From an H1B workers point of view things just got a whole lot better with congress passing the new H1B Cap Bill (S.2405). Suggestions 2 and 3 above are both taken care of allowing H1B workers to move far more freely between similar jobs at different companies.
It will be interesting to see the response of companies who are now in a lot more danger of losing employees on H1Bs if they don't pay the market rate. Then it will become a lot more apparent whether or not there really is a shortage (though if you're trying to hire in Silicon Valley at the moment it's obvious there is).
Slashdot Mirror
It will be interesting to see the response of companies who are now in a lot more danger of losing employees on H1Bs if they don't pay the market rate. Then it will become a lot more apparent whether or not there really is a shortage (though if you're trying to hire in Silicon Valley at the moment it's obvious there is).
A good summary of the bill can be seen at http://shusterman.com/s2045sum.html.