JOBSEARCH: H1Bs benefit at the expense of American workers?

Thursday, February 5, 2009

http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09%2F01%2F24%2F078245&from=rss

Senator Prods Microsoft On H-1B Visas After Layoff Plans Posted by Soulskill on Saturday January 24, @08:18AM

from the checking-their-priorities dept.

*** begin quote ***

CWmike writes “US Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) told Microsoft this week that US citizens should get priority over H-1B visa holders as the software vendor moves forward on its plan to cut 5,000 jobs. ‘These work visa programs were never intended to allow a company to retain foreign guest workers rather than similarly qualified American workers, when that company cuts jobs during an economic downturn,’ Grassley wrote in a letter sent Thursday to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. The letter asked Microsoft to detail the types of jobs that will be eliminated and how those cuts will affect the company’s H-1B workers.”

Reader theodp adds, “On Friday, Microsoft coincidentally announced it would postpone construction of a planned $500 million data center in Grassley’s home state of Iowa, although work on data centers in Chicago and Dublin will continue.”

*** end quote ***

Sounds like the “barbara streisand” is going to hit the proverbial fan.

I’m no fan of gooferment action. But corporations are creations of the gooferment.

Sounds like INS should yank 5k of H1Bs serving Microsoft. Today!?!

imho

# # # # #


RANT: O versus L? The typical false choice.

Friday, January 30, 2009

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/18194_Page2.html  

Are you with Obama or Rush?
By JONATHAN MARTIN
1/29/09 8:00 PM EST
Updated: 1/30/09 4:37 AM EST

*** begin quote ***

Politico has learned that tomorrow Americans United for Change, a liberal group, will begin airing radio ads in three states Obama won — Ohio, Pennsylvania and Nevada — with a tough question aimed at the GOP senators there: Will you side with Obama or Rush Limbaugh?

“Every Republican member of the House chose to take Rush Limbaugh’s advice,” says the narrator after playing the conservative talk radio giant’s declaration that he hopes Obama “fails.”

“Every Republican voted with Limbaugh — and against creating 4 million new American jobs. We can understand why a extreme partisan like Rush Limbaugh wants President Obama’s Jobs program to fail — but the members of Congress elected to represent the citizens in their districts? That’s another matter. Now the Obama plan goes to the Senate, and the question is: Will our Senator”—here the ad is tailored by state to name George Voinovich in Ohio, Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania, and John Ensign in Nevada—”side with Rush Limbaugh too?”

Asked to respond, Limbaugh had a message for his party.

“Senate Republicans need to understand this is not about me,” he wrote in an email. “It is about them, about intimidating them, especially after the show of unity in House. It is about the 2010 and 2012 elections. This is an opportunity for Republicans to redefine themselves after a few years of wandering aimlessly looking for a ‘brand’ and identity.”

*** and ***

Senate Republicans acknowledge that they’ll lose some of their members on the first vote.

“We’re in a little different spot than the House in that we have a handful of Republicans who have all but committed to supporting the package,” said a Senate GOP aide.

The aide declined to say who, but speculation on both sides of the aisle is centered on a group of northeasterners — Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, Sen. Judd Gregg (NH) and Specter.

*** end quote ***

Everyone should be real clear. The “stimulus” bill is not about stimulus, jobs, or benefits for the “folks”.

It’s about socialism, pork spending, and making future voters for the democratic party.

Rahm told you that a crisis is a terrible thing to waste.

We’ve been hustled before — the Bush pre-rebate, the TARP, and now this!

And, the ad offers a false choice — O versus L?

I’m with neither.

The Republican Party NOW, when it’s out of power wants to “brand” itself as the party of smaller gooferment again. Where were they for eight years? We have the TSA, deficits, and out of control spending. All caused by a President who wouldn’t veto anything.

And, O wants to remake America on the basis of he “won” an election. Hey, guess what, more folks didn’t vote than voted. So you were elected by 28% to 24%. That should tell you that your plurality is very small.

More than half the Americans know they are getting screwed no matter which “side” won.

Not that there is much difference between EITHER “side”!

In this case, I am against the “gooferment enlargement” package.

You want to restart the economy. Shrink gooferment — Nuke the TSA, Kill whole gooferment department and agencies, stop the psuedo drug war, pardon all non-violent drug offenders, and return to normal. Cut the corporate tax to ZERO forever. It’s a sham; only real people pay taxes. Corporate taxes hide how much the gooferment is stealing from us.

Argh!

# # # # #


RANT: Fixing a broken leg? Corporations receiving bailouts look overseas

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090116/D95OHIB80.html

Report: Over 8 in 10 corporations have tax havens
Jan 16, 6:28 PM (ET)
By KEN THOMAS

*** begin quote ***

WASHINGTON (AP) – Eighty-three of the nation’s 100 largest corporations, including Citigroup, Bank of America and News Corp. (NWSA), had subsidiaries in offshore tax havens in 2007, and some of the companies received federal bailout funding, a government watchdog said Friday.

The Government Accountability Office released a report that said Bank of America Inc., Citigroup Inc. (C) and Morgan Stanley (MS) all had more than 100 units in countries that maintain low or no taxes. The three financial institutions were included in the $700 billion financial bailout approved by Congress.

*** end quote ***

Corporations are a product of the gooferment. Why are we surprised when they take bailout money and setup tax shelters? I’m sure the congresscritters will “fix” this! (Fix in the sense of amputating the broken leg!)

Argh!

# # # # #


LIBERTY: What will be foisted upon us now!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2009/01/27/what_are_they_buying?page=2

Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Thomas Sowell :: Townhall.com Columnist
What Are They Buying?
by Thomas Sowell

*** begin quote ***

What are the Beltway politicians buying with all the hundreds of billions of dollars they are spending? They are buying what politicians are most interested in– power.

In the name of protecting the taxpayers’ investment, they are buying the power to tell General Motors how to make cars, banks how to bank and, before it is all over with, all sorts of other people how to do the work they specialize in, and for which members of Congress have no competence, much less expertise.

This administration and Congress are now in a position to do what Franklin D. Roosevelt did during the Great Depression of the 1930s– use a crisis of the times to create new institutions that will last for generations.

To this day, we are still subsidizing millionaires in agriculture because farmers were having a tough time in the 1930s. We have the Federal National Mortgage Association (“Fannie Mae”) taking reckless chances in the housing market that have blown up in our faces today, because FDR decided to create a new federal housing agency in 1938.

Who knows what bright ideas this administration will turn into permanent institutions for our children and grandchildren to try to cope with?

*** end quote ***

It’s no doubt that politicians use crisis to consolidate and enlarge their power over us.

What will the serfs be saddled with now?

# # # # #


LIBERTY: Nationalization is one more step to the death camps

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

http://www.ablueview.com/2009/01/the-nationalization-debate-comes-out-of-the-closet.html

The Nationalization Debate Comes Out Of The Closet

*** begin quote ***

We’re finally beginning to remove the ideological blinders (socialism, socialism!) from our eyes and look at all possible ways to fix the liquidity crisis. This otherwise good NY Times article explores the pros & cons of nationalization but leaves out an important pro they’ve reported on in the past: it’s the most transparent, honest approach

*** end quote ***

Yeah, the gooferment is sooo honest. So good at everything they touch.

Sorry, it’s all about control.

Think Japanese Internment, the Civil War, and the Carter Inflation.

We’re all sheep. Being herded. Lucky if we just get sheared.

Government is dangerous.

Where’s my pitchfork and torch?

# # # # #


CORRUPTION: Barney Frank directing bailout funds

Saturday, January 24, 2009

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123258284337504295.html

JANUARY 22, 2009, 2:45 P.M. ET
Political Interference Seen in Bank Bailout Decisions
Barney Frank Goes to Bat for Lender, and It Gets an Infusion
By DAMIAN PALETTA and DAVID ENRICH

*** begin quote ***

Troubled OneUnited Bank in Boston didn’t look much like a candidate for aid from the Treasury Department’s bank bailout fund last fall.

The Treasury had said it would give money only to healthy banks, to jump-start lending. But OneUnited had seen most of its capital evaporate. Moreover, it was under attack from its regulators for allegations of poor lending practices and executive-pay abuses, including owning a Porsche for its executives’ use.

Nonetheless, in December OneUnited got a $12 million injection from the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. One apparent factor: the intercession of Rep. Barney Frank, the powerful head of the House Financial Services Committee.

Mr. Frank, by his own account, wrote into the TARP bill a provision specifically aimed at helping this particular home-state bank. And later, he acknowledges, he spoke to regulators urging that OneUnited be considered for a cash injection.

*** end quote ***

Maybe they will give you are ride in the “taxpayer’s” Porsche!

How do we have Barney Frank still in politics?

Gay prostitute. Community Reinvestment Act. Banking system abuse. Now this.

I don’t understand?

# # # # #   


POLITICAL: the only real way to economically “stimulate”

Monday, January 19, 2009

http://ncc-1776.org/tle2009/tle502-20090118-02.html

Collectivism’s Last Stand
by L. Neil Smith

*** begin quote ***

Politicians must be taught, in no uncertain terms, that the only real way to economically “stimulate” the Productive Class is to stop stealing their fucking money! If the government announced a total tax amnesty, as well as a complete, permanent end to individual and corporate taxes—repealing all unconstitutional economic regulations would help, too—this depression would be over by the end of the week.

*** end quote ***

You have to admire how LNS can “turn a phrase”!

Wonder if it would take all the way to the end of the week?

“Next day” might be a better estimate.

But, we don’t have to worry. It will never occur to the congress critters!

# # # # #


Politics: The Gooferment is the Problem, imho!

Monday, December 29, 2008

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123033898448336541.html

There’s No Pain-Free Cure for Recession
Belt-tightening is required by all, including government.
By PETER SCHIFF
* OPINION * DECEMBER 27, 2008

*** begin quote ***

Governments cannot create but merely redirect. When the government spends, the money has to come from somewhere. If the government doesn’t have a surplus, then it must come from taxes. If taxes don’t go up, then it must come from increased borrowing. If lenders won’t lend, then it must come from the printing press, which is where all these bailouts are headed. But each additional dollar printed diminishes the value those already in circulation. Something cannot be effortlessly created from nothing.

*** end quote ***

When will folks recognize that GOVERNEMENT IS THE PROBLEM.

It starts from a flawed set of paradigms (i.e., perceptions) and memes (i.e., ideas).

One flawed paradigm / perception is that the “benefits bestowed” come like magic rainfall from the heavens. It’s a miracle. What we don’t see, or chose not to see, is the sausage being made. Money extracted by force (Who voluntarily pays the mob in gooferment?) to fund the “benefits”. Minus of course the huge “handling fee” to do the “extracting” and “bestowing”!

One flawed meme is that there is such a thing as “government”. In our minds, we create the Wizard of Oz illusion that there something, (or even more laughable, that we are part of something), bigger than ourselves. No, what I see are craven immoral human beings dress up in fancy clothes pretending to have power over us. To “govern” us.

In the beginnings of human civilization, there were Tyrants. Then, came Kings. Now, we have Politicians.

There are all just people. Give them no more defference than you would a street thug. Be careful they can hurt you. But, don’t kid yourself that the Politician is any different than the Mafia Don.

Keep your pitchfork and torch at hand. Their time is coming.

# # # # #


RANT: Autoworkers Union Keeps $6 Million Golf Course

Sunday, December 28, 2008

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,472304,00.html

Autoworkers Union Keeps $6 Million Golf Course for Members at $33 Million Lakeside Retreat

# – # – #

And we are BAILING everyone out?

# # # # #


POLITICAL: Gooferment bailouts mere prolong the inevitable

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

http://www.lewrockwell.com/tucker/tucker115.html

The End of the US Piano Industry by Jeffrey A. Tucker

*** begin quote ***

Today government is even more arrogant and absurd, and it actually believes that by passing legislation it can save the US car industry. It can subsidize and pay for uneconomic activities, and pay ever more every year. The government can also pay millions of people to make mud pies because mud pies are deemed to be an essential industry. You can do this, but at what cost and what could possibly be the point? Eventually, even the government will have to accord itself to the reality that economics reminds us of on a daily basis.

*** end quote ***

It’s hard to envision a sadder time in American History.

The gooferment bailing out the UAW union.

That’s what this is all about.

The unions wield enormous political power.

And, like a parasite, they eventually kill their hosts.

Look at the Teacher’s Union and education. The ports with their union. The railroads with their union. Government workers and their unions.

And, don’t make the mistake that the Union is looking out for its members.

Sure, they do from time to time, but that’s to preserve the illusion.

Example, State of New Jersey hasn’t contributed to the pension plan for several administration. It’s under funded by 3T$. Think the Union has grabbed the politicians by their privates and insisted. No, they are all in bed together.

Example, UAW hasn’t insisted that Automakers align the executive’s interest with the worker’s. It’s a scandal that a CEO makes more than the line worker in salary. CEO’s shouldn’t make more than a 1$/year anytime. Give them stock options that vest in 5 year increments (i.e., 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, …). Then stand out of the way as the thinking shifts to long term value.

Example, the Delta bankruptcy screwed all the retired pilots. Hear anything about that?

Unions are an institution that needs to be reinvented.

Where’s my “union” for bloggers?

Argh!

# # # # #