Thread: Bill Gates returns to DC for new H-1B lobbying campaign

From today's Job Destruction Newsletter from Rob Sanchez:


<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1827 -- 3/03/2008 >>>>>

Bill Gates made several trips last year to Washington DC to lobby for an
H-1B increase as well as expanded green card programs for foreign graduate
students. So far he has failed to get what he wanted but late last year he
vowed to come back and win. Gates just announced he is returning, and you
can bet he will be more determined than ever to score a victory.

The Gates lobbying trip is part of a huge new campaign to increase the H-1B
cap. Look for more info in the next newsletter.


Just to illustrate the immense influence Bill Gates is having on the H-1B
debate I made a rough transcript of an interview between House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi and Charlie Rose on 2/28.2008 which you can see by going to
this link at this time (21:30)


http://www.charlierose.com/guests/nancy-pelosi

ROSE: Nothing concerns Bill Gates more than that [immigration].

REP. PELOSI: He is always talking to us about that. The solution is simple,
we could just staple a green card to their [foreign students] diploma.
Increasing H-1B visas is controversial, but we want those students to stay
here.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +

http://www.computerworld.com/action/art ... Basic&arti
cleId=9066460

Gates to appear again before Congress on eve of H-1B visa rush

Patrick Thibodeau
March 03, 2008 (Computerworld) Next week, Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill
Gates will testify before the House Committee on Science and Technology at
a hearing "on the future of innovation and U.S. competitiveness," at which
he likely will renew his appeal for more foreign workers to be allowed into
the country.

The topic of the hearing is familiar ground for Gates on Capitol Hill. But
what makes his scheduled appearance on March 12 potentially explosive is
its timing, less than three weeks before the start of the annual
application rush for H-1B visas.

April 1 is the first day that U.S. immigration authorities will begin
accepting H-1B applications for the federal government's 2009 fiscal year,
which begins in October. Last year, the government stopped taking
applications after receiving about 150,000 in a single day -- far more than
enough to exhaust the annual cap of 65,000 regular visas and 20,000 set
aside for foreign nationals who have advanced degrees from U.S.
universities.

Last month, Gates called the H-1B program "a disaster," in response to a
question about immigration during a talk he gave at the University of
Waterloo in Ontario. "If I could just change one law in the U.S., it would
be this," Gates said. An excerpt featuring that comment has been posted on
YouTube, and a video of the full speech can be viewed on the university's
Web site.

Gates testified last March before the Senate Committee on Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions, warning that the U.S. was risking its global
leadership role because of insufficient investments in research and
education, as well as the problems that companies face in hiring foreign
workers.

In his written testimony, Gates predicted -- accurately -- that for the
first time in the history of the H-1B program, the supply of visas would
run out before students graduating from college received their degrees.
"This means that U.S. employers will not be able to get H-1B visas for an
entire crop of U.S. graduates," he wrote. "We are essentially asking top
talent to leave the U.S."

It remains to be seen how well Gates' message on immigration will play this
year, amid slowing economic growth and rising unemployment.

But Robert Hoffman, an Oracle Corp. executive who is co-chairman of Compete
America, a Washington-based group that lobbies for immigration reform, said
that the demand for H-1B workers among U.S. companies continues unabated.
"The expectation is that you are going to see an even bigger flood of
applications than what we saw last year," he said.

Asked about the slowing economy, Hoffman said, "If you want to talk about
not helping the economy -- if there is a job opening that is going unfilled
in this economy and that we are prepared to fill, we should fill it because
that is a person contributing to the economy."

The political pressure to raise the H-1B cap, or to shrink it, also is
ongoing, but people on both sides of the issue are cautious about
predicting that any legislation will find its way out of Congress during an
election year.

"I'm not at all convinced that we've won the battle for this year," said
Roy Beck, executive director of NumbersUSA, an immigration advocacy group
that opposes efforts to increase the H-1B cap. But Beck added that he
thinks the Arlington, Va.-based group has helped to create "enough
counterweight" to challenge the cap-increase proposals.

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Newsletter Homepage:
http://www.JobDestruction.com/shameh1b/ ... onNews.htm

Let's stop th H1-B non-immigrant work visa program. The quota was deviosly exeeded in two recent years and there still in not an effective exit tracking of if and when via=sa overstayers depart the US. We are hereing of layoffs and don not to import more workers.

hasn't Gates turned the program into a 22th century slave wage super sweet deal for Microsoft . While turning his back on U.S college grads cause of the money they demand ?

Originally Posted by tubby

Let's stop th H1-B non-immigrant work visa program. The quota was deviosly exeeded in two recent years and there still in not an effective exit tracking of if and when via=sa overstayers depart the US. We are hereing of layoffs and don not to import more workers.

******

Let's see if I have this right.

1. Educators in places like India tell their computer and engineering students
something like this:

"If you get your graduate degree in computers or engineering, you will probably have a good chance to go to the United States and work for some big company like Microsoft and Bill Gates."

2. On the other hand, United States potential computer and engineering students are told the following:

"It is not a good market for United States computer and engineering students, because big companies like Microsoft and big computer people like Bill Gates would pay cheaper wages to computer and engineering graduates from places like India."

We should stop this worker tragedy caused by sick hiring practices by such big companies like Microsoft that is owned by people like Bill Gates.

How about these giant computer companies like Microsoft---owned by Bill Gates---starting up apprentice and internship type programs?

I bet Microsoft would be flooded with applications for their apprentice and internship programs. mirse

mirse: Actually, there's even another level of insult to the whole mix here too: remember, that that BG and many other IT corps. keep 'crying wolf' by saying - "we don't have enough [skilled] workers".

Recall, also, that recently the UN - yes, I'm citing the United Nations! - issued a report on the relative productivity of workers by nationality (imagine that, there STILL ARE countries!). US workers were judged to be the most productive per unit of time measured.

So there are many levels of contradiction and obfuscation going on.

The bottom line in my eyes, is that, being 'smart and/or qualified' is becoming secondary, and just being 'cheap' is the more important factor. (eg. most IT managers see it fit that if 80% of the job gets done for about half the cost, then that is considered 'progress'...especially if it pleases the CEO and/or shareholders). Extrapolate that out for years or decades and there are very large implications about the reliability and orderliness of the world; or more accurately, our world.


An example: I recently had problems with my heat-pump unit. The problem was that the fan motor had burned out. I asked the repair guy (oh, for the record, I had the unit successfully disassembled up to the removal and disconnection of the fan itself - helping to dispel the myth that Americans are lazy and incompetent, etc - and, being that it is wired for 220v, I decided I'd stop and let him do the rest...) anyway, in the course of the repair, he explained that this sort of failure seems to be becoming more common in this area.

He said that the increased but subtle variation in power levels over time increases wear and tear on those 220v electric fan motors and that's a big factor in them wearing out. Now, this was a bit of a surprise to me. As most of our power in this area comes from hydro power and those are basically running all the time (albeit under variable load/generation conditions due to changing reservoir levels). Of course, all that stuff is a complex mix of SCADA controls, maintenance on the generators, local transmission and sub-stations, etc.


So, in short, you can't take the things you used to for granted anymore.
Get ready America - here comes a Brave New World.

Bill Gates makes me sick. This country and American workers made him what he is today. He shows his appreciation by hiring as much cheap labor as he can get his hands on...and he still wants more. What a jerk.