Outsourcing, visa curbs not in US interest: Congressman

Economic Times of India ^ | May 29, 2003

[clamper1797]

For those who love outsourcing because in the short run it saves them a few dollars, don't ever call yourself an American or consider yourself wise.

I call them "free traitors"

[clamper1797]

If it only was restricted to computer programers

It's not restricted to programmers ... it encompasses ALL of the high tech industry. I'm a computer chip (hardware) designer and I was out almost all last year. I could rattle off the top of my head several dozen personal friends and aquaintences who are highly trained highly skilled highly educated and experienced high tech engineers/programmers who are out of work and on the verge of losing EVERYTHING.

[m18436572]

The hero himself!

[m18436572]

How many Americans realize that the databases with their medical, financial, insurance and telecommunication records are being run and accessed by foreigners in a foreign country?

There will come a day that the personal info database becomes so corrupted that identity fraud is rampant and unstoppable without international law enforcement teams. Could not imagine a better reason to do away with the entire SS system. Looking forward to that day! NOT!

(pass the 20 gage please)

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

Hold off on the 20-gauge for now. Shoot e-mails and faxes to Congress. Let them know how you will be voting and why. Identity theft is just one possible evil scenario.
I really believe everyone needs to be educated in this matter. American society is so dependent upon these databases and other high-tech that we cannot just sit back and expect Congress to do the right thing. We already know what traitors the executives of corporations are.

[GraniteStateConservative]

bttt.

[Risa]

>>It is in the interest of the US economy to help the Indian economy grow, he said. <<

No! It's in the interest of the multinational businesses who are extrmely well-connected politically, and, obviously, Mr. Inslee, who is benefitting somehow. I mean, he's lying, so he certainly isn't the type who would be doing this because he has a big heart.

His form of free-trade is not beneficial for the American economy or the majority of Americans.

Globalisation is a lie.

[Risa]

>>He believed that the knee-jerk reaction from the Americans is not going to work for long. <<

If Americans gather by the millions, we can change the status quo. I would so enjoy seeing Mr. Inslee's disappointment.

[Risa]

>>We've keep hearing this same garbage over and over again.<<

Haha! You make a very good point. It's called the economist's "long run" syndrome, i.e. the fruits of their knowledge amount to no more than a perpetual wait for something better to come.

As for NAFTA, the development promised by free-trade advocates never materialized for Mexico or the United States. Only the multinational businesses and the very top wealthy sectors of Mexico have profit. The middle-class and poor have been devastated and pushed deeper into misery by free trade liberalisation.


As for China, I suspect Bill CLinton was bought. And we got nothing out of the deal--except, perhaps the future force of an enemy whose wealth we created at the diminishment of our own.

[Risa]

>>Congress is for Sale<<

Whoa! good find!

I don't believe any of these people, but I am relieved to know that not everyone in Federal government is corrupt. (FBI in this case).

Here's the Indian Lobby web page: Notice how like the Wahhabis, they seem obsessed with the Jewish-American people.

Indian toehold in US political whirlpool
Indian Express, November 19, 2002

http://www.usinpac.com/11192002_ie.asp


So far Indian Americans have given money in dribs and drabs and the great US political campaign vacuum has sucked it all up and not even burped. But as the community learns to organise, donate and demand, things may change, says Seema Sirohi

The American political process at one level is transparent and simple - you pay money, you get results. It has taken Indian Americans some time to figure it out, but with Election 2002 they have made a smart beginning. No more peeking from the outside, scared to get their little hands dirty in the gushing waters of American politics. This time, they definitely dipped their toes and apart from the chills, they got some payback.

They ran for office both national and local, making a bit of history along the way. Swati Dandekar became the first Indian American woman to win elected office and is now a member of Iowa's state legislature despite her Republican opponent's malicious attempts to raise her caste, class and upbringing in India.

Two others were re-elected - Kumar Barve in Maryland and Satveer Chowdhry to the Minnesota state senate. Alas, all four who ran for national office lost their maiden bids, but they must be applauded for trying to break the drought on Indian American representation in the US Congress. The last man standing was Dilip Singh Saund in the 1950s who, incidentally, ran for office because no university would hire him as a professor in those days.

Now that the community is coming out of its suburban ghettos and viewing politics as a career roughly equivalent to medicine or science or computers, a mini-revolution is in the making. Provided, of course, it doesn't get bogged down in petty squabbles and prolonged navel-gazing. The big picture will include a seat at the table of decision makers. The impact on Indo-US relations could be enormous in the future. A strong, well-organised lobby of Indian Americans can push for a clearer convergence of goals between the two countries, more than the jaded bureaucrats are prone to do.

For years, the rich and powerful Indians both in India and the United States have enviously admired the special relationship the Jewish community enjoyed with American politicians and wondered if they could recreate the magic. After all, the ingredients were there - Indian Americans are highly qualified, possess significant wealth and excel in their professions. But they lacked one thing - a well-oiled professional organisation to articulate their aspirations and beat the drums.

When they looked at the political access of the Jewish community, they found a highly structured kinship of contacts, networks and community relations smoothened by money. Jewish Americans across the country donate generously every election cycle, both individually and through more than 120 political action committees or PACs as they are commonly known. The PAC members rise up as a solid flank whenever any American president dares tell Israel to curb settlements or show restraint. They ensure that the annual $4 billion-aid package to Israel remains untouched irrespective of the budgetary gymnastics required at home.

The pro-Israeli PACs are linked to a single lobbying group - the American Israel Public Affairs Committee or AIPAC - which guides them on policy issues, alerting them of any mis-step, however small, by any politician on an issue affecting Israel. Campaign donations to the candidate start drying up unless the marked politician changes his tune. It works like clockwork and on many levels is a model for any political organisation in a democracy.

Well, Indian Americans have watched and learned, reverse engineering being one of the hallmarks of our ingenuity. They realised that although they donated more than $7 million to the two parties for the 2000 presidential elections, there was hardly any return on their investment. No senior Indian American was appointed to a media-visible post, none given a policy job requiring a Senate confirmation - a hallmark of prestige in the hierarchy of government jobs.

Even though 30 per cent of doctors in the US are Indian Americans, no President has got around to thinking about appointing an Indian American to the post of Surgeon General. And for all the tech innovation and ruling Silicon Valley, Indian Americans are invisible at the policy table on cyber legislation.

They gave the money but in dribs and drabs and here and there. The great vacuum of American political campaigns (this election cost $1 billion in campaign spending) simply sucked it up and didn't even burp. But things may change in the future. Some of the far-sighted are finally coming up with a plan to organise, participate, donate and demand. They have launched their very first professional clearing house for money - US-India Political Action Committee or USINPAC and supported seven politicians this past election on the basis of their stand on immigration policy, relations with India and the policies as they affect Indian Americans in a post-September 11 scenario. They gave more than $50,000 in campaign donations to the selected politicians and six of them won.

Not a bad start for Sanjay Puri, USINPAC's executive director, who is determined to emulate the successful model. He has lured two senior officers from pro-Israeli PACs to start the operations and to open doors on Capitol Hill. He is running the organisation with four full-time staffers and 20 ''incredible'' volunteers alongside his own company. He is ''consolidating'' the money so it comes from the PAC rather than individuals who are forgotten soon as the Congressman or Senator reaches Capitol Hill and begins enjoying national attention. A regular monthly breakfast is planned with key senators and lunch with that powerful army of young senatorial and congressional aides who pull the strings and write policy documents.

Also in the offing is an Indian American think-tank of sorts that will search and select good candidates for political office from the community. It will provide logistical support with communication and information. It is the second generation that is coming forward to demand its rightful place on the political stage. It is less burdened by its background and not afraid to build coalitions with other minorities in the country - African Americans, Hispanics and other people of Asian descent.

For the first-generation immigrants, American Blacks were not ''people like us'' and there was no overlapping of goals and strategy. But all that may change in the coming years - slowly by surely.

[sarcasm]

See:

Indian Americans too face outsourcing pressures

[Risa]

Here are some others who are featured on the Indian lobbying Web Site:


Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UTAH) says he will strive to get Indian Americans appointed to positions in the judicial and executive branches of the government.

Senator Hatch said that he was very grateful for the generous support from the Indian American community.

Senator Hatch indicated that he would support a US-India free trade agreement and ask the United States Trade Representative, Robert Zoellick, to investigate strengthening Indo-US bilateral business relations through such an agreement.

Senator Hatch also supported giving greater access to Indian biotechnology firms.

---

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) introduced Senate 1259 to allow Indian foreign nurses to qualify for temporary work visas, in the same way that foreign computer professionals do. Hospitals then would be able to recruit licensed, qualified nurses in a matter of a few months. The Indian American community is expected to benefit from the passage of this bill, because India produces a large number of qualified nurses.

(Brownback is that guy who has been on a mission to import a few hundred thousand North Korean refugees into America, too. In fact, the U.S. trains and funds Chinese people to round them up and smuggle them out).

[Risa]

They're being hired by state and local government too, even Jeb Bush's Florida state government (the Bush's are staunch open border advocates, too).

States, Federal Government Hire Foreign Workers
By Wayne Lutton

State and federal government agencies from coast to coast are hiring foreign workers for good-paying jobs at the expense of American citizens.

Despite the availability of tens of thousands of highly-trained recent college graduates and high national unemployment rate pegged by the Labor Department at 8.9 percent for white-collar workers, American governments are using the federal H-1B foreigner-employment program to import foreign workers, shutting out unemployed Americans.

The hiring of foreigners with taxpayer dollars flies in the face of new reports of U.S. workers hit by layoffs. In February American businesses cut over 308,000 jobs, adding to the more than 380,000 private-sector positions and half-million manufacturing jobs that were lost last year.

"The labor market situation has deteriorated dramatically and is weighing heavily on consumer confidence and spending," said Richard Yamarone, an economist with Argus Research Corp.

Federal agencies that have hired H-1B non-citizen workers include the Argonne National Laboratory, U. S. Department of Defense, Department of the Air Force, Department of the Navy, Department of Veterans Affairs, U. S. Department of Agriculture, U. S. Naval Academy, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Los Alamos National Laboratories.

State governments using public money to retain foreign nationals at a time when large numbers of qualified Americans are seeking employment include the Arizona Department of Transportation, Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, California Department of Transportation, Illinois Department of Nuclear Safety, Indiana Department of Transportation, Louisiana Department of Public Safety, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Massachusetts Department of Revenue, Minnesota Department of Transportation, New Jersey Department of Transportation, New York Public Library, Tennessee Department of Transportation, and the Virginia Department of Corrections.

The state of Florida under Republican Gov. Jeb Bush has been an especially prominent employer of H-1B visa holders. The Florida Department of Corrections, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Department of Health, and Florida Department of Transportation are among the state agencies that have hired foreign professionals.

The state of Ohio, led by Republican Governor Bob Taft, presents a case study of the types of good jobs going to foreigners instead of Americans. At least eight Ohio state agencies have hired H-1B workers, most of them citizens of India and the Pacific Rim countries of China, Korea, and Taiwan. The Ohio Department of Job & Family Services has hired a number of foreign computer programmers and analysts at starting salaries ranging from $50,336 to over $64,000. When asked why his department hires foreign citizens for well-paying jobs, the Director of Job & Family Services, Tom Hayes, replied, "We here believe in the American dream…but we can't say that we have to hire people who are American citizens."
The H-1B visa program, a provision of the 1990 Immigration Act, was created to allow American companies to hire foreign professionals at a time when the high-tech industry complained that a huge labor shortage was looming. Although the shortage never materialized, Congress expanded the program from an initial 65,000 temporary visas, good for up to six years, to 115,000 visas in 1999, to 195,000 foreign workers admitted annually through this year. Under the H-1B program, employers are not required to document a shortage of qualified Americans for a particular job opening. They simply pay an application fee of $1,000 per employee, which is written off as a cost of doing business.


In the case of government agencies, American tax dollars pay the fees used to hire foreign workers and keep Americans out.

Corporations and government agencies like to hire foreigners because they help satisfy the elites' demands for diversity and multiculturalism. At the same time, private companies can pay them lower wages and fewer benefits than Americans would expect for similar work.

The pay-off for foreign workers is that they receive higher pay in the United States than they would at home, and employers often sponsor them for permanent residence.

For hundreds of thousands of non-citizens, the H-1B program has become a backdoor entry into America. The H-1B program is not the only way that non-citizens can work legally in the United States. Jessica Vaughan, a senior policy analyst with the Center for Immigration Studies, discovered that more than 715,000 foreigners were issued employment visas in 2001 (the most recent figures available).

Another 110,000 non-immigrants received permission to work after they arrived in the United States. Congress has the authority to end these practices. The various non-immigrant work visa programs can simply be terminated. But the general public has yet to make this a pressing issue.

[Risa]

>>I would like to create a list of Congressmen supporting Visas and outsourcing. <<

I have started collecting names from online news articles. I'd be glad to share what I have so far.

Before the next election, I intend to publicize the H1-B voting records for these traitors on as many online forums I can find in their home state. I collect these, too. :>)

I think it also important to keep a record of those few brave elected leaders who stand up for the American people who elected them in the face of overwhelming opposition from their congressional colleagues.

[Risa]

>>I'm tired of the Freepers out there that haven't been affected looking down on those of us who have been affected. If we bring up the Visa and offshore issues, we are said to be whining. <<

I wonder how many of these insulting responses come from Freepers who represent multinational or national businesses who benefit directly from expansionist immigration policies.

And if they do not represent the beneficiaries of these policies, we can just bide our time, because without a total regime change from the Democratic and Republican status quo, trade liberalisation of this extreme form will proceed, and these people will not escape the consequences.

[FR_addict]

It took me almost two years to find the job I have after I was laid off and I had to move out of town to get this one. I am an older worker with plenty of experience and have always kept my skills current.

It is very hard to be separated from my family and I'm finding out that this situation is very common in the industry right now.

I noticed that the company I am now working for seemed to hire Visa workers and "older laid-off employees" in the last round of hirings. I guess they are finding out the Visa workers are lacking the experience needed for the jobs and they needed to bring in "older laid-off workers" as mentors.

Maybe some of the other companies will wake up. You can throw bodies at a project and hope for the best or you can hire experienced people as mentors. I would much prefer to mentor young American engineers than Visa workers who will be returning to India with the skills that should be staying in this country.

[FR_addict]

Thank you for your post on Orin Hatch. So he's in the pocket of the Indian lobbyists too.

I want to create a list of all the Republicans and Democrats supporting the Indian lobbyists over the American workers. Evidently, the Indian lobbyists are creating their own list. Did you post the link to this site? I must have missed it.

I also want to create a list of those politicians who are helping the American worker. For instance, Duncan Hunter introduced a new "Buy American" bill for defense contracts, and Tancredo has taken a courageous stand on the immigration issue.

[FR_addict]

It's 11:35PM Eastern time and Tom Tancredo (R - Colorado) is on CSpan talking about the H1 Visa problem in this country.

He is doing an excellent job and is slamming both sides of the aisle - the Democrats because they are trying to expand their voter base and the Republicans for supporting cheap labor for their constitiuents - big business.

He makes the point that if he is wrong and if we do need visa workers and high immigration to fuel economic growth, then he is challenging the other side to debate this issue and tell the American public that they must lower their standard of living to compete with the third world countries.

Massive immigration, legal and illegal is taking away American jobs.

He brings up specific periods in our country when immigration was low and we still had economic expansion. He also makes the point that we need to lower immigration so that this country can absorb all the new immigrants into our society.

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

Names to remember along with Jay Inslee;

From your link to "Congress is for sale":

Illicit campaign money received from the (Indian) embassy (in 1995) went to Democratic candidates including Sens. Charles S. Robb (D-Va.), Paul S. Sarbanes (D -Md.) and Reps. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.) and Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), who claimed no knowledge of the scheme.
…
Other Maryland Democrats who received $3,000 contributions each were Reps. Cardin, Hoyer and Kweisi Mfume. In all, 19 Democratic candidates nationwide got the money shortly before the 1994 elections through a network of prominent Indian-American businessmen in Maryland, their families and employees of their companies.
…
In addition to Sarbanes, other members of Congress targeted were Gary L. Ackerman of New York, $3,000; Sherrod Brown of Ohio, $3,000; Lee H. Hamilton of Indiana, $3,000; Eliot L. Engel of New York, $3,000; Robert E. Andrews of New Jersey, $3,000; and Howard L. Berman of California, $2,800.

Vote them out!