech billionaires who are not sufficiently submissive to GOP. Probably to teach them a lesson and to extort some campaign donations. He is a louse, a weasel and the revenge by Texas on the Union for having defeated the confederacy.

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    1. Re:Can't believe Cruz would do this by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

      Agreed, he is a really scary douchebag (not as scary as a few of the other candidates, but that's another story). But even being a ridiculous douchebag, it is still possible for him to do some things right. This is a step in the right direction, even though it will most likely go nowhere. It's a sad, sad day when Cruz starts to look like the lesser of multiple evils... (I still predict a Bush/Clinton general election, the surprises will come from the VP picks. Trump might manage to broker himself a VP slot -- then we all pray that nobody shoots Bush!)

      --
      I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    2. Re:Can't believe Cruz would do this by operagost · · Score: 1

      I'm surprised I had to read down this far to find the circumstantial ad hominem.

      --

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    3. Re:Can't believe Cruz would do this by cbhacking · · Score: 1

      Except... those companies already pay six-digit salaries. It's not the tech giants who would be hurt by this, it's the companies where typical wages are in the mid-to-upper 5 digits and cost of living is half (or less) what it is on the coast. The giants would actually benefit, here; there'd be less competition for the visa workers.

      --
      There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
    4. Re:Can't believe Cruz would do this by Ash-Fox · · Score: 1

      Except... those companies already pay six-digit salaries.

      Considering the amount of recruiters I get offering just $60,000 salary or less for working in the US (this is less than I get paid annually, lol), I don't think so. When I researched it (I was genuinely curious was $60,000 always seemed to be the most they were willing to spend), it turns out that you can be an "exempt H-1B nonimmigrant" which is someone who earns at least $60,000 per year or holds a master's degree (or similar, higher) related to the area of employment. I believe much of what brings immigrants to the U.S. is the hope of the 'American dream', which seems closer to a fantasy than realistic to me. I have a feeling even if this rule came in, you would still have this exemption rule on education which would not assist the situation.

      --
      Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
  50. What's His Game? by Greyfox · · Score: 1

    "The Republican Guy, champion of the people," no one ever said. EVER. He's not going to say something like this unless he's sure it's going nowhere or he's desperate for any coverage at all in the face of the overwhelming noise emanating from The Trump Hole.

    --

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  51. Freedom is still the best answer by jd.schmidt · · Score: 1

    Make it easier for H1-B visa's to transfer and a generous grace period, that way good talent can stay and compete in the job market. Make it easy to do business in the U.S., just take away the ability to hold labor hostage to a visa.

  52. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by Bartles · · Score: 1

    So since he's not arrogant and annoying anymore, are you considering him? He's given some pretty good defenses of the 1st amendment.

  53. Doesn't make a lick of sense... by JoeDuncan · · Score: 1

    $110k is still below the market rate for most STEM fields, software engineering for sure, so how does he expect this to have any kind of impact???

    1. Re:Doesn't make a lick of sense... by PortHaven · · Score: 1

      Most of the IT workers in Baltimore would love to make $110K. But when only 3 U.S. born per 20 developers. How can you?

      Heck, half the H1B visa workers get forced to take pay de-raises every year.

    2. Re:Doesn't make a lick of sense... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Most of the IT workers in Baltimore would love to make $110K.

      Well if they're willing to accept a pay raise, they could just move to the places that are supposedly hiring H1Bs and end the "problem" right there...

  54. Disney by rally2xs · · Score: 1

    Lets see of Disney fires 250 more employees and replaces them with H1B's if each is going to cost the $110,000 a year! Bet they don't, and that's what this is trying to stop. I've seen news reports that say that _all_ the job gains in the USA since the year 2000 are amongst only immigrants of one flavor or another - H1B's, illegals, legals, etc. Its a war on prosperity, basically, with the middle class wages being forced closer and closer to poverty in every occupation.

  55. Re:Another dumbfuck poster. by Orgasmatron · · Score: 1

    This isn't about "running the economy".

    H1B was intended to be a way for companies to bypass the normal immigration system to bring in star talent, people with unique skills or knowledge. It was intended to bring Linus into the country, for example. While it is still occasionally used that way, it is now mostly a way for companies to replace high paid American workers with low paid foreign workers, like Disney replacing their IT staff (and making them train their H1B replacements).

    Cruz isn't proposing this because he thinks it'll be better for the economy, he's proposing this because he thinks it'll be better for the nation, and for the country. Polls suggest that a large majority of Americans agree with him.

    For people that want to "run the economy", perhaps look across the aisle at the people that literally think that you are too stupid to purchase the medical coverage that meets your needs.

    --
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  56. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by kelemvor4 · · Score: 1

    He's just another wanna-be Republican nigger that want's nothing more than to destroy the US.

    Who cares if he's a turd. This is the only good news on the H1-B front that I've heard.. maybe ever.

  57. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by phantomfive · · Score: 2

    So since he's not arrogant and annoying anymore, are you considering him?

    He's still arrogant and annoying. I was trying to point out that other candidates have come along who are more annoying. As for considering him, I've already resigned myself to the fact that we're going to have a lousy president next term, and I'm glad that the US system has shown itself resilient enough to survive that.

    He's given some pretty good defenses of the 1st amendment.

    It's really sad that's even needed.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  58. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by Bartles · · Score: 1

    I don't like his evangelical cadence. But I'm pretty sure he has an audiographic memory, and puts together an argument very coherently.

  59. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by bigpat · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ted Cruz used to be the Republican candidate who I considered the most arrogant, and most annoying to listen to (he started running for president years ago!). Sometimes things change.

    No, I still think Cruz is annoying, arrogant, etc. etc... but on this one particular issue he is right and has put forward a good proposal.

    We really need to get past partisan politics where whole issues get misappropriated by political parties. People are not stereotypes and ideas should matter more than the color of their party.

  60. Re:Minimum Wage Not as Important as Layoff Provisi by uncqual · · Score: 1

    Why should an employee strike start a 'no H-1B' period? Employee strikes are voluntary on the part of the employee. Employees could just declare a 60 second strike every year on New Year's eve and continually renew the 'no H-1B' period.

    As well, any such general rule must require that the restriction only apply to hiring H1-Bs for the same/equivalent job at the same general location. If demand for GE jet engines declines and they have to close one of their jet engine plants and lay off janitors, there's no logical reason that should prevent GE from using H-1B visas to hire needed foreign PhDs to improve image processing algorithms in their healthcare division 2,000 miles away.

    --
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  61. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Unfortunately, another candidate has arisen who is more arrogant and insufferable. I didn't think it could happen.

    Yeah, who would've thought we'd have another Clinton in the ring.

  62. I *don't* support this by kheldan · · Score: 1

    What should be done instead is to create legislation mandating that the unemployment rate for the industry being hired for is below a set level before they can import workers on the H1-B program, *and* they have to pay the prevailing wage. Saying the talent doesn't exist in the U.S. is utter and complete bullshit, and if I had my way what corporations do to U.S. citizens with the H1-B program would be considered treason. It has nothing to do with 'no local talent', it has to do with 'we don't want to PAY for local talent'. Meanwhile the middle class in this country is disappearing.

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    1. Re:I *don't* support this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How do you define the unemployment rate for an industry?

      You would have to decide if any given job is in or out of that industry, and then decide if any given person is in or out of all those jobs.

      How do you know how many people are software engineers? do you need a degree? what if someone taught themselves to code and can now write reasonable web-sites, even though they actually hold a degree in nursing?

      What if in a given industry, there is a huge shortage for one particular skill, but the rest of the industry is fine?

      How intrusive does that State need to be do gather all this information? how much does gathering cost? how often is it performed?

      Regarding pay, if someone is of average skill, but asks for exceptional pay, they are pricing themselves out of the market. It'd be like a supermarket asking 50 USD for a pair of normal beef-burgers. One "solution" is to prevent anyone else with beef-burgers from being allowed to sell in this market - i.e. banning foreign labour - which is also profoundly and utterly attacking the individual freedom of people who are looking to hire staff. Another is to guarantee their freedom, let anyone with beef-burgers sell, and see the price of beef-burgers come to their correct, proper level.

    2. Re:I *don't* support this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I live in a shithole country with low wages and am mad jealous of U.S. workers pay and want to take their jobs and FUCK the U.S.

      You want our jobs? Apply for citizenship, otherwise STAY in your shithole country, quit helping ruin ours.

    3. Re:I *don't* support this by kheldan · · Score: 1

      Personally I have nothing against people from other countries -- the U.S. was, and still is, made up of peoples from all over the world -- but if you're not a U.S. citizen, then all your arguments, to me, are suspect. It makes ZERO sense to give jobs to people imported from other countries when there are U.S. citizens, who have families to take care of, who are being passed over for jobs, and all this about them 'not being qualified' is frankly bullshit, and in fact it's the opposite case: very often the 'imports' are not as skilled or experienced. I KNOW people who have been affected by this, most of which worked for their respective companies for years and years, and were forced out because they'd rather pay some kid from overseas a fraction of what they were making, regardless of their skill or experience (or lack thereof), and someone from another country who is arguing the opposite of what I'm saying, is frankly lacking in basic credibility due to their own self-interest. We NEED to take care of our own citizens FIRST, and selfish corporations need to be smacked down when they try to screw our own people so they can improve their bottom line.

      ..and before anyone says it: I am NOT one of the people who lost a job to an H1-B, but that doesn't mean I don't object to the way things are being done.

      --
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    4. Re:I *don't* support this by NostalgiaForInfinity · · Score: 1

      What should be done instead is to create legislation mandating that the unemployment rate for the industry being hired for is below a set level before they can import workers on the H1-B program, *and* they have to pay the prevailing wage.

      That is effectively the law. The need and prevailing wage certifications are made by the US Department of Labor:

      http://www.foreignlaborcert.do...

  63. What's up with all the fixed $Amounts in laws? by lamer01 · · Score: 1

    Why can't the lawmakers come up with $ Amounts based on formulas ? $110K will be rendered crap with the current level of wage inflation.

  64. It's not a good idea by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    It's a useless bone he's throwing to the American Labor movement. Ignoring the fact that we don't really enforce any of these rules in the first place the problem isn't wages, it's training and benefits. Even at $110k/year an H1-B is still cheaper because they have few benefits and they're trained in third world countries instead of expensive colleges. They're also trained for very, very specific tasks. Then there's the leverage employeers can bring to bear to make them work 60-80/hr weeks.

    There's a reason you don't like Cruz. He's two faced. This is just another example. Want someone who'll do something to curtail cheap import labor for real? Vote Bernie.

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  65. Minimum Wage by aralin · · Score: 1

    ... see and you all said that Ted Cruz is against minimum wage ...

    --
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  66. No it wouldn't by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    because Americans have a ton of benefits H1-Bs don't have and because Americans Expect to work 40, maybe 50 hours a week while the H1-Bs routinely put in 60+. More importantly H1-Bs come pre-trained in whatever specialty skill set you want. You don't spend a dime on training when you hire them, and if their skills become obsolete you just replace them and move on. Nobody clamors for them to be retrained like we did with the mine workers. You just ship 'em back home. Problem solved.

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    1. Re:No it wouldn't by jmcvetta · · Score: 1

      Americans Expect to work 40, maybe 50 hours a week while the H1-Bs routinely put in 60+.

      'Round SF there are plenty of bright-eyed young US citizen corporate-startup drones who will happily work 60+ hrs/wk. Apparently a salary high enough to afford a studio apartment (no roommates!) in a bad neighborhood, free meals (now you can eat at your desk!), and a lottery ticket (you gotz equity!) is sufficient motivation for many people.

  67. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

    Sometime things change...

    Like for example, the other candidates got even more grossly arrogant and annoying, making him look better by comparison? Sad what's become of the GOP, I used to like them for their ideas on fiscal conservativism, before the Tea Party turned them into the party of choice for the batshit insane.

    --
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  68. You're not cyncial enough by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    You don't actually believe they're doing this out of the kindness of their hearts do you? This is a meaningless gesture that at best will have no noticeable impact and at worst go unenforced like the rest of the restrictions on the H1-B program. H1-Bs are better than Americans because they're already trained and they were trained on the cheap. They're also better because you can threaten them with deportation and they have no benefits. A bump in pay changes nothing. But it does give Mr Cruz a nice talking point for his presidential run.

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  69. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by Locke2005 · · Score: 2

    Hard to find anything with both your hands in someone else's pockets...

    --
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  70. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by phantomfive · · Score: 1

    and puts together an argument very coherently.

    If you have an example of that, I'd love to see it (especially if you have a transcript).
    I think he got beat down pretty badly here. He was trying to argue on one very narrow aspect of the law, which I think would fail in court (and indeed, he lost the case he did argue before the supreme court). (also, sorry, I don't have a transcript :(

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  71. Not true by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    if they could move the jobs offshore they would have. It's still _way_ cheaper to run the jobs out of India. There are other reasons they want the laborers in America; like keeping everyone working on the same time zones and being able to manage employees (yes, for all the Dilbert jokes that just flooded into your mind Management does serve a purpose). Your statement is demonstrably false with even a little bit of care and effort. Please stop spreading that nonsense.

    And even if we lived in a bizarro universe where you were right I say let 'em go. America is a country rich in natural resources and good land. If they want to stop employing Americans they can stop being Americans, and forget their land and property. They can leave, but they don't get to take the ball. It's not theirs.

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  72. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by naris · · Score: 2, Funny

    Unfortunately, another candidate has arisen who is more arrogant and insufferable. I didn't think it could happen.

    Yeah, who would've thought we'd have another Clinton in the ring.

    There is another candidate that Trumps both Clinton and and Cruz on arrogance and insufferability!

  73. Who gets the $110k? by oneiros27 · · Score: 1

    I've heard stories of H1-B employees having to give a major chunk of their income to the companies that found them the job. (a sort of 'finder's fee' to whatever HR company they went through back in their home country)

    One solution might be that there be a 'tax' on H1-B employees, so that 20% or so of the wages 'paid' to the employee are sent to some sort of a fund to train up people in the field that they're bringing people in for.

    And on the 'prevailing wage' ... the basic loophole is that there's an estimate of what it costs to hire people in different jobs based on the person's experience. They're using the Level I (low experience) numbers as the 'prevailing wage', but if you only needed someone with little experience, you could get someone off the street and train them. They should have to pay at a minimum the 75% percentile mark for a given field for an H1-B.

    --
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  74. Wow, that would actually be a big deal... by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    if the businesses that hire H1-Bs ever had strikes... Tech workers are completely un-Unionized. That just leaves you with layoffs as the blocking condition, but I could see the bill defining "layoffs" rather liberally. Most tech companies make heavy use of "contractors" that are really full time employees without health or unemployment benefits. Companies could just use normal attrition to get rid of proper hires, replace them with phony-baloney contractors and then use that fake contract terms to get out of the "layoff" provision. Book it, done.

    No, the H1-B program needs to die. It's too corrupt and too broken to save.

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    1. Re:Wow, that would actually be a big deal... by guruevi · · Score: 1

      You don't need to unionize to strike. Any sort of computer development is not something that should be unionized, it's not a generic job that anyone can replace you in (or it shouldn't be). If you can generalize (unionize means standard wages for everyone, same job responsibilities and descriptions for everyone, same hours, same vacations) then your job can be done by anyone and you're not a developer.

      --
      Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
    2. Re:Wow, that would actually be a big deal... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you implying that the only way to be a developer is to have unique skills that can't be replicated?

  75. Taxes don't work by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    because they'll just cut the corporation's taxes somewhere else (or give them an "incentive" somewhere) to offset. Kill the H1-B program. It's too corrupt. If companies want foreign labor they can leave America. America obviously has something they want or they wouldn't be fighting to bring in H1-Bs.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:Taxes don't work by uncqual · · Score: 1

      Killing the H-1B program would just encourage offshoring and cost American jobs. If one can't find sufficiently skilled American workers in particular key areas, preventing them from hiring foreign workers will encourage them to move the entire development effort offshore - certainly if they were already near the cusp of that making sense. The program should be fixed as it suffers from some abuse. However, I've hired and acquired H-1B developers and they have consistently been much more competent as a group than American workers (i.e., those born, raised, and receiving all of their education in the United States) and I've never abused it. I did work at one company (no longer exists) which I think was pushing the edge of abuse however.

      --
      Why is there an "insightful" mod and why isn't it "-1"? If I wanted insight, I wouldn't be reading /.
    2. Re:Taxes don't work by Ash-Fox · · Score: 1

      America obviously has something they want or they wouldn't be fighting to bring in H1-Bs.

      For some of the U.S. head-quartered companies I've worked with that were under going change management, it was more about operational risk and cost-benefit analysis when it came to staying in the U.S. interestingly, the biggest motivator was most often cost, not risk. I fully expect with the removal of H1-B, it would increase the predicted costs of operation in the U.S.

      --
      Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
  76. He's running for president by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    this is good press. That's all this is. It has no real teeth. Go look up Bernie Sanders if you want to see someone who a) wants to stop H1-B abuses and b) is completely unelectable as a result ( :( )

    --
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  77. Could the title of this post be... by vell0cet · · Score: 1

    Couldn't the title of this story be "Ted Cruz wants to raise minimum wage for immigrant workers"?

  78. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by Bartles · · Score: 1

    This is the talk that won me over. For now at least. Sorry for the lazy link https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

  79. Get rid of the H1-B Visa program. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Get rid of the H1-B Visa program. We have more technical people than we have jobs. The only thing that is going on is that the salaries for programs are so low that you can make better money doing anything else. Just look at the Job Boards you will see job listing asking for 10+ yrs of experience and a Masters offering less than 70K and that's for the NYC area. There are too many people for too few jobs. There is no shortage of skills labor just business who don't want to pay a decent wages.

    1. Re:Get rid of the H1-B Visa program. by iamacat · · Score: 1

      You have not interviewed on behalf a tech company lately. Ask a dozen candidates some rudimentary coding question like finding top N numbers from a large list and cry. Job requirements are total bullshit, no self respecting recruiter makes them a primary criteria. People who give salary range upfront in a job posting are idiots. Which helps explain why those positions are still open.

  80. Re:These politicians are either evil or incompeten by naris · · Score: 1

    They are politicians, so incompetent is a given...

  81. Re:Ha! - Federal Income tax is not paid. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    I am a H1-B holder and as far as I know I pay tax exactly the same as everyone else.

  82. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 0

    Ted Cruz used to be the Republican candidate who I considered the most arrogant, and most annoying to listen to (he started running for president years ago!). Sometimes things change.

    You better check his plans - He's a dominionist Whic means his plan is to declare war on most everyone he doesn't like, and distribute their money to himself and other dominioinists.

    You better see just what you are supporting here.

    It's long and nauseating, so your man starts at the 1:02:48 mark. https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    Occupations, kings and priests reigning over the earth. Ted his son. is in their reckoning, a king. at 1:08:20, he outlines what Ted's plan is. "Kings who are annointed to take Dominion. Kings who are annointed to go to war, win the war, and bring the spoils of war to the priests. So the work of the Kingdom of God could be accomplished.

    So if you want neverending war, with people who believe that it is their duty as commanded by God to go to war - Teddy boy is your man. By teh way, that war is not only in foreign lands - it's here as well.

    Pastor Cruz's sermon sounds a whole lot like the kooks they want to go to war with. Except that they think a whole lot of Americans are kooks.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  83. Re:Ha! - Federal Income tax is not paid. by serbanp · · Score: 1

    You're completely wrong. H1B visa holders do pay federal taxes just the same as permanent residents and citizens.

  84. Meritocracy Myth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Great book "Meritocracy Myth" shows that most people get their jobs through connections or blind luck, but don't acknowledge that or even recognize it.

    Yet ask them why they are successful, and they will tell you it's because they're talented and awesome. Not because they used to go to school with the guy, and really, anyone could do their job.

    That's true of most jobs

    Even doctors take interns based on connections. Want to be a cardiologist? It helps if daddy is one, or one is a family friend. Because if you can't get a cardiologist willing to intern you, you'll go into a less desirable (less well paying) specialty.

    As for getting into medical school: It's a crap shoot. Enrollment staff at one medical school chose applicants like this: "One for the pile, and and one in the bin. One for the pile, and and one in the bin." http://www.amazon.com/Meritocr...

  85. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

    But give glasses to a politician and they still can't find their own nuts.

    Larry Craig Republican senator from Minnesota has a good idea where his are.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  86. What the...? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm not into American Politics (as a foreigner...)

    But why is some guy with a Mexican name (Cruz = Cross) so much against immigration?

    1. Re:What the...? by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 1

      His dad is Cuban.

    2. Re:What the...? by Kozar_The_Malignant · · Score: 1

      God told him it was the right thing to do after his father got into the country. Besides, his father was Cuban which means he was feeing from bad guys (Castro) unlike Mexicans, who are fleeing from bad guys who are not Castro, and Syrians, who are fleeing from Satan and must be kept out. Also, Cruz was born in Canada, which is not Mexico or Syria. He only recently gave up his Canadian citizenship.

      --
      Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
    3. Re:What the...? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thank you all for the explanation (though, really, I'm a foreigner, I don't vote in the US or anything).

      Now, generally speaking, good thing he was welcomed in the USA, good thing he didn't get a kick like some idiotic journalist did in Hungary, and I even get that this might be about the Economics of the situation -- not xenophobia...

      Also, I misunderstood the minimum wage. It's a yearly wage, not a monthly one, right? That would amount to 9,000 per month, high but not xenophobic like 110,000/month like I previously thought. Heck, it might work to avoid mass unemployment of unqualified Americans and still allow hiring scientists from India (no, not my country).

      Of course, having unqualified people in your country is somewhat of a problem in itself (my country is in that situation, too).

  87. Re:Ha! - Federal Income tax is not paid. by slew · · Score: 4, Informative

    You're figures are fine except that Hr1B visa holders DO NOT pay
    federal income tax (I'm not sure of the particulars, but it's true).

    So their effective salary is significantly higher than the stated values.

    CAP === 'accord'

    I have no idea where you get your information, but H1B visa holder are required to pay all federal, state, local taxes including FICA (Social Security) and Medicare.

    The only exception I am aware of is that if you by some circumstances become a non-resident-alien of the US for part of the year (hired mid-year, or terminated mid-year), you can dual-status and only pay US taxes on your US based income and a flat 30% on non-US connected income (normally you have to pay US taxes on your worldwide income although you can claim an exemption for taxes you paid to another country).

    Your confusion might be that those on OPT (practical training) temporary visas which often are used by college graduates before they get H1Bs are exempt from FICA and medicare, but are still not exempt from other state and federal income taxes. OPT used to be a max of 1 year, but now it is 2 years.

  88. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by phantomfive · · Score: 1
    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  89. Re:These politicians are either evil or incompeten by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > American government ostensibly works for the American people, only the American people, and not any other country's people.

    I think countries are a bad idea. I think they're certainly an arbitrary idea.

    So we come up with this arbitrary idea, countries, then we say, well, we work for ourselves, the people inside these borders, at the expense of the people outside is fine, and then we all get on with... screwing each other over? because we've decided there's an "us" and a "them"?

    Moreover this actually doesn't matter - it is not in the interest of US citizens *even with this way of thinking* to have the State both control their freedom and harm the long term growth rate of the economy. The pie needs to be made bigger, rather than people squabbling over getting a bigger slice of the existing pie - and in ways which mean they are treading down upon their fellow citizens.

  90. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

    FYI, this is where I explain my comment in more detail.

    Yeah, I saw that one as well. Not that he's likely to get the nomination, but I for one am tired of religious nuts getting good American men and women killed for their end of of the world lust. His support os the huge increase isn't actually support. He just wants to kill the bill.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  91. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by YouGotTobeKidding · · Score: 1

    Then you havent been paying attention to what that hag has been doing for the past couple years. Trump is an ass but he is being upfront with his assholeness. Hillary is not. I support and would vote for Hillary...for prison.

  92. good idea with a poor implementation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Rather than a salary limit, I'd rather see a limit on the percentage of employees and/or contractors on H1-B. For example, no more than 5% of workforce in the applicant's position. That seems like a better cap. That would help insure that 95% of the available positions are filled by American citizens.

    1. Re:good idea with a poor implementation by Ash-Fox · · Score: 1

      Rather than a salary limit, I'd rather see a limit on the percentage of employees and/or contractors on H1-B. For example, no more than 5% of workforce in the applicant's position. That seems like a better cap. That would help insure that 95% of the available positions are filled by American citizens.

      Sounds like a reason to move more offices outside of the U.S. to me?

      --
      Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
  93. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 1

    Everyone has been paying attention to Hillary
    At the moment, a choice between her and any of the "R" frontrunners is a walkaway "Give the Keys to Hillary" contest.
    But some people like making a statement to scare the establishment
    Kind of like the Nader voters in 2000 who made Florida competitive enough to steal.

  94. Re:These politicians are either evil or incompeten by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    More like "For sale to highest bidder"

  95. Pinko lefty here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm a democrat and a liberal and I think this is a good idea.

  96. Re: Cruz can't be trusted by KenHansen · · Score: 1

    You do understand as Solicitor General of the state of Texas he had *ZERO* choice on the positions he argued in support of, right? His positions were staked out by others, then he was forced to argue them. Also, I think he argued *nine* cases before SCOTUS, not one: http://www.nationaljournal.com...

  97. Re: Cruz can't be trusted by phantomfive · · Score: 1

    Nice article.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  98. Re:Ha! - Federal Income tax is not paid. by JoeMerchant · · Score: 1

    Congratulations.

    If you're sharing a 1 bedroom apartment with 4 other people - we're concerned that we don't want to be bringing our standard of living down to that level just to compete with immigrant labor.

  99. I said to do this a while ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seriously, read through the Anonymous Coward postings and you will find them. Although, I can't vote for that Canadian born nut-bag Ted Cruz in good conscience.

  100. wait, how about by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How about this:

    1) You can pay an H1B worker anything you like.
    2) For each H1B worker you hire, you pay 5x their salary as a tax penalty into our various social safety nets.

    Look, US workers have jobs again all of a sudden.

    I am so sick of these non-citizens being hired when older and/or more experienced US workers, many with families, are left at the doorstep.

    Fucking cheap-ass sociopathic corporate assholes.

    1. Re: wait, how about by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, well the 40 year old I interviewed wanted 260k base for a senior engineer position. I hired a guy with 4 years professional programming experience right out of grad school for 115k. If you think that makes me a sociopath you are nucking futs.

    2. Re: wait, how about by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you think that 40-year old was representative of all 40-year olds such that it has any relevance at all to the previous suggestion, you're not so much "nucking futs" as you are terminally stupid.

      I have over 30 years of experience, a family and a home, and I'd be bloody delighted with a 115k salary. So let's try to keep the idiotic hyperbole down to a dull roar, shall we?

      The number of positions to be filled where you'd actually have to look outside the USA for (a) the required skills and (b) a reasonable salary requirement is a pretty damned small number. Consequently, you shouldn't be doing it unless that is actually the case. Which I doubt, although I would allow for the possibility. However, if that's the situation, you certainly won't be filling it with a "guy with 4 years professional programming experience right out of grad school."

      4 years of professional programming experience is just-past-newbie. The fact is that available work force looking for hire contains far more experienced people, and there is simply no question at all they could be hired for similar — or even less — amounts.

      Now, if you artificially constrain your hiring to the irrelevant — such as "needs a degree" or "must live here" or "has to be white" or "can't have a family" or "must be young" or "must have perfect credit" or "must never have been in trouble with the law" then yes, you are a sociopath. Just like most corporate stooges are. Any questions, sparky?

  101. Re: Cruz can't be trusted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Touché

  102. loopholes by Ritz_Just_Ritz · · Score: 1

    So the body shops peddling java programmers by the pound will charge $109.9k while still passing along half or less to the poor sap doing the "work".

    And they'll continue rotating folks over for "training" every few months.

    *yawn*

    1. Re:loopholes by Ash-Fox · · Score: 1

      At one of my jobs, the company used to find an ideal H1-B candidate and then write the job description tailored to their resume to satisfy the requirement that there were no Americans that could fit the job..... Don't you just love the free market.

      When I apply for jobs, I tailor my CV/resume/application to the job.

      --
      Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
  103. Re:Ha! - Federal Income tax is not paid. by PortHaven · · Score: 4, Informative

    That's not what we're talking about silly H1-B.

    What we're talking about, is that the jobs us Americans are working, for $75,000 would pay over $100,000. Except rather than pay what the market demands, the companies import workers on H1B visas. They claim, they can't find the talent. Utter BS, often they replaced trained with untrained workers, and have the trained workers train their replacements.

    But you see, if you can hire imported workers for $60K-$70K, then you never have to pay the market value. And you can force Americans into lower pay. It's basic economics of supply and demand.

    And GUESS WHY that pay average is around $60K-$70K, because that was the $110K of yesteryear. That was the amount that if the salary exceeded, they never get investigated for wage sinking. And guess what, $60K in 1990 when H1B visas went into effect, if adjusted for inflation would now be $110K. So all Ted Cruz is asking for is the originally minimum salary cap being put back in effect. All laws passed should be inflation adjusted, if so, then it would already be $110K

  104. Re:Ha! - Federal Income tax is not paid. by PortHaven · · Score: 1

    ACTUALLY, YOU'RE ALL WRONG. It depends on whether they are considered resident or non-resident aliens.

  105. It's a strange day when I agree with Cruz by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I feel icky inside.

  106. No... by PortHaven · · Score: 1

    But they can call for a government program to be reduced and limited in it's quantity of use. ;-)

  107. Ain't trolling fun? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Citation?

    Because by your argumentative skills, cuntservatives and losertarians are all authoritarian assholes who feel the need to tell everybody else exactly how they should live their lives.

  108. Some market economist he is by iamacat · · Score: 1

    How about letting market decide rather than big government prescribing exact dollar amounts? Currently, H1B visas immediately run out of quota, and most are snatched by consulting companies like Infosys rather than individuals directly.

    Set quota to whatever is desired and grant visa to employees who receive the highest salaries. Americans benefit because bidding drives wages up. Immigrants benefit because anyone can come in with good enough job offer rather than being shut off by quota running out. Plus, tax revenues go up proportionally to salary (and keeping track of tax returns is a great way to detect cheating).

  109. Re:Ha! - Federal Income tax is not paid. by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 1

    I have no idea where you get your information, but H1B visa holder are required to pay all federal, state, local taxes including FICA (Social Security) and Medicare.

    I hear there ARE some entitlements that they don't get and for which they (or the employer) don't pay. (I think it's state unemployment insurance in some states.)

    IMHO if/when such exist, the employer should be required to directly pay them the fee he would otherwise have paid the government, in addition to the mandated minimum wage/salary.

    (That's actually fair, too: They can use the extra money to buy, or otherwise do something to try to replace, whatever the entitlement they don't get would have been.)

    --
    Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
  110. $110k is a bit low for Silicon Valley ... by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 1

    That's still poverty in Silicon Valley

    $110k is a bit low for Silicon Valley.

    On the other hand, my experience trying to get work out of a few H1Bs and offshore employees has been that they are substantially (like sometimes a factor of several) less productive than typical citizen workers. If this is a general trend, rather than just the individuals I happen to have experience with, $110k is close enough that the economic advantage would still flip to the native (and maybe the fully naturalized) workers.

    --
    Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
  111. Re:Ha! - Federal Income tax is not paid. by serbanp · · Score: 1

    If you've lived in the US for more than 6 months during the previous calendar year, you owe taxes to uncle Sam. Even if you're here on an H1B visa. A H1B visa holder comes to US for a multi-year stint (then usually "graduates" to a GC), therefore it's almost certain that he/she is going to pay federal taxes and, depending on the local laws, state taxes too.

  112. Companies already pay $110k for H1-Bs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Companies are already paying easily $110k for H1-B workers. That is amount is paid to the staffing company who locates the talent, guides them through the visa process and acclimates them to life in the US and typically finds them 2 - 3 roommates so they can afford an apartment. The cut the staffing company takes is roughly 50%. For this proposal to have any teeth it needs to clearly specify $110k as the minimum paid to the H1-B worker after the staffing agencies gets their pound of flesh.

    1. Re:Companies already pay $110k for H1-Bs by unixisc · · Score: 1

      His proposal states that the MINIMUM WAGE of the H1B worker should be $110k. That would eliminate any entry and even mid level H1B workers. Actually, what it would really do is move that work offshore.

  113. Bid for H1Bs? by hughperkins · · Score: 1

    There is a quota of 80,000 H1Bs per year. This is currently filled randomly, according to a lottery. Why not simply rank the applicants by their salary, from highest first, and give an H1B to the top 80,000 salaries?

    Solves two problems, win-win:
    - makes sure that only the most critical employees enter
    - means that those critical employees can enter easily, without having to do endless lotteries...

    1. Re:Bid for H1Bs? by Jack+Griffin · · Score: 1

      There is a quota of 80,000 H1Bs per year. This is currently filled randomly, according to a lottery. .

      Is it? You'd think it was somehow give first dibs to Indians since they make up the majority of them. It's an odd choice when you think about it, if you want immigration, you'd think it would be preferential to have immigrants from places that have similar values/language to your own.
      As Boris Johnson, mayor of London said recently, (I'm paraphrasing) It's absurd that anyone from the EU can live and work in Britain freely, but Australians and New Zealanders, ie people who's families originally came from the UK, can't.
      I would think that if the US H1B's went to more white, English speaking nationalities, it might not be as big a deal.

  114. Some libertarians recognize law-in-order... by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 1

    I'm not sure that Libertarians want a completely open border, as it would lead to tens of millions of immediate entrants, with hundreds of millions soon after, eventually making the US the most populous nation on the planet.

    Some libertarians (including Ron Paul, for example), recognize that, desirable as they believe open borders might be, they have to wait until some other things are fixed.

    This is why I call myself a "law-n-order minarchist". You can't just repeal laws. You have to do it in the right ORDER, or you can break things even worse.

    Example: Open borders have to happen AFTER entitlement reform.

    --
    Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
  115. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by jrumney · · Score: 1

    Change to what???

    A man who once kept Adolf Hitler's books by his bedside, perhaps?

  116. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    is a walkaway "Give the Keys to Hillary" contest.

    Until the indictment comes down on the e-mail server debacle, and she finds herself in a cold dark jail cell.

  117. Drop H1B and open the floodgates to immigration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The reason H1B results in competition for American workers is that the H1B workers are basically slaves to the companies which hire them. They can't switch employers if they're shafted (ie paid too little, not given promotions, etc). At the same time if we don't let foreign workers in the jobs will just move overseas. The solution to the problem is open the floodgates to immigration. We should have an open boarder policy. If American workers are truly competitive with foreign workers than we should have no problem competing with them.

  118. Hypocrites by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When taxi drivers are complaining about Uber, they're dinosaurs getting outcompeted. "Adapt or die!" the Slashdotters say, "No government protection for you lazy jerks!"

    But when someone is gunning for your jobs, you suddenly sing a different tune. "Save us, Uncle Sam!"

  119. loopholes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    At one of my jobs, the company used to find an ideal H1-B candidate and then write the job description tailored to their resume to satisfy the requirement that there were no Americans that could fit the job..... Don't you just love the free market.

  120. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by jimngo · · Score: 1

    H1Bs aren't here so that a tech company can pay them less than an American engineer. They are here because tech companies can't find any fucking qualified American engineers. Just go talk to your HR department. Go talk to admissions of any university.

  121. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn from time to time.

    I think you misunderstood me. I still consider Cruz to be arrogant and annoying to listen to. Unfortunately, another candidate has arisen who is more arrogant and insufferable.
      I didn't think it could happen.

    Who? Trump is an obvious choice, but what about Fiorina, Carson? Technically they are still running and thus candidates for the Grampa's n Older Party.

  122. Working in Enterprise IT.... by God+of+Lemmings · · Score: 1

    This would actually flip our organizations entire wage scale upside down, and pretty much cause a good 50-75% increase in the IT budget as a whole until the organization is able to adjust. And you know what... I really like the idea... it needs to adjust for inflation though.

    It is ridiculous in this day and age that I had to essentially go work for an H1B company, get paid an H1B salary (as an American), and then struggle for a couple years to become "internal" IT to the company I was contracted for, and now I'm technically not supposed to be allowed to code any more because of it, which is even more ridiculous, just because it looks cheaper on paper to outsource the work.

    --
    Non sequitur: Your facts are uncoordinated.
  123. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by TWX · · Score: 1

    There will never be an indictment. First, the law at the time probably either didn't make what she is accused of actually a crime, and second, the political witch hunt's lack of relative success has probably ironically provided her with a degree of immunity. Had those investigating not scraped the bottom of the barrel to the point they drew wood shavings it might be different, but the way this has been handled has made it such a non-story that nothing will ever come of it.

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  124. Should not be a fixed rate by rholtzjr · · Score: 1

    This should be a percentage above the current industry rate this way the rate will adjust accordingly with the growth of the economy. Since the skills that are being asked for are so scarce in the country it should be worth quite a lot more than current industry rate.
    What would an acceptable value be for these hard to find skills that no one in the US possesses?
    Maybe we should ask Disney or all the other companies that are currently abusing this visa type.

  125. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by amiga3D · · Score: 1

    That is why companies hire foreign workers and have their US workers train them before they fire the US workers.

  126. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by epyT-R · · Score: 1

    yeah because vanity fair is a reliable source

  127. I have a better idea. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cancel foreign labor all together. No H1Bs, no work visas. Give these companies a reason to value their employees again instead of treating them like expendable throwaway resources.

    1. Re:I have a better idea. by OrangeTide · · Score: 1

      I think I'd open an office in another country if that happened. Or possibly hire a contractor firm to do that for me so I didn't have to manage a building or pay my staff anything near the US minimum wage.

      --
      “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
    2. Re:I have a better idea. by Ash-Fox · · Score: 1

      Cancel foreign labor all together. No H1Bs, no work visas. Give these companies a reason to value their employees again instead of treating them like expendable throwaway resources.

      I'd really like this, the brain drain caused by U.S. companies makes finding decent local talent annoying. Importing external talent unfortunately is more difficult here than the U.S.

      --
      Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
  128. OPT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cruz also wants to eliminate Optional Practical Training Program (OPT). The co-sponsor of this bill, The American Jobs First Act of 2015, is U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), who called the OPT program "a backdoor method for replacing American workers."

    OPT is very different from H1Bs. I won't weigh in here on whether I support or oppose it, but as someone who did start his career on an OPT, it's somewhat different from the low wage H1Bs being talked about.

    OPT is an extension of F1 visas - student visas. A foreign student studies in a college or university while on an F1 visa. OPT is a 12 month extension of that visa (at least was some 20 years ago when I had it). After graduating, the student can legally remain in the country on the visa, and the OPT allows him to work for up to that time. After that, if the employer wants to keep him, it would have to file for an H1B.

    Since OPT workers would in most cases be entry level - except for PhD students - there is no way they would replace American workers, since they start with zero experience. Hiring them would be as good as hiring any of their American classmates. Any company that does campus hiring would automatically not go for OPT students, since after a year, they'd have H1B headaches to factor in. So getting rid of the program won't do squat for American workers, who are not being displaced by lower wage workers from another country.

    This is completely different from H1Bs. Here, the replacement of US workers by foreign workers is very real - Acme fires 10 US citizens who are costing the company $1M, and replaces them with 50 Indians who cost the company $500k. $10k doesn't sound like a lot, until you translate it into Indian currency by multiplying it by 67. Rs670k would be paltry in some major cities there like Bangalore, but is something that one can live on.

    What would the effect of such a legislation be? Instead of bringing the foreign workers here, they'd just remain abroad and the operations would move there. That would have the side effect of more low skilled job losses, and the maintenance of just skeletal staff in the US to deal with US clients. Yeah, the program would be abused less, but where you currently have a mix of H1B and local workers, you'll have none. The H1B workers can continue to work in their home countries, but there will be none for the locals - unless they relocate abroad.

    The only people who get really hurt here are the OPT graduates, who of course don't get to vote - fair enough. But as far as the H1B guys go, the work will go where they are.

    For all the brouhaha about H1Bs stealing jobs, what I have seen is that recruiters usually struggle to find people with the required experience in a particular skillset, sometimes even with H1Bs being allowed. And the asking salary is a whole another story

  129. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by phantomfive · · Score: 1

    It was left ambiguous on purpose.....

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  130. Why not prevailing wage? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Public works projects have had the concept of "prevailing wages" for decades, so it's something we're already familiar with administering. Why not just require several things of H1B visa positions:

    1. Require advertising the position with clear requirements and at least a 30 day application period,
    2. Make employers civilly liable for 5 years' wages to qualified citizen applicants who are not hired to a position subsequently filled by H1B visa,
    3. Require that H1B visa employees receive 1.5x prevailing wage for jobs with similar duties and responsibilities.

  131. Re:These politicians are either evil or incompeten by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ethical in your mind is he who has the money makes the rules.

  132. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Vanity Fair is no Mein Kampf.

  133. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the Grampa's n Older Party.

    What's with the ageism you fucking bigot?

  134. Re:Ha! - Federal Income tax is not paid. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The OPT extension was needed when 30% of H1-B applicants fit in under the annual cap.
    US educated Masters students, even in STEM with the extension had a 50% chance of being deported even if they had a willing employer.

    A number of applicants would have to have an option to work from Vancouver or some other nearby foreign city once OPT expired. The extension didn't completely alleviate the problem, but it should reduce it to 35% or so.

    It is silly for us to help educate top flight CS talent here only to forcibly export these people to other countries.

  135. Re:Ha! - Federal Income tax is not paid. by slew · · Score: 1

    I hear there ARE some entitlements that they don't get and for which they (or the employer) don't pay. (I think it's state unemployment insurance in some states.)

    IMHO if/when such exist, the employer should be required to directly pay them the fee he would otherwise have paid the government, in addition to the mandated minimum wage/salary.

    (That's actually fair, too: They can use the extra money to buy, or otherwise do something to try to replace, whatever the entitlement they don't get would have been.)

    The IRS is very clear that H1b pay all federal taxes including federal unemployment. I'm not familiar with the laws in each state, but at least in CA, H1b also pay state UI and disablity insurance (and are eligible to collect benefits). Of course if you are unemployed as an H1b, you will have an immediate immigration problem (technically have 60 days to leave), but you are eligible to collect for those 60 days (i.e., long as your visa is valid) as you have paid into the system.

    However, there are a bunch of complications in the H1b tax situation that lead to the misconception H1b visa holders taking US jobs are somehow federal tax exempt.

    The biggest one is that the US has tax treaty with many countries that allow citizens to work in the US exempt some of their income from US taxes and only pay taxes on that income in their home jurisdiction. However nearly all current US tax treaties contain a so-called "savings clause" that removes this exemption for those on visas that make them resident aliens (like H1b) and only allows them to non-resident aliens (like F1, J1, OPT). So, these exemptions might partially apply in the first year or so that a H1b visa holder is working in the US, but is not applicable after becoming a resident alien.

    For the cases that affect most /.-ers (e.g., H1b W2 wage earners in the IT/engineering world), there really aren't any significant exemptions in any tax-treaty country after becoming a full year resident alien on an H1b. To be more specific, most of the income exempt-able by treaties is limited to stuff like scholarships/fellowships, foreign pensions, income from personal services (e.g., maid, nurses, personal assistant, coaches, agents), income received by researchers/teachers, reporters/journalists, income paid in diplomatic service (e.g., embassies, united nations), some musicians, entertainers and athletes, and international travel income (e.g., ship/air transport workers). Not things that would affects most /.-ers working in tech and most of them have pretty low limits (in time and/or $ amount), in any case.

    This further muddied by the fact that in subsequent years, depending on the country, a H1b holder might still continue to owe taxes on income earned in their home jurisdiction whilst simultaneous owing taxes in the US (because the US taxes world-wide income). In this case, the IRS generally allows people in that situation to deduct most of the taxes paid in other tax-treaty jurisdictions from their US tax bills to avoid double-taxation. The net is the H1b person has to pay the full amount of US taxes, but some of it may be effectively received by other countries for which the US has specific tax treaty obligation.

  136. Re:Ha! - Federal Income tax is not paid. by Jack+Griffin · · Score: 1

    They claim, they can't find the talent. Utter BS, often they replaced trained with untrained workers, and have the trained workers train their replacements.

    And a lot of them are fucking hopeless.
    There's tonnes of them, all with the full suite of certificates that can't even answer the first non-scripted question in an interview. The scary part is that they still get hired. Who hires these people?

  137. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by KGIII · · Score: 1

    I dunno... If you put your hand in my pocket and fish around a bit then you will probably find some nuts.

    --
    "So long and thanks for all the fish."
  138. Re: Cruz can't be trusted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Completely agree. As much as I believe Cruz is an asshat, this proposal has merit.

  139. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by Stewie241 · · Score: 1

    Meh... I mean, it's totally bad and she should not have done it. But I suspect that 90% of your population isn't going to give a rats ass about the e-mail server debacle.

    Given the choice between 'maybe did some shady things with an email server that she shouldn't have had' vs. 'wants to ban a large group of people from the country', many, many people are going to be able to put up with the former to avoid the latter.

  140. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    If the qualifications involve a PhD, 20 years of experience in C++17 and X86_128 assembly plus age < 30 I'm not surprised.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  141. Re:Ha! - Federal Income tax is not paid. by JoeMerchant · · Score: 1

    Well, I think we're saying the same thing here... $60K used to be a decent salary in 1990, but today it barely pays a share of rent in many tech employment centers. So, if that $60K were adjusted back up to a decent salary for today - we'd all be peachy again.

    In Florida, we have "homestead exemption" from property tax - when enacted, $25K was 90% of the value of most modest homes, it was a very significant tax break for the average homeowner. Even in 1990, when I bought my first (2br 1ba) home, the exemption cut 50% of my property taxes. Today, a "modest" home in Florida is around $200K, and that $25K exemption is in the noise - your assessment error is likely more than $25K these days (in which direction mostly depends on the county you live in.)

    In short: laws that call out dollar amounts, but do not get adjusted for inflation, are silly.

  142. Re:Ha! - Federal Income tax is not paid. by NostalgiaForInfinity · · Score: 1

    What we're talking about, is that the jobs us Americans are working, for $75,000 would pay over $100,000. Except rather than pay what the market demands, the companies import workers on H1B visas.

    The market doesn't care whether the people willing to do the job for $75000 are Americans or Indians. If Indians can't come to the US to do these jobs, the usual result isn't that Americans get the jobs for $100000, it's that the jobs go overseas one way or another: via foreign subsidiaries, inversions, or foreign competition. And even if the jobs stayed in the US and salaries were raised, it would simply mean that prices would adjust accordingly in the US.

    Attempts to keep salaries high through government mandates and restrictions like this are the cause of US job losses, loss of US competitiveness, increasing inequality, and middle class income stagnation.

    All laws passed should be inflation adjusted, if so, then it would already be $110K

    H1-B salary requirements are actually based on "prevailing wage", as determined every year by the Office of Foreign Labor Certification. http://www.foreignlaborcert.do... That means that they are not just keeping up with inflation, they are actually keeping up with above average salary increases in each area of employment.

  143. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by Duhavid · · Score: 1

    Like the indictment came down for the Bush administration for their use of off site email?

    --
    emt 377 emt 4
  144. Re: Cruz can't be trusted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The email server isn't the case ime what is on it would have sent any normal person to prison months ago

  145. Academia by sakielnorn · · Score: 1

    I'm a computer science professor who started as an assistant professor on an H-1B visa, making less than $110,000. Since then, I've won a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation and brought in a few millions of dollars of federal grant funding, as well as established strong ties with industry and government labs. I've also mentored many graduate and undergraduate students who are US citizens, some who have gone into graduate school with fellowships that have been based on work in my lab. Others have gone onto academic positions of their own after earning a PhD under my advising. Another group of students has gone on to get excellent jobs at major tech companies.

    Were this program in place, I would not have been able to get a job in the US. I'm now a green card holder on the path the naturalization, making above the threshold that Senator Cruz proposed, and bringing hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to the university where I work. You should ask yourself whether I have been a net positive for the United States or not. If this proposal, supported by many here, goes through, others like me will not even have a chance to prove their value.

    I get the issues with the H-1B and the lock-in to companies while making under the prevailing wage, but this is a blunt-force solution that could end up having wildly unintended consequences.

  146. Re: Cruz can't be trusted by TheReaperD · · Score: 1

    Trump supporters tend to be one of two type of people. First is scared older white people who mourn the end of the 1950s. Second is the type of person that looks at a house that has a leak in the roof and needs some other repairs and decides the best solution is to burn the house down. Cruz supporters tend to be made more of the second group.

    --
    "Be particularly skeptical when presented with evidence confirming what you already believe." -
  147. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by Duhavid · · Score: 1

    My HR department managed to find qualified American engineers.
    And if universities are having a hard time with STEM graduates, tech companies have themselves to blame.
    Who wants to follow a profession into the shredding machine?
    Tech management keeps having Americans train offshore workers so the offshore workers can replace the American ones.
    Even though there are still jobs out there, it's hard to tell someone "get a tech job".
    The market clearly works. During the lead-up to the .com bubble, everyone and his dog spot was trying to get "trained for tech".
    We had people applying for jobs for open slots where it seemed that recognizing a computer 3 out of 4 times was sufficient for an interview.

    I have worked with many H1Bs. The ones I have worked with have been OK. Not the stellar God like creatures business would have you believe.
    Ordinary, OK, nothing to write home about, got stuff done. Just like the Americans they worked with.

    And on pay, here is an anecdote to match yours.
    Tech worker responded to a craigslist ad I had placed for camping cots.
    Why? So she and a coworker from India would have something to sleep on.
    She got to my house on a bus.
    Tied the cots together with rags, so they would not bang the other passengers, and be something she could manage to carry.
    Now, tell me she was paid ( Intel or someone contracted to Intel, from her badge ) the prevailing wage that she felt she could not afford a cheap car between the two of them and a pair of second hand real beds. In terms of time and effort, both a car and the buying of real beds would be cheaper....

    --
    emt 377 emt 4
  148. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by NostalgiaForInfinity · · Score: 1

    His pandering is obviously working.

  149. Re: Cruz can't be trusted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And deletion of millions of them.

  150. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by mikael · · Score: 1

    They're busy grabbing other peoples nuts and handing them out as freebies.

    --
    Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
  151. Re:Ha! - Federal Income tax is not paid. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thanks for chiming in. I for one, appreciate your presence and contributions. Unlike most the entitlement-tribbles here on this board, I've had much experience in the hiring market and understand the difficulties in finding good American workers. The "generation" that we're working with is largely lazy, unskilled, unmotivated, lacking critical thinking skills, and common-sense. Skills can sometimes be taught, but if a person's core values are lacking, then they are completely unsuitable for employment. On the flip-side, the foreigners that I have had the pleasure of working with have been the exact opposite. Very motivated and eager to work hard and expand their knowledge and skillsets.

    It's about time that lazy people realize they are completely replaceable.

  152. Missed the mark, by a mile by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Everyone including Teddy have missed it. The corp world doesn't have to hire H1-B workers when they have contractors. The contract companies can cycle foreign workers in and out of our country, without issue.

  153. Re: Cruz can't be trusted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Idaho

  154. Ted Cruz by habal · · Score: 1

    Why is there so much noise on this forum? Why can't people attack the idea and not the person? For one thing what is wrong with the idea. If someone keeps going off topic I think they should be banned. I am sure I will get attacked for my opinion, especially by those that espouse free speech for themselves but not for anyone else. However at this point what difference does it make?

  155. Re:Ha! - Federal Income tax is not paid. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You are wrong, Taxes and SSI are all collected from these people. I worked for Tata as an American worker here in the use at management level I can tell you for certain that all my direct reports IF residing here in the US had full taxes and other deductions. There are no exceptions.

  156. Re: Cruz can't be trusted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I call BS. I have a son who graduated from GA Tech w/BS in Aerospace Engineering. He had a 3.2 GPA, but it's taken 7 months to get the first job offers...from over 200 applications to 30+ companies and several job fairs. Boeing and Lockheed hiring managers said they were swamped with job offers and would get back (they didn't). SpaceX was just plain rude in their rejection. Finally, DCMA and the USAF made offers and he'll start working next month. Cruz is right, if US companies are so desperate to find STEM workers, these companies will be quite willing to pay the higher salaries.

  157. Re: Cruz can't be trusted by bababoris · · Score: 1

    Temporarily stop until we figure out how radical Muslims get in is what was proposed. Don't perpetuate media's distortion of the truth. Seems reasonable to me and has precedent

  158. Eh by EdwardFurlong · · Score: 1
    Reminds me of a temp job I had, 10 dollars an hour, they were paying the temp service 16 dollars an hour, some people had worked for years as a temp, mostly you just got crappy people who lasted a few weeks and then you had to constantly train new people. This sounds like it could be a similar situation, pay more on paper, but have saving with benefits, both cases probably getting crappy employees.

    Prevailing wage based on location is always going to be a tricky thing, kind of like the people who think school loans should only go to certain in demand majors. The more you try and fix broken systems, I think the systems just end up more broken. Many things sound good in theory, but lets say maybe now only companies in places with high costs of living can afford H-1B's now you're favoring some companies. To me it sounds like there should be some pretty easy solutions to stop fraud and waste with food stamps, welfare, disability, income tax, etc, in reality things are no so easy I guess.

  159. Re: Ha! - Federal Income tax is not paid. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seriously you need to get your facts right. They pay all the taxes Federal, SSN and Medicare.

  160. Re: Ha! - Federal Income tax is not paid. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Incorrect. As far as IRS concern H1B visa holders are considered as resident so they pay all taxes. Don't spread false info.

  161. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by ebusinessmedia1 · · Score: 1

    Florida was stolen by Jeb Bush enabling his AG, Katherine Harris, to disallow any voter who had a name similar to any convicted felon. FIFTY_THOUSAND voters - mostly minorities who vote Dem - were kept from voting. Bush won by 500 votes.

  162. Re:Ha! - Federal Income tax is not paid. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well thought out.

    This won't solve all H1-B problems, but would reduce the desire to use it just to undercut American workers.

    I support his idea, without supporting Mr. Cruz himself.

  163. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    H1Bs aren't here so that a tech company can pay them less than an American engineer. They are here because tech companies can't find any fucking qualified American engineers. Just go talk to your HR department. Go talk to admissions of any university.

    So, supply and demand would mean you pay them more to attract talent and incentivize people to go into the profession. But that isn't happening with all H1Bs. Many are in fact making less than there American counterparts, driving down salaries, creating more disincentives for Americans to pay for years of education only to have their salaries undercut by H1Bs backed by foreign shops. You don't deal with scarcity by driving down wages.

    It is a false scarcity. What businesses mean when they go begging to Congress is that the lawyers and MBAs that run the companies need to prop up their bloated unjustified salaries by paying engineers and IT less.

  164. Facts hurt: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    1. Adolf Hitler was a socialist, his party was the "National Socialist German Workers' Party" (NSDAP, "NAZI" was not the actual party name)

    2. Benito Mussolini was a card-carrying socialist who was a leader in the Italian socialist party, who then he went on to found his fascist party on many of those socialist ideals blended with Italian nationalism.

    and while we're at it:

    3. The supposedly communist USSR of WWII and the Cold War era was the "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"

    4. Pol Pot, of "killing fields" infamy was a Marxist, as was Chairman Mao, of "cultural revolution" and "little red book" infamy.

    Every one of these millions-of-dead-victims murder machines was a leftist outfit based on some form of Marxist Ideology, usually mixed with either atheism (USSR, China, Pol Pot) or paganism (the NAZIs), with Italy as an outlier being based in the same city at the vatican and also having not done its own genocide. NONE were based on the protestant Christian ideological roots that gave rise to the political and economic liberty in the USA, Canada, England, Australia, etc.

  165. BULL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I did some contract engineering a few years ago for a firm that decided to replace their entire engineering dept with imports (the guys with the MBA degrees wanted to same money on those expensive engineers who sat in cubicles all day "tinkering" while the sales guys were clearly more productive having all those sales meetings with actual or potential customers. They brought in all the Chinese engineers they legally could (figuring the Chinese guys would help eventually offshore production to China) and then added all the interns, mostly Indian, they could get from the local college. They replace the entire American engineering department and I am sure they all got big bonuses for their managerial genius. A guy I knew who worked there recently told me that the place had become so unproductive that corporate pulled the plug on the local division and shifted all the engineering to a division in Europe because they no longer had any American engineering capability but still had some in the European division.

    It was ALL about American wages for middle-class non-management employees. Not one of the engineers I knew who worked there, many of whom were excellent, remained in engineering because there were no job openings. They are now running fast food shops as franchisees, selling real estate, etc. The whole claim that we have a shortage of STEM workers is a monumental fraud perpetrated by CEOs who are working to push wages down. The most basic law of economics is: supply and demand. If there WAS any shortage, wages and benefits would be skyrocketing as companies fought each other for access to the limited talent pool - and then the high wages would cause college kids to switch to STEM for promising careers. In other words: In a functional free-market economy there is no need to have government officials pushing "STEM programs".

    1. Re:BULL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And with your lack of reading skills, I see why you are unemployed.

      Your asbergers is showing.

  166. nope by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Libertarians are Republicans who publicly curse, use drugs, and frequent prostitutes

    Establishment Republicans are Republicans who privately curse, use drugs, and frequent prostitutes

    The base of the Republican party tries not to curse, and condemns recreational drug use and prostitution

    The base of the Republican party is confused by libertarians and angry with the establishment. The Establishment is outraged by Libertarians, and spooked by the base. The Libertarians would angrily deny being Republicans, but they're too stoned and too busy contemplating a the mysteries of the universe and a late-night Taco Bell run...

    Ted Cruz is a Republican, but we're still trying to figure out what percent he is of each of those three categories.

  167. A Republican who likes the minimum wage? by markdowling · · Score: 1

    I thought they would leave every immigrant in the world in before tampering with the sacred right of employers - sorry, wealth creators - to offer the rate of their choice to their peons to be.

  168. Re: Cruz can't be trusted by markdowling · · Score: 1

    He's from Calgary. He just represents Texas. #TheCanchurianCandidate

  169. h1bs or refugees- what would be a better deal ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It is a good move to limit the H1b salaries, which are far above what average american earns. Besides for one year H1b should be suspended. The balance manpower could be taken in the form of refugees.

  170. So H1Bs will compete for real jobs by MoarSauce123 · · Score: 1

    So far H1B were often used for mundane, entry level jobs that provide wages that aren't great to start with. With Cruz's suggestion the H1Bs would compete with the real jobs that pay well. What a dumb idea! I rather see low end jobs get outsourced or shipped overseas so that we can focus on getting one of the high paying positions. Cruz once again shows that he has absolutely no clue and excels only in radical religious fundamentalism (like ISIS or Boka Harom).

  171. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 1

    534 to be exact, and that only after 690 ILLEGAL unsigned or unwitnessed or unstamped or unsworn absentee ballots only accepted in republican leaning districts on orders from Bush.
    But none of that would have made any difference had Nader honored his promise to withdraw in every close state.
    He refused, giving at least 24,800 votes to Bush by taking them from Gore (no one thinks people who liked Bush voted anti-Corporatist Nader).

  172. Simple by gzuckier · · Score: 1

    I quit my job, contact the offshoring place in India, tell them to submit me for my job.

    --
    Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
  173. Changing... by Lotharus · · Score: 1

    Reverts to Yakra!!

  174. Re: Cruz can't be trusted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You speak gibberish sir.