> “So if Cruz is so against crony capitalism, why does he support bringing in more H1B foreign workers?”
Your question has been addressed countless times on FR. I hope you are sincere in asking rather than just looking for an opportunity to throw mud.
First, Ted Cruz does not support bringing in “workers”. He does not support H1B abuses such as what happened at Disney or SCE and many others. Those are clear ABUSES of the H1B program.
What he does support is retaining TOP SCIENTIFIC TALENT in laboratories, in university research facilities, in academic posts, etc.
It is a fact that highly intelligent people are blessed with genetics that give them abilities that are enormously advantageous to America’s scientific dominance. These brains are born in America and outside America.
For example, Milton Friedman who was a son of newly arrived Jewish immigrants. I knew and met Milton Friedman several times because he was a longtime colleague and friend of the chairman of my doctoral committee. Milton was a very humble and nice man who when engaged in conversation or discussion, was extremely clear and organized in his thinking, efficient and concise as well. He never said too much. He always said just enough to communicate a set of thoughts and relations. And often what he said was profound. He was extremely humble and modest. Humility and modesty are standard traits of top talented scientific people.
There are millions of young Milton Friedman’s around the globe and many are brought to America via the H1B program where they join young American born talent in laboratories and research facilities.
But in recent years, especially under Obama, Corporations have abused the H1B program to benefit their bottom line. The cap on H1Bs is now only about 65,000 and there is a fight between universities wanting to recruit top talent and corporations who want cheap labor. This has to stop but it does not mean the H1B program should be cut back or scrapped. It means stopping the abuses by new and strong policies.
There are more than 1.5 million faculty members in US universities. US universities are enriched and strengthened by having visiting scholars, and researchers and scientists from some of the world’s top universities such as Oxford University or any of the top German universities not to mention Russian mathematicians and physicists who are nothing short of amazing. We need to keep the scientific exchange and infrastructure in place and the H1B program is a very important crucial part of that effort.
But under Obama, the recruitment of top talent has slowed to a trickle and instead there is an influx of foreign ‘workers’ who represent cheap labor. We need Ted Cruz to stop this influx and redirect the recruitment to top scientific talent. Because Obama’s policies hurt America and those policies must be scrapped and replaced.
Of the millions of academics, think tank scholars and laboratory scientist slots that presently exist in America, Ted Cruz wants to raise the cap to 325,000 for H1Bs who are wanted and needed in order to keep the highest level of scientific standards and rigor for America. Our universities are still tops in the world but unless we can keep them staffed with the best talent available, we risk losing our scientific edge.
In history, America has benefited greatly from foreign scientists joining with American academics, scientists, innovators, inventors and entrepreneurs.
Here is a short list of some of the most famous names:
Albert Einstein
Kurt Gödel
Nikola Tesla
Wernher Von Braun
Danyu Lin
and so many others. There are today millions of human beings with genius on level to the famous names above. Ted Cruz’ modest request to increase the H1B caps for this types of people to 325,000 is nothing to what’s out there to be harvested.
But first we need Ted to crack down on the abuses and then to reorient the H1B program with strict directives and criteria for who is eligible. We need to make sure that every person issued an H1B visa will benefit American society.
Thank you for the very detailed and reasoned reply. Yes, it is in our best interests to bring in some of the best and brightest from around the world. But the truth is that only a small number of those coming in on the H1B program are the “best and brightest”. The vast majority are filling regular tech jobs at lower salaries than would be paid our own workers.
If Senator Cruz were truly interested in reforming the program, he would not be calling for the importation of hundreds of thousands more foreign workers. That will only exasperate the situation for our own STEM workers. It is far more likely that Cruz is beholden to the companies that benefit from the program.
Bu!!Sh!t
Has Cruz said he'll reorient the H1B program with strict directives and criteria for who is eligible?
Those scientists were made full citizens, something that the guest worker programs week to prevent. All came for a desire to be a part of the United States, none came for a wish to undermine it’s citizens.
On the other hand, the guest workers are far from top talent. If one has to train the replacement under threat of severance/unemployment status, that provides proof that citizens have superior qualifications.
Such programs need to die, since they do not deliver as described. It is regulation that is un-American in every way - unless fraud is an American value.
Thank you for the clearest explanation of H1B that I’ve seen or heard.
It cleared up for me questions that others had talked around.
I ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but I keep reading and listening.