[Wolfie]

Horse-hooey.

[smith288]

Its called "Cheap workforce". Not lack of skills Dubya.

[samuel_adams_us]

There's more air in between those ears than meets the eye!

[mewzilla]

I hate to tell the IEEE, but it's still a part of it.

[dirtboy]

"I fully understand what you're saying. In other words, as technology races through the economy, a lot of times worker skills don't keep up with technological change."

Bush just lost several thousand tech worker votes with this line. There are millions of tech workers with more-than-adequate skills who are out of work because of H1-B and L1 visas and outsourcing. So what is the lesson to high school and college students? Work hard, get a tech degree, and look forward to a career at Home Depot.

[carton253]

He no more said that than the man in the moon...

[Elliott Jackalope]

Is President Bush TRYING to convince the rest of us that he is completely out of touch with the average American? That little comment is going to cost him a lot of votes.

Mr. President, if our skills are so out of date, then why are so many companies requiring their American workers to train their foreign replacements before firing them? People are killing themselves over this issue, and our President says "let them eat cake".

This is not going to make Joe Sixpack think good thoughts about our President.

[wesdale]

If your employer can find someone to do your job for less, you need to make yourself more valuable. Life is not fair. The tech industry is growing fast and a valuable skill today does not make your job secure for very long. Learn new skills. Stay ahead of the competition. It always bothers me when people complain about jobs going overseas. You do not have a right to a job because you were born in America.

[Chi-townChief]

This sounds trumped up.

[dfwgator]

If this is true, Bush just lost the 2004 election.

[N3WBI3]

I am disgusted there is no way I will vote bush..

[fuente]

Keep this up and I'll vote for Perot--AGAIN!

[Mr. Bird]

Why do all of you techies think it's all about IT? Here's the question that was asked. The "offshoring" issue was a part of it:

They're concerned about jobs going overseas, that technology is taking over jobs. And these people are finding difficulty finding work. And although you're recommitted yourself to your tax cut policy, do you have any ideas or any plans within the administration of what you might do for these people who feel like there are fundamental changes happening in the work force and in the economy?

She was talking about the chronically unemployed, for anyone who was listening. For all anyone knows, she was talking about textile jobs going overseas; technology in the form of robotics and automation replacing union labor, etc.

You guys see "technology" and "jobs" or "work force" and think it's all about H1-B and Indian programmers. Sheesh.

His response was adequate, as far as I'm concerned. He said community colleges should be recognizing employment trends and training people accordingly. Right now, they are not. They are still selling IS certificate programs without regard to opportunity, and are inflating demand with ridiculous promises.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Bush is just repeating what industry leaders are telling him, which really translates to: "We don't feel like paying Americans with up to date skill sets what they are worth in the market, so we have to go to India, where the same skill sets can be bought cheaper."

I can't repeat it enough: corporate America hates IT. They consider it a disparate service, like the janitorial staff, instead of an important part of the business; they hate having to deal with it; they hate having to hire and manage difficult IT people; and they hate spending the money to maintain an in-house IT presence. They feel they were gouged by IT salary levels during the tech boom, and outsourcing IT now is just a way of getting their own back and disposing of people they never wanted to hire in the first place.

[hedgetrimmer]

Thats a _really_ offensive thing for him to say, knowing how our own _federal_ government is weighting trade in favor of communist governments.

[StolarStorm]

It was a lame response, but in fairness he has a lot on his plate right now.

[laweeks]

He'll be a one-term president if he doesn't get off his a$$ and do something to stop the flood of jobs out of the country. I refuse to take the blame that I didn't continue to go thru college every day of my life just so I can try to catch up to the jobs pouring into Mexico, Canada, and offshore.

I have a job teaching computer skills to many people who faithfully ran machines, did assembly, and you-name-it for dozens of years only to find that their employers would rather move everything to Mexico, where, oddly enough, those same people are crossing our borders to come up HERE. And then when they get here, they want free medical care, free education, and what's left of our jobs. It's extremely hard to keep these student's chins up when every day we read about Mexican-bound jobs. And there's only so many jobs asking for MS-Word, Excel, and Access skills. I'd rather not listen to George Bush be so flippant about the American worker. They don't deserve flippancy, but rather they deserve jobs.

It's been said by Rush Limbaugh (and I believe it) that the government CANNOT create jobs. But I firmly believe that the goovernment can DESTROOY jobs.

[SwinneySwitch]

Q Thank you, Mr. President. Staying with that theme, although there are some signs of improvement in the economy, there are sectors in the work force who feel like they're being left behind. They're concerned about jobs going overseas, that technology is taking over jobs. And these people are finding difficulty finding work. And although you're recommitted yourself to your tax cut policy, do you have any ideas or any plans within the administration of what you might do for these people who feel like there are fundamental changes happening in the work force and in the economy?

THE PRESIDENT: Sure. Listen, I fully understand what you're saying. In other words, as technology races through the economy, a lot of times worker skills don't keep up with technological change. And that's a significant issue that we've got to address in the country.

I think my idea of reemployment accounts makes a lot of sense. In essence, it says that you get $3,000 from the federal government to help you with training, day care, transportation, perhaps moving to another city. And if, within a period of time, you're able to find a job, you keep the balance as a reemployment bonus.

I know the community colleges provide a very important role in worker training, worker retraining. I look forward to working with our community colleges through the Department of Education, coordinate closely with states, particularly in those states in which technology is changing the nature of the job force.

I've always found the community college -- and this is from my days as the governor of Texas -- found the community college to be a very appropriate place for job training programs because they're more adaptable, their curriculums are easier to change, they're accessible. Community colleges are all over the place.

And -- but you're right. I mean, I think we need to make sure that people get the training necessary to keep up with the nature of the jobs, as jobs change.

[harpseal]

e-mail the White House ping.

[thoughtomator]

self bump for righteously indignant reply later