It's possible. That's what happened with Japanese car companies in the 1980's when the US "suggested voluntary export restraints". They simply started making cars in the US. Fine by me. I care about American jobs, but I could give a damn about so-called American companies. Heaven knows they don't care about us.
Welcoming and nurturing smart-folks raises average IQ in the country and makes the country more competitive in the world markets---everyone in the US benefits from this.
How long do you think it will take for your proposed eugenics program to have serious results? It would be interesting if one could objectively say "Americans are the smartest people in the world". BTW, which countries have the dumbest people?
the last 10% or 5% or 1% are really great at what they do and should be offered citizenship. Importing the best of the best is what we should be doing.
I don't know anyone who disagrees with that, but the scam is the oft promoted idea that H-1B's (other than a small percentage of them) are "the best and the brightest". For the true best and brightest, there are the 'O' series visas.
NYC has one of the highest COL rates in the country.
I was talking about Long Island. I know all about the COL here because I live here. One of the biggest factors is the outrageous real estate taxes - close to $10k/yr for a modest 30 year-old house on a small lot. Most of that goes for the schools.
I'm not certain the tone of your comment though it implies that perhaps teachers are over paid for their work.
Around here, yes. The evidence is that even when the economy is doing well, it can easily take 5-10 years to get a job teaching in the public schools, and that's if you know someone. I know there are parts of the country where teaching should be considered volunteer work, and the "salary" a stipend to pay for the cost of commuting and lunch. This isn't one of them. If they couldn't find qualified teachers I'd say they should be paid more, but when people are lined up around the block six times, you know they're paying more than enough.
So before you complain about teachers getting to much time off, good benefits, and job security; walk in their shoes, carry their responsibility, live their life.
I've known several people who've been both engineers and teachers at different times in their lives. They all saying teaching is a better deal.
Educators serve an important and vital role in society.
Spare me the sanctimony. Who says teaching isn't important? So are many other things. There used to be a bumper sticker that was popular with teachers around here that said "If you can read this, thank a teacher." Now tell me which retort you prefer. a) "If you're not living in the Dark Ages, thank an engineer", or b) "If you're not knee deep in rats, thank a garbageman".
Having a ton of technically trained people in the US makes it one-stop shopping.
That's a great slogan for retail, but meaningless elsewhere. Have you noticed a shortage of multinationals? Me neither (including "micro-multinationals"). Anything that can be off-shored has been or will be, as employing people in various other countries is cheaper than employing H-1B's in the US. Therefore the H-1B's are used to occupy positions that can't readily be off-shored.
It benefits our entire society to have a pool of unbeatable talent.
RTFA. We already graduate far more STEM people than are employed. We have a shortage of demand, not supply.
Have you noticed the number of Asian/Indian doctors?
In order to practice medicine in the US you need to do your residency in either the US or Canada. That's a far greater artificial barrier than anything in software or engineering. It also means you don't have rich corporations pushing to increase the "guest worker" quota, because they know it will be years before they can make a buck off of cheaper imported labor. The US government also limits the number of residency positions, which is another convenient barrier.
Not nearly enough. We need to bring it up to the efficiency standards of software and engineering.
One difference is that law firms are usually run by lawyers for lawyers. They're usually partnerships, which means even senior partners may suffer from some silly sentimental resistance to screwing American lawyers. Software and engineering do not suffer from this.
Also, lawyers have a really good union. It's so firmly entrenched that membership is required by the government in order to practice law. Talk about rent seeking and restraint of trade - supported by the government granting the lawyer's union a monopoly!
Communication is dirt cheap. Meaning, communication with someone across the planet costs no more than having someone across the state.
Then why are these companies so eager to have lots of H-1B's? Why not just have them stay in their native countries and work via the Internet? Obviously there are lots that do, but there are also the H-1B's that don't. The H-1B's, no matter how much they drive down US salaries, cost much more than people working in their native countries. So why do companies want them?
I guess what I'm trying to ask is: why do they want H-1B workers instead of local? And so far I haven't seen this question answered, at least not outside the speculations of the comment section going "it's all about profit, that's what they care about" which is, well, a given.
You ask a question, then answer it. Why are you not satisfied with what is, by your own statements, the obvious answer? Why do you think that there have to be other reasons? William of Ockham was one sharp dude.
Last time there was a major backlash against H1Bs, it resulted in outsourcing.
When was this alleged major backlash? The quota hasn't dropped below 65k/yr in what, at least 20 years?
Second, you're falling for the "if you don't let us have more H-1B's we'll just outsource more" threat. It's bull. No matter how little they pay H-1B's, they're still way more expensive than people working in the 3rd world. Hence, anything that can be outsourced already has been or will be. The H-1B's are for the jobs that they can't outsource.
especially in a field like engineering, where it's completely possible that you will be earning $100k after you get 10-15 years experience, a wage that teachers could never hope to obtain
Around here (Long Island, NY) they obtain it all the time. They also only work 3/4 of a normal work year, short days, have benefits (including defined benefit pensions) and job security that people who don't work for the government can only dream of.
Lawyers and the like need years of study for a certain field which the laws will almost certainly not translate to another country or even state.
How convenient.
Dean Baker (http://www.cepr.net/) had a good suggestion though. Have foreign schools train for US laws and practice, and let people elsewhere take the exams for the federal or various state bars. Only after passing would they get their visa.
It's nice to see the H-1B program questioned in at least some of the MSM (e.g. the NYT). It might have an effect on legislation if we had a representative form of government (by which I mean one that represents voters, as opposed to representing money).
The Bloomberg article is crocodile tears though:
While the legislation raises the annual H-1B cap to as much as 180,000 from 65,000, it increases visa costs five-fold for some companies to $10,000. It also bans larger employers with 15 percent or more of their U.S. workforce on such permits from sending H-1B staff to client’s sites.
It nearly triples the quota, but might cost as much as $10k to bring in someone on an H-1B. Good heavens, no! If $10k is too much, then there is no skills shortage and you could hire an American for the job.
Current draft House legislation also lacks the clause barring visa-dependent employers from client sites
Surprise, surprise, surprise! Wouldn't want any draconian restrictions on screwing Americans now, would we.
According to that Wikipedia link, "traveling wave" reactors could work without fuel reprocessing.
This is awesome, because I can't believe for a second that reprocessing molten salt fuel is going to be safe or environmentally friendly int the long run. Molten salt reactor fuel is literally a highly radioactive molten soup of materials that needs to be removed/filtered/processed from time to time in order to keep the reactor working.
I dunno whether or not you're right, but this approach has its problems too. From the Wikipedia article cited in the summary:
Papers and presentations on the TerraPower TWR describe a pool-type reactor cooled by liquid sodium.
I have trouble believing any reactor that uses metallic sodium is safe or reliable. Even though there are very few sodium cooled reactors, there have already been problems: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monju_Nuclear_Power_Plant
At last year's BlackHat, a foil gum wrapper on one side of the badge was enough to block transmission.
Not surprising. You don't need a great shield to block RFID. What most people overlook is that RFID tags are passive - they get the power for operation from the receive signal itself. Therefore they need a much higher receive signal than even the cheapest radio. Your reader could have the most sensitive receiver in the world, but it won't help unless the tag is receiving enough power.
In my observation, American's and Canadians are the main users of it (more than the British).
Not true. We, Canadians, use the following seasonal measurements to indicate the time of the year: Almost winter, winter, still winter, and construction.
On the plus side there is very little risk of heat stroke.
Slashdot Mirror
It's possible. That's what happened with Japanese car companies in the 1980's when the US "suggested voluntary export restraints". They simply started making cars in the US. Fine by me. I care about American jobs, but I could give a damn about so-called American companies. Heaven knows they don't care about us.
When the cost savings justify something
The cost savings already more than justify off-shoring instead of H-1B's for positions that can be off-shored. That was my point. What's yours?
Welcoming and nurturing smart-folks raises average IQ in the country and makes the country more competitive in the world markets---everyone in the US benefits from this.
How long do you think it will take for your proposed eugenics program to have serious results? It would be interesting if one could objectively say "Americans are the smartest people in the world". BTW, which countries have the dumbest people?
the last 10% or 5% or 1% are really great at what they do and should be offered citizenship. Importing the best of the best is what we should be doing.
I don't know anyone who disagrees with that, but the scam is the oft promoted idea that H-1B's (other than a small percentage of them) are "the best and the brightest". For the true best and brightest, there are the 'O' series visas.
Price cannot be used legally as a hiring decision for H1Bs. [emphasis added]
'nuf said.
NYC has one of the highest COL rates in the country.
I was talking about Long Island. I know all about the COL here because I live here. One of the biggest factors is the outrageous real estate taxes - close to $10k/yr for a modest 30 year-old house on a small lot. Most of that goes for the schools.
I'm not certain the tone of your comment though it implies that perhaps teachers are over paid for their work.
Around here, yes. The evidence is that even when the economy is doing well, it can easily take 5-10 years to get a job teaching in the public schools, and that's if you know someone. I know there are parts of the country where teaching should be considered volunteer work, and the "salary" a stipend to pay for the cost of commuting and lunch. This isn't one of them. If they couldn't find qualified teachers I'd say they should be paid more, but when people are lined up around the block six times, you know they're paying more than enough.
So before you complain about teachers getting to much time off, good benefits, and job security; walk in their shoes, carry their responsibility, live their life.
I've known several people who've been both engineers and teachers at different times in their lives. They all saying teaching is a better deal.
Educators serve an important and vital role in society.
Spare me the sanctimony. Who says teaching isn't important? So are many other things. There used to be a bumper sticker that was popular with teachers around here that said "If you can read this, thank a teacher." Now tell me which retort you prefer. a) "If you're not living in the Dark Ages, thank an engineer", or b) "If you're not knee deep in rats, thank a garbageman".
Thankfully Ireland hasn't yet adopted quite such nonsense
The benefits are obvious - just look at how well the Irish economy is doing!
Having a ton of technically trained people in the US makes it one-stop shopping.
That's a great slogan for retail, but meaningless elsewhere. Have you noticed a shortage of multinationals? Me neither (including "micro-multinationals"). Anything that can be off-shored has been or will be, as employing people in various other countries is cheaper than employing H-1B's in the US. Therefore the H-1B's are used to occupy positions that can't readily be off-shored.
It benefits our entire society to have a pool of unbeatable talent.
RTFA. We already graduate far more STEM people than are employed. We have a shortage of demand, not supply.
Have you noticed the number of Asian/Indian doctors?
In order to practice medicine in the US you need to do your residency in either the US or Canada. That's a far greater artificial barrier than anything in software or engineering. It also means you don't have rich corporations pushing to increase the "guest worker" quota, because they know it will be years before they can make a buck off of cheaper imported labor. The US government also limits the number of residency positions, which is another convenient barrier.
It is happening to some extent
Not nearly enough. We need to bring it up to the efficiency standards of software and engineering.
One difference is that law firms are usually run by lawyers for lawyers. They're usually partnerships, which means even senior partners may suffer from some silly sentimental resistance to screwing American lawyers. Software and engineering do not suffer from this.
Also, lawyers have a really good union. It's so firmly entrenched that membership is required by the government in order to practice law. Talk about rent seeking and restraint of trade - supported by the government granting the lawyer's union a monopoly!
Communication is dirt cheap. Meaning, communication with someone across the planet costs no more than having someone across the state.
Then why are these companies so eager to have lots of H-1B's? Why not just have them stay in their native countries and work via the Internet? Obviously there are lots that do, but there are also the H-1B's that don't. The H-1B's, no matter how much they drive down US salaries, cost much more than people working in their native countries. So why do companies want them?
At a bare minimum we also need a fast track to citizenship for these folks. Clearly they are so valuable our nation cannot function without them.
Are you serious, or have I, in typical Slashdot fashion, missed the sarcasm?
If you are serious, could you actually provide an argument, or even (*gasp*) evidence, to back that statement?
I guess what I'm trying to ask is: why do they want H-1B workers instead of local? And so far I haven't seen this question answered, at least not outside the speculations of the comment section going "it's all about profit, that's what they care about" which is, well, a given.
You ask a question, then answer it. Why are you not satisfied with what is, by your own statements, the obvious answer? Why do you think that there have to be other reasons? William of Ockham was one sharp dude.
Last time there was a major backlash against H1Bs, it resulted in outsourcing.
When was this alleged major backlash? The quota hasn't dropped below 65k/yr in what, at least 20 years?
Second, you're falling for the "if you don't let us have more H-1B's we'll just outsource more" threat. It's bull. No matter how little they pay H-1B's, they're still way more expensive than people working in the 3rd world. Hence, anything that can be outsourced already has been or will be. The H-1B's are for the jobs that they can't outsource.
especially in a field like engineering, where it's completely possible that you will be earning $100k after you get 10-15 years experience, a wage that teachers could never hope to obtain
Around here (Long Island, NY) they obtain it all the time. They also only work 3/4 of a normal work year, short days, have benefits (including defined benefit pensions) and job security that people who don't work for the government can only dream of.
We want more scientists and engineers.
Why? There is no shortage of domestic supply. If you disagree, please cite some objective evidence to back your claim.
it keeps the US competitive and makes my relatively high salary more sustainable in the long term
Stockholm syndrome.
Lawyers and the like need years of study for a certain field which the laws will almost certainly not translate to another country or even state.
How convenient.
Dean Baker (http://www.cepr.net/) had a good suggestion though. Have foreign schools train for US laws and practice, and let people elsewhere take the exams for the federal or various state bars. Only after passing would they get their visa.
It's nice to see the H-1B program questioned in at least some of the MSM (e.g. the NYT). It might have an effect on legislation if we had a representative form of government (by which I mean one that represents voters, as opposed to representing money).
The Bloomberg article is crocodile tears though:
While the legislation raises the annual H-1B cap to as much as 180,000 from 65,000, it increases visa costs five-fold for some companies to $10,000. It also bans larger employers with 15 percent or more of their U.S. workforce on such permits from sending H-1B staff to client’s sites.
It nearly triples the quota, but might cost as much as $10k to bring in someone on an H-1B. Good heavens, no! If $10k is too much, then there is no skills shortage and you could hire an American for the job.
Current draft House legislation also lacks the clause barring visa-dependent employers from client sites
Surprise, surprise, surprise! Wouldn't want any draconian restrictions on screwing Americans now, would we.
That's Richard Nixon posting from 1973.
According to that Wikipedia link, "traveling wave" reactors could work without fuel reprocessing.
This is awesome, because I can't believe for a second that reprocessing molten salt fuel is going to be safe or environmentally friendly int the long run. Molten salt reactor fuel is literally a highly radioactive molten soup of materials that needs to be removed/filtered/processed from time to time in order to keep the reactor working.
I dunno whether or not you're right, but this approach has its problems too. From the Wikipedia article cited in the summary:
Papers and presentations on the TerraPower TWR describe a pool-type reactor cooled by liquid sodium.
I have trouble believing any reactor that uses metallic sodium is safe or reliable. Even though there are very few sodium cooled reactors, there have already been problems: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monju_Nuclear_Power_Plant
At last year's BlackHat, a foil gum wrapper on one side of the badge was enough to block transmission.
Not surprising. You don't need a great shield to block RFID. What most people overlook is that RFID tags are passive - they get the power for operation from the receive signal itself. Therefore they need a much higher receive signal than even the cheapest radio. Your reader could have the most sensitive receiver in the world, but it won't help unless the tag is receiving enough power.
Try aluminum foil.
the USA uses Imperial measurements so it's not exactly hip to, you know, measurements that people can actually understand.
Don't they teach arithmetic in your country?
I live in Western Australia and it's winter here.
It's currently the middle of the night in Perth, and still 12C. Tomorrow's high is forecast to be 20C. That is not winter.
Not true. We, Canadians, use the following seasonal measurements to indicate the time of the year: Almost winter, winter, still winter, and construction.
On the plus side there is very little risk of heat stroke.