13 Articles Worth Reading
13 Articles Worth Reading
Date: Tuesday, February 14, 2006 2:47 PM
JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER
February 14, 2006 No. 1418
<<< COMMENTS FROM ROB >>>
Articles #5,6,7 are proof that the United States has gone insane.
Article #8 The title of the article is my nominee for the best of the year:
"Is Bush H1B+"? This was published in an Indian newspaper that praises
Bush's desire to increase H-1Bs so I'm not sure the association with HIV+
was intentional, but is sure is funny!
Article #9 Tom Friedman's book about how the Earth is flat is required
reading for everyone in Silicon Valley, according to the Mercury news.
Employees of high-tech companies are even required to read it. The entire
scenario seems reminiscent of the days that everyone in China had to read
the Mao's Little Red Book.
Article #10 John Stossel has been on a tirade against anyone who criticizes
offshoring. Stossel's vitriol against Lou Dobbs, and his religious belief
that outsourcing is good for America is no surprise considering that he is
a devotee of the Cato Institute.
Article #11 This Rocky Mountain reporter must have altitude sickness from
drinking Coors on top of high mountains. The article is pure fantasy,
saying that 217,000 high-tech jobs will be created this year and many of
the jobs will pay over $100,000. According to Paul Craig Roberts only
70,000 engineering jobs have been created in the past 5 years.
Article #12 Variations of this Los Angles Times article is appearing in
newspapers throughout the U.S. It warns that businesses will be in a crisis
unless Congress agrees with Bush's proposal to eliminate limits on H-1Bs.
Candelight Vigils - There is a growing grassroots movement to protect
American jobs against the job destruction caused by illegal immigration.
Unfortunately these people don't discuss the dangers of legal immigration
from H-1B and L-1, but their cause is a start.
<<< END OF COMMENTS >>>
Article 1:
http://www.numbersusa.com/hottopic/stateoftheunion06_pressrelease.html
Americans Need Jobs, Not Foreign Competition
NumbersUSA Reminds President That Foreign Labor Undercuts Economy and
Public Confidence
Article 2:
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060207/OPINION03/602070354/1110
Science initiative deserves attention
Congress should heed call for more research investment
How is the United States ever going to retain its world leadership in
scientific and engineering innovation, the driving force of the economy?
Granting more visas for international students and scholars and
preferential immigration for skilled scientists and engineers.
Article 3:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0208/p08s02-comv.html
Yes, it does take a rocket scientist
Up-and-coming poor countries with burgeoning brainpower are competing on
more than wages. US-based companies often prefer the technical skills of
Chinese workers and the innovation of Indian researchers, or they simply
seek special US visas to import them. That is hollowing out US
manufacturing and leaving too many lesser-skilled Americans losing out on
factory jobs.
Article 4:
http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_3493017
Ski bum: another job Americans won't do?
Colorado ski resorts increasingly are turning to Latin American students,
not ski bums, to staff lift lines, mountaintop restaurants and fill other
jobs.
Article 5:
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=state&id=3884121
Dallas considers hiring illegal immigrants as teachers
A Dallas school official said changing employment laws that restrict hiring
illegal immigrants could help the district overcome its shortage of
bilingual teachers.
Article 6:
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/13848846.htm
UAE co. poised to oversee six U.S. ports
A company in the United Arab Emirates is poised to take over significant
operations at six American ports as part of a corporate sale, leaving a
country with ties to the Sept. 11 hijackers with influence over a maritime
industry considered vulnerable to terrorism. "America's busiest ports are
vital to our economy and to the international economy, and that is why they
remain top terrorist targets," Schumer said. "Just as we would not
outsource military operations or law enforcement duties, we should be very
careful before we outsource such sensitive homeland security duties."
Article 7: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0602/13/ldt.01.html
LOU DOBBS TONIGHT
Tonight, the United States is about to allow a United Arab Emirates company
to take operational control of many of this nation's major seaports. The
Bush administration has OK'd a deal that would allow a company based on The
Emirates it take charge of the ports. Many of them, most of them, vital to
this nation's security. Bill Tucker reports.
Article 8:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1413527.cms
Is Bush H-1B positive?
Move over Bill Gates & Craig Barrett. Make way for George W Bush. The US
President has taken on the job of lobbying to increase the number of H-1B
visas issued a year.
Article 9:
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/13797454.htm
Hot tech item: not gadget, but a bestseller
How obsessed has Silicon Valley become with ``The World Is Flat,'' the
bestselling book about globalization?
Ash Lilani, head of Silicon Valley Bank Global, not only read it, he bought
50 copies of the book by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman as gifts
for employees and colleagues.
Article 10:
http://www.abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=448934&page=2
No. 4 - MYTH: Outsourcing Is Bad for American Workers
People like Lou Dobbs talk about the outsourcing crisis. However, in
reality outsourcing is not a crisis. The crisis will only come if we try to
stop it.
Article 11:
http://www.schons.net/archives/cat_offshore.htm
High-tech employment back on high wire
Leading U.S. trend, hiring rebounds strongly in Colorado
"The tech job market was flat on its back throughout most of the decade,"
said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Economy.com. "It's now back on
its feet. I expect it to break into a jog this year." Zandi expects the
tech industry nationally will post its strongest year since 2000, churning
out 217,000 jobs with rising wages.
Article 12:
http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/business/13867441.htm
High-tech firms want visa quota raised for workers
Paul Zulkie, a Chicago immigration attorney, said the president's statement
raised the pressure on Congress to respond to a "crisis faced by American
businesses." He said he receives at least two calls a week from companies
desperate for help in hiring prospective foreign employees.
Article 13:
http://www.mises.org/story/2051
The Myth of the Math and Science Shortage
Why do we keep falling for this? Once in every second-term presidency, the
chief executive lectures the country about the impending disaster of a
shortage of mathematicians and scientists. People think: oh no, we'd better
get on the stick and create some in a hurry!
*** Additional Links to Check Out ***
http://www.vdare.com/roberts/060211_jobs.htm
Jobs News Even Worse Than We Thought
By Paul Craig Roberts
In five years the US economy only created 70,000 jobs in architecture and
engineering, many of which are clerical.
http://www.dolz.com/es2/index.html
CANDLE LIGHT VIGIL
Sen. Dianne Feinstein's West Los Angeles Office
FEBRUARY 15 th 2006, 6:00pm
Video of Candlight Vigil in Nashville
http://www.steinreport.com/video/Nashville_Vigil.wmv
1. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.numbersusa.com/hottopic/stateoftheunion06_pressrelease.html
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Caroline Espinosa
January 31, 2006 (202) 543-1341
Caroline@NumbersUSA.com
Americans Need Jobs, Not Foreign Competition
NumbersUSA Reminds President That Foreign Labor
Undercuts Economy and Public Confidence
WASHINGTON, DC - NumbersUSA urges President Bush to recognize that large
scale importing of foreign workers will depress wages and deny job
opportunities for the most vulnerable Americans, destabilizing the overall
economy. Polling has shown that Americans are most concerned about the
economy and jobs, and the majority believes the economy is currently on the
wrong track.
"As President Bush addresses the nation tonight, I hope he will remember
the 14 million Americans who cannot find full-time jobs in the current
economy." said Roy Beck, Executive Director of NumbersUSA. "It would be the
height of callousness to advocate a massive foreign worker program to an
economy already marked by stagnant wages in many sectors and by falling
labor participation rates among several American demographic groups."
Both unskilled and skilled Americans would be hurt by the President's past
immigration proposals to match willing workers from other countries with
willing employers here in the United States. Severe outsourcing,
uncontrolled illegal immigration and government-mandated immigration four
times higher than the traditional average have worsened unemployment,
underemployment and wage stagnation among Americans on both ends of the
employment spectrum.
"Recent news is filled with stories of the elimination of high-pay,
high-benefits jobs and of the increase of lower-pay and lower-benefits
jobs. The last thing that Americans and their economy need is a new flood
of foreign workers that will accelerate all the worst tendencies in our
present economy," said Beck.
Enforcement of our immigration laws is absolutely necessary to ensure
Americans' economic and physical security and a successful struggle for
living-wage jobs. Without full-scale efforts in mandatory workplace
verification, implementation of the entry-exit system, and increased
cooperation between state, local, and federal law enforcement officials,
the rise in foreign workers will continue to undermine the economy and
undermine the public's confidence in the Bush Administration's handling of
it.
"Last year, the President vowed to protect our borders, and we saw progress
on that promise when he supported the House of Representatives in December
as it passed the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration
Control Act. I am hopeful that his commitment to enforcement and border
security will be evident when the Presidents budget comes out next
week," said Beck. "This year - a pivotal election year - Americans will be
watching to see if the President sees his promise through to fruition in
addition to following the will of the American people who are concerned
about the very real threat American workers face from foreign labor. The
President should follow the lead of House Republicans and stand up to the
Chamber of Commerce and its push to use immigrant labor to depress
Americans' wages."
2. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060207/OPINION03/602070354/1110
Science initiative deserves attention
Congress should heed call for more research investment
By REGISTER EDITORIAL BOARD
February 7, 2006
Every year, seven times more engineers graduate in China than in the United
States. India is graduating nearly three times more engineers than the
United States.
Those bright new engineers work cheap. For the salary of one American
engineer, you can hire 11 in India.
With those numbers, how is the United States ever going to retain its world
leadership in scientific and engineering innovation, the driving force of
the economy?
There is only one way: by increasing the numbers of scientists and
engineers in America, by outspending everyone else in basic scientific
research and by producing engineers and scientists who are the most
creative and innovative in the world, so their higher salaries are worth
it.
That's why President Bush's recently announced American Competitiveness
Initiative might be the most important initiative of his presidency. It
demands Congress' immediate attention.
Several industry and academic organizations in recent years have warned
that the United States is in danger of losing world economic leadership by
losing its edge in technology. Already, the United States has become a net
importer of high technology.
The warnings culminated with a report from a committee of the National
Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, done at the behest of
Congress. "We fear the abruptness with which a lead in science and
technology can be lost -- and the difficulty of recovering the lead once
lost, if indeed it can be regained at all," the report said. "This nation
must prepare with great urgency to preserve its strategic and economic
security."
In the decade during and immediately after World War II, the United States
invested heavily in science and technology, becoming the undisputed world
leader. Many of the advances made then are integral to today's economy. By
some estimates, half the economic growth in the past 50 years and up to 85
percent of U.S. income growth can be directly attributed to technological
change.
But what about tomorrow's economy? Unless the United States turns out a new
generation of world-leading scientists and engineers, and unless it invests
more in basic research, the next generation of technological advances --
and the industries that develop around them -- won't happen here.
Congress needs to act soon on these or similar proposals, and President
Bush, if he's serious about his initiative, needs to make it a bully-pulpit
issue. He should barnstorm the country, visiting labs and universities, to
open Americans' eyes to the urgency.
A successful science initiative could assure American pre-eminence for the
next half century and could well be Bush's most lasting legacy.
President Bushs plan is drawn largely from a report prepared by a
committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.
The report called for:
Awarding four-year scholarships each year to 10,000 prospective science
and math teachers and strengthening the skills of 250,000 existing
teachers.
Increasing the number of Advanced Placement science and math students
and establishing more specialty high schools in those fields.
Increasing the commitment to basic scientific research, improving
laboratories and other research facilities and strengthening research and
development tax credits.
Providing 25,000 scholarships each year in science, engineering and
math and funding 5,000 graduate fellowships.
Granting more visas for international students and scholars and
preferential immigration for skilled scientists and engineers.
Ensuring ubiquitous broadband Internet access.
3. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0208/p08s02-comv.html
from the February 08, 2006 edition -
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0208/p08s02-comv.html
Yes, it does take a rocket scientist
The Monitor's View
A bright spot in the Bush budget is more money to nurture more bright
people - no, not just kids who can solve a Rubik's cube in 11 seconds, but
the types who invented the Internet or can build the most high-tech widgets
or teach the future Einsteins.
The iPod nation needs an eyewash about its techno-future.
While still the world leader in science and engineering, America has let
its technological edge become dull. Federal aid for basic physical sciences
has dipped, companies aren't investing as much in long-term research, and
schools aren't producing enough students who are both competent and
interested in science and math to match the competition from nations such
as India and China.
Among high school seniors in 21 top countries, the US ranks 16th in
science. Its math ranking is 19th. News like that should create another
Sputnik moment for the US.
Up-and-coming poor countries with burgeoning brainpower are competing on
more than wages. US-based companies often prefer the technical skills of
Chinese workers and the innovation of Indian researchers, or they simply
seek special US visas to import them. That is hollowing out US
manufacturing and leaving too many lesser-skilled Americans losing out on
factory jobs.
Nudged into action by a few Democratic and Republican senators, as well as
key high-tech leaders, the president has proposed a "competitiveness
initiative," which he sees as a prime domestic cause for the rest of his
presidency. He's smart to find an issue with bipartisan support to help
dampen Washington's blue-red schism.
President Bush has asked Congress to commit $136 billion to science and
math education over the next 10 years. That would help train and hire
70,000 new science and math teachers for Advanced Placement courses in high
schools.
He also wants to allow 30,000 professionals in those fields to become math
and science teachers, and to create incentives for students to sign up for
those courses. One big incentive is a plan to add science to the
accountability testing in public schools under the No Child Left Behind
law.
Bush also wants to make permanent a tax credit for R&D in industry and
double funding for research in basic areas such as nanotechnology.
Such steps aren't simply aimed at raising the number of scientists and
engineers (many of whom have left some overpopulated fields) or producing
more high-tech workers. They're also aimed at pushing people into new
fields and keeping up US quality in creative discoveries, inventions, and
innovations. The nation has to generate a lot of frogs to find an Edison
prince.
Unlike the post-Sputnik spurt in US science education and spending during
the 1960s, the rapid pace of today's global competition compels the US to
keep its investment in these fields permanently high. It's become a net
importer of high-tech goods and lost its lead in patents - despite its
current high R&D spending.
Bush must work as closely with Democrats in passing these measures as he
did to pass the No Child act. Politics isn't rocket science, but rocket
scientists and their colleagues need politicians to keep the US aloft in
science.
4. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_3493017
Article Last Updated: 2/12/2006 12:08 AM
editorial
Ski bum: another job Americans won't do?
Colorado ski resorts increasingly are turning to Latin American students,
not ski bums, to staff lift lines, mountaintop restaurants and fill other
jobs.
DenverPost.com
The phrase "jobs Americans won't do" gets tossed around frequently during
America's overheated immigration debates. We usually think of farm workers
and laborers, but apparently we can now add "ski bum" to that list.
As Denver Post writer Bruce Finley reported recently, Colorado ski resorts
increasingly are turning to Latin American students to staff lift lines,
mountaintop restaurants and other resort jobs. The trend has set off brisk
exchanges over the nation's immigration policies.
It sometimes seems Americans have started worrying about immigration only
in the last couple of years. But in reality, immigrant-driven workforce
changes have been taking place for two decades, since the last major
immigration legislation was passed in the mid-1980s.
Similarly, the stereotypical all-American ski bum has been in decline for
years.
In a November 1998 Post story, Anna Sandberg of the State Job Service said,
"Typically in the past, they're college kids wanting to take a year off and
come ski. But they're not doing that anymore because they can't afford to
live in these towns."
Other snow-country observers point to the wide availability of discount
season lift tickets since the late 1990s as another reason. Before that,
working for a resort was the best way to ski cheaply for a season.
And foreign laborers, primarily Mexican and not students, have been an
important part of the resort economy for years in the really unglamorous
jobs.
The history of the ski bum aside, the growing ranks of Latin American
students at Colorado's resorts does raise a few questions about immigration
policy.
The young people are in this country under a U.S. government
cultural-exchange program. Critics, including Congressman Tom Tancredo, say
the program's purpose is being abused, and congressional auditors say the
State Department isn't properly overseeing the program.
The program is just one of many that allow foreigners into the U.S., and
the visitors are working hard to fill a need for Colorado resorts. But,
Tancredo may have a point when he says that "our myriad visa categories
actually encourage abuse."
If and when Congress gets around to taking a realistic look at immigration,
streamlining the system should be a priority. Clearer rules will benefit
immigrants, visitors, employers and American workers, including the rare
ski bum.
5. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=state&id=3884121
Dallas considers hiring illegal immigrants as teachers
(2/07/06 - DALLAS, TX) - A Dallas school official said changing employment
laws that restrict hiring illegal immigrants could help the district
overcome its shortage of bilingual teachers.
School board member Joe May said the Dallas Independent School District
should be able to recruit college-educated illegal immigrants who qualify
for its emergency teaching certification program. But federal law prohibits
knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.
The school board was set to discuss May's idea at a Tuesday meeting,
although some board members urged caution, The Dallas Morning News reported
for its Tuesday editions.
The Dallas district, which has about 161,000 students, currently recruits
Spanish-speaking teachers from foreign countries and then helps the
applicants obtain their work visas.
May said laws regarding the employment of illegal immigrants who've been in
the United States for years should be changed.
"It makes sense if we set up shop over here," May said. "We can build an
employment base in our own market."
Board member Hollis Brashear said he wants to hear how the district's
attorneys respond to the idea. "But I don't know if we can discuss
something that involves not complying with U.S. law," he said.
Superintendent Michael Hinojosa said he could support May's hiring proposal
if it is done legally, adding that May's grass-roots effort is how laws are
changed.
Hinojosa also said he empathizes with young children who enter the United
States illegally with their parents and then run up against employment laws
when they become adults.
"It wasn't their fault they were brought here," he said. "Their parents
brought them here."
Federal officials said May's proposal conflicts with the law. Getting a
work visa isn't an option for illegal immigrants in the United States, said
Maria Elena Garcia-Upson, regional communications manager for U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services.
"While we empathize and sympathize with these individuals, there is an
orderly fashion in which one can immigrate to this country," she said.
School board member Jerome Garza said May's idea deserves consideration.
"We as trustees can no longer solve problems like we did 10 years ago," he
said. "We have to be innovative."
But John Keeley, director of communications for the Center for Immigration
studies, a nonprofit group that seeks to limit immigration, said May's
proposal sends the wrong message to students.
6. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/13848846.htm
Posted on Sat, Feb. 11, 2006
UAE co. poised to oversee six U.S. ports
TED BRIDIS
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - A company in the United Arab Emirates is poised to take over
significant operations at six American ports as part of a corporate sale,
leaving a country with ties to the Sept. 11 hijackers with influence over a
maritime industry considered vulnerable to terrorism.
The Bush administration considers the UAE an important ally in the fight
against terrorism since the suicide hijackings and is not objecting to
Dubai Ports World's purchase of London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam
Navigation Co.
The $6.8 billion sale is expected to be approved Monday. The British
company is the fourth largest ports company in the world and its sale would
affect commercial U.S. port operations in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore,
New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia.
DP World said it won approval from a secretive U.S. government panel that
considers security risks of foreign companies buying or investing in
American industry.
The U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States "thoroughly
reviewed the potential transaction and concluded they had no objection,"
the company said in a statement to The Associated Press.
The committee earlier agreed to consider concerns about the deal as
expressed by a Miami-based company, Eller & Co., according to Eller's
lawyer, Michael Kreitzer. Eller is a business partner with the British
shipping giant but was not in the running to buy the ports company.
The committee, which could have recommended that President Bush block the
purchase, includes representatives from the departments of Treasury,
Defense, Justice, Commerce, State and Homeland Security.
The State Department describes the UAE as a vital partner in the fight
against terrorism. But the UAE, a loose federation of seven emirates on the
Saudi peninsula, was an important operational and financial base for the
hijackers who carried out the attacks against New York and Washington, the
FBI concluded.
Sen. Charles Schumer, a Democrat whose district includes the New York port,
urged the administration to consider the sale carefully.
"America's busiest ports are vital to our economy and to the international
economy, and that is why they remain top terrorist targets," Schumer said.
"Just as we would not outsource military operations or law enforcement
duties, we should be very careful before we outsource such sensitive
homeland security duties."
Last month, the White House appointed a senior DP World executive, David C.
Sanborn of Virginia, to be the new administrator of the Maritime
Administration of the Transportation Department. Sanborn worked as DP
World's director of operations for Europe and Latin America.
Critics of the proposed purchase said a port operator complicit in
smuggling or terrorism could manipulate manifests and other records to
frustrate Homeland Security's already limited scrutiny of shipping
containers and slip contraband past U.S. Customs inspectors.
"When you have a foreign government involved, you are injecting foreign
national interests," Kreitzer said. "A country that may be a friend of ours
today may not be on the same side tomorrow. You don't know in advance what
the politics of that country will be in the future."
Shipping experts noted that many of the world's largest port companies are
not based in the U.S., and they pointed to DP World's strong economic
interest in operating ports securely and efficiently.
"Does this pose a national security risk? I think that's pushing the
envelope," said Stephen E. Flynn, who studies maritime security at the New
York-based Council on Foreign Relations. "It's not impossible to imagine
one could develop an internal conspiracy, but I'd have to assign it a very
low probability."
Changing management over the U.S. ports "doesn't offer al-Qaida any
opportunities it doesn't have now," said James Lewis, who worked with the
U.S. committee at the State and Commerce departments. "It's in Dubai's
interest to make sure this runs well. There is strong economic incentive to
be sure these worries never materialize."
Flynn and others said even under foreign control, U.S. ports will continue
to be run by unionized American employees. "You're not going have a bunch
of UAE citizens working the docks," Flynn said. "They're longshoremen,
vested in high-paying jobs. Most of them are Archie Bunker-kind of
Americans."
Peninsular and Oriental and DP World set approval by the U.S. security
committee as a condition for the sale. In regulatory papers, the companies
said either the committee must agree not to formally investigate the
purchase or Bush must not move to block the sale for national security
purposes.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the FBI has said the money for the strikes was
transferred to the hijackers primarily through the UAE's banking system,
and much of the operational planning for the attacks took place inside the
UAE.
Many of the hijackers traveled to the U.S. through the UAE. Also, the
hijacker who steered United Airlines flight into the World Trade Center's
south tower, Marwan al-Shehhi, was born in the UAE.
After the attacks, U.S. Treasury Department officials complained about a
lack of cooperation by the UAE and other Arab countries trying to track
Osama bin Laden's bank accounts.
7. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0602/13/ldt.01.html
LOU DOBBS TONIGHT
Congressional Report Critical of DHS Handling of Hurricane Katrina; Is
Secret Wiretap Program Abuse of Power?
Aired February 13, 2006 - 18:00 ET
DOBBS: Jeanne Meserve.
Thank you very much.
Tonight, the United States is about to allow a United Arab Emirates company
to take operational control of many of this nation's major seaports. The
Bush administration has OK'd a deal that would allow a company based on The
Emirates it take charge of the ports. Many of them, most of them, vital to
this nation's security. Bill Tucker reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dubai Ports World is set to
take control of operations in ports in the United States. Those ports? New
Orleans, Miami, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and New Jersey. The deal
involving a company from the Middle East is raising security concerns.
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER, (D) NEW YORK: How do we know what checks they take on
their employees? do they do background checks? If a terrorist organization
should decide to infiltrate this new company, headquartered in the United
Arab Emirates, what would stop them.
TUCKER: The UAE was home to two of the 9/11 hijackers. The Port Authority
of New York/New Jersey says it will review its lease agreements with P & O
before automatically granting the lease the of The Newark Terminal to Dubai
Ports World.
Defenders of the deal note that Dubai Ports World operates ports all over
the globe and that safe, smooth, port operation are very much in its
business's interests. Security will remain in the control of local and
federal law enforcement authorities, but -- MICHAEL O'HANLON, BROOKINGS
INSTITUTION: Ports are essentially on the front line in the war on terror
and on homeland security. And so allowing a foreign firm to operate a port
is sort of like allowing a foreign firm to operate a U.S. military air
field in a traditional conflict.
TUCKER: In other words, the United States should proceed cautiously. The
Committee on Foreign investment in the United States, the same group which
gave the green light to the takeover of UNOCAL by the Chinese National
Overseas Oil Company has reviewed the deal of P & O and Dubai Ports World
and given it its blessing.
When called for comment, a spokesman would only say -- no comment.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Now coincidences happened but they're rare. So for that reason, we thought
it was worth noting that the man nominated by President Bush to run the
Maritime Administration is the director of operations of Europe and Latin
American for Dubai Ports World, Lou. His name is David Sanborn.
DOBBS: And this coincidence and this program looks to at coincidences
intensely, particularly like this and particularly with an administration
that not for the first time has interesting coincidences reverberating
throughout it. What do they say about this coincidence?
TUCKER: They don't have any comment about it. We weren't able to reach
David Sanborn today.
DOBBS: Well, we hope that David would talk to us. We would hope that anyone
in the administration would like it talk to us about this coincidence. And
it would be fascinating to understand why the same government that thinks
there's no problem, this administration, with turning over ownership to
foreign corporation and companies of our air carriers sees no problems with
having the United Arab Emirates, a company based there, take over our vital
seaports. It's remarkable. Excellent job of report, Bill Tucker. Thank you,
sir.
8. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1413527.cms
Is Bush H-1B positive? Check out
URMI A GOSWAMI
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2006 12:14:07 AM]
Move over Bill Gates & Craig Barrett. Make way for George W Bush. The US
President has taken on the job of lobbying to increase the number of H-1B
visas issued a year.
This is good news for Indians, who account for a lions share of these
visas - to be precise, nearly 28% of the 65,000 doled out every year.
President Bush doesnt want to miss the opportunity to ensure that the
best in the world contribute to keep the US at Number One.
"I think its a mistake not to encourage more bright folks who can fill
jobs here. And so I call upon Congress to be realistic and reasonable and
raise that cap," the President said at 3Ms corporate headquarters in
Minnesota earlier this month.
Mr Bushs call to the US Congress comes just over a month after it
dropped a Senate motion to hike the annual cap of H-1B visas to 90,000 from
the Deficit Reduction Act. To cut the deficit, the US Senate had suggested
raising the number of H-1B visas to 95,000 a year. This would have meant
more revenue from visa fees.
The US House of Representatives didnt provide for any such deficit
reduction measure. And the proposal was eventually dropped. So the annual
cap on H-1B visas remains at 65,000 a year, with an additional cap-exempt
20,000 visas for those professionals with an advanced degree from any US
institution.
Now President Bush is back pushing for an increase. Not restricting himself
to the US Congress, he is taking his sales pitch to the American people.
The rationale: Limiting the number of highly-skilled foreigners in the US
will only undermine the lead position Washington has in the world economy.
In other words, support a rise in the number of H-1B visas because it is
good for your own country.
"There are more high-tech jobs in America today than people available to
fill them. And if thats so, what do we do about that? And the reason
its important, and the American citizen has got to understand its
important, is if we dont do something about how to fill those high-tech
jobs here, theyll go somewhere else where somebody can do the job," the
Prez said.
To put it differently, H-1B workers are the broccoli of the US economy. The
average American may not like it, but if he wants to maintain his standard
of living, he has to get used to the idea of more foreign workers. Could
this mean a return to the 02 level of 195,000 H-1B visas a year?
Experts arent sure of the quantum of increase. However, they hope that
as the US Congress debates immigration reform, lawmakers will increasingly
push for a substantial hike in the number of H-1B visas.
9. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/13797454.htm
Posted on Sun, Feb. 05, 2006
Hot tech item: not gadget, but a bestseller
By Chris O'Brien
Mercury News
How obsessed has Silicon Valley become with ``The World Is Flat,'' the
bestselling book about globalization?
Ash Lilani, head of Silicon Valley Bank Global, not only read it, he bought
50 copies of the book by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman as gifts
for employees and colleagues.
When Democratic gubernatorial candidate Steve Westly, a former eBay
executive, isn't referring to the book on the campaign trail, he's giving
out copies to friends and top supporters.
The Silicon Valley Leadership Group, the business coalition, has stopped
handing out copies of ``The HP Way'' to politicians and switched to
``Flat.''
The non-fiction book has become an unlikely national bestseller since it
came out in April, and nowhere has it struck a deeper chord than in Silicon
Valley, where Friedman has been embraced as a prophet.
From public conferences to academic hallways, from cubicles to executive
suites, Friedman's book has become a must-read among local workers,
executives and others thinking about Silicon Valley's place in a changing
world economy. Friedman's book examines how technology and free markets
have leveled the playing field and allowed any individual or country to
compete globally. The concept of the ``flat world'' has become the era's
dominant metaphor, a cultural shorthand referring to the mix of opportunity
and anxiety caused by globalization.
Perhaps no one is more surprised by this outpouring from Silicon Valley
than Friedman, who has watched his 488-page ``Flat'' sell more copies
during its first 10 months than his previous three books sold in hardback
combined.
Trip to India
``I'd like to think it's because of my beautiful brown eyes and mellifluous
voice,'' said Friedman, in a phone interview this week. ``But I know I
caught a wave. You have to appreciate how incredibly unusual it is.''
Although Friedman had explored globalization in his 1999 book, ``The Lexus
and the Olive Tree,'' in recent years he turned his attention to terrorism
and Iraq. A trip to India in 2004 changed that.
Friedman was astonished to see how outsourcing -- enabled by the Internet,
high-speed fiber-optic cables and a well-trained army of engineers -- had
transformed a relatively poor country like India into a tech powerhouse.
For a crash course in high tech, Friedman barnstormed the valley where his
tutors included a who's-who of the tech elite: Jim Barksdale, Craig
Barrett, Eric Schmidt, Jerry Yang, Meg Whitman. Friedman became a sponge,
absorbing their thoughts and transforming them into an easily understood
analysis.
``Tom don't really know bits,'' he said almost mockingly of himself. ``And
Tom don't really know bytes. But what I do naturally is connect dots.''
By the end of last year, the book had sold 1.1 million copies in the United
States, according to Nielsen Book-Scan. Readers in the Bay Area had snapped
up 58,000 copies, the third most in the country, just behind the 60,000
sold in the Washington, D.C., region and 149,000 in the New York City area.
Kepler's Books in Menlo Park has sold 800 copies and has more on the way.
``I thought it would resonate, but I'm surprised at the size of it,''
president Clark Kepler said.
Carl Guardino, president and CEO of Silicon Valley Leadership Group, said
he figured the book was going to be a hit beyond just the tech crowd when
he saw Friedman speak at Google last spring. About 700 people attended,
with the company providing books for many -- a common practice for Google.
After Friedman spoke, comedian Robin Williams -- who happened to be in the
audience and is apparently a big fan of the book -- jumped on stage and did
some impromptu jokes about Friedman and the ``flat world.''
Beyond the numbers, ``Flat'' has managed to become the centerpiece of
public conversation about the valley's future.
It's taken on that role thanks to people like Brian O'Shaughnessy, a
spokesman for VeriSign of Mountain View. He read the book and bought it for
the entire VeriSign corporate communications team. ``I believe it to be
required reading to understand our ecosystem,'' O'Shaughnessy wrote in an
e-mail.
And during a ``State of the Valley'' conference sponsored by Joint Venture:
Silicon Valley Network last month, several panelists throughout the day
invoked Friedman's book.
Peter Schwartz, a Friedman friend and chairman of the Global Business
Network, a futurist think tank in Emeryville, said the author has taken
something very complex that many in the valley have been struggling to
explain and put it in a language easily understood.
``It's not radically new,'' Schwartz said. ``But he articulates it in such
a way that it speaks to everyone.''
Role of tech
Tony Perkins, editor of the Always-On Network and founder of Red Herring
magazine, said another factor is simply ego: Techies like it when an
outsider like Friedman sings the praises of how technology is making the
world a better place.
``It makes us feel like this guy is affirming what we're doing,'' Perkins
said. ``Aren't we smart?''
At the same time, much of the book's message is hardly a rosy one for the
region: All the technology advances in recent years are helping India and
China eat the valley's lunch. There's little work done in the U.S. that
can't be done somewhere else much cheaper. And if the United States fails
to invest more in math and science, its future is gloomy.
So is the book's message optimistic or pessimistic for Silicon Valley?
``I think it's a hopeful one,'' said Jeanette Horan, an IBM vice president
and general manager of its Silicon Valley Laboratory. ``But I'm hesitating.
As an individual, a lot of people worry about what our own children will
see in the world and what their life will be like.''
Critics disagree
Of course, Friedman has his detractors. Kevin Danaher, co-founder of Global
Exchange, a San Francisco organization fighting growing corporate power,
said Friedman fails to acknowledge the dark side of globalization, such as
the increasing environmental problems.
``He doesn't really see the dirty underbelly,'' Danaher said. ``The people
we work with are pretty critical of Thomas Friedman. They see him as the
mouthpiece of the empire.''
Still, the book has been embraced by many liberals who believe it supports
their call for more spending on math and science education and by
conservatives who like its embrace of free markets.
And tech leaders eager to influence economic policy are trying to get
politicians to read the book. Many were heartened last week when President
Bush announced in his State of the Union speech a $136 billion initiative
to boost America's global competitiveness, including additional federal
money for basic research at Bay Area universities.
But certainly that's not the last word.
A ``Flat 2.0'' is due out this spring -- with another 100 pages.
10. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=448934&page=2
No. 4 - MYTH: Outsourcing Is Bad for American Workers
We've been hearing a lot lately about how American workers are suffering
because companies are "outsourcing" their jobs to other countries. During
the presidential campaign, both President Bush and Sen. John Kerry,
D-Mass., told voters they were concerned about keeping jobs here at home.
And CNN anchor Lou Dobbs has made complaints about outsourcing a running
theme of his nightly news program.
Dobbs' new book, "Exporting America," says the government should limit free
trade and immediately outlaw outsourcing of government contracts.
"Just because of cheap labor, we're destroying our middle class. That is
just stupid," Dobbs said, adding, "Being stupid is un-American."
Wait a second. It's restricting outsourcing that would be un-American and
stupid.
You may not like it that someone in India takes your customer service call,
but outsourcing helps the middle class by bringing lower prices and faster
service. Take E-Loan, for example. It gives customers a choice of whether
to get their loan paperwork processed in America in 12 days or in India in
10 days. An incredible 87 percent of customers in the United States choose
the faster loan processing offered by sending their paperwork to India.
And look at clothing - lots of it is made abroad these days - and Lou Dobbs
sees that as a terrible thing. "This country cannot even clothe itself.
Ninety-six percent of our apparel is imported," he said.
But that's OK. We have more choices for less money. The Labor Department's
price index for clothing has been going down and down over the past decade.
But still, what about all those American workers who lose their jobs to
people overseas? We asked the AFL-CIO labor federation for some of their
best examples of outsourcing and the first people they referred us to were
Shirley and Ronnie Barnard. They both lost their jobs when a Levi's plant
in Powell, Tenn., closed down two years ago and moved production to Mexico.
The Barnards say keeping their heads above water has been a struggle.
Shirley told us about her frustrations, saying, "You've done something for
20 years, got up, went to work every day, and then all of a sudden you
don't have any place to go and nobody needs you anymore."
Tough Business Realities
Bill Portelli, who runs the California-based company Collabnet, says
outsourcing has helped him keep his company alive in the United States. He
has hired programmers in India who are paid less than half what he would
have to pay American programmers. "It doesn't cheat Americans out of jobs.
If I hadn't hired the people in India, I would have had to lay people off,"
he said.
He didn't end up laying any Americans off as a result of outsourcing,
because outsourcing saved Collabnet so much money the company was able to
expand in America. "Basically I've created jobs in America. I built better
products, created jobs, been able to raise salaries," Portelli said.
A Dartmouth study found that outsourcers actually create jobs in America at
a faster rate than companies that don't outsource. The same study found
that companies that outsourced abroad ended up hiring twice as many workers
at home.
Allowing outsourcing creates opportunity. It's easy to see the pain of the
workers who are laid off; it's harder to see the benefits of free trade,
because those benefits aren't news.
It's true that in the last four years, America has lost more than 1 million
jobs, but those were years when we had a recession. Look at the big
picture. Since 1992, America has lost 361 million jobs, but during that
same time we also gained 380 million jobs. Millions more than we lost.
That should be hopeful for people like Shirley and Ronnie Barnard. While
it's true that they had to dig into savings and still worry about their
long-term security, last year Shirley Barnard eventually found a new job as
a secretary. The new position pays more than her old job at Levi's, and the
Levi's work was harder - hot, noisy and physically difficult. She says that
her new job is much easier.
Her husband and some other former co-workers are still looking for work,
but she told us some of her former Levi's colleagues are now working in
better jobs than they had before. "Some of them have got, really got
excellent jobs that they would never have even left Levi's for if the plant
hadn't closed," she said.
And what happened to that Levi's plant? It's now being converted to a
college. There will be new jobs for faculty and administrative staff, and
right now there are construction jobs for workers building the new campus.
This won't be talked about on the evening news, but these jobs are a
product of outsourcing too.
Still, people like Lou Dobbs talk about the outsourcing crisis. However, in
reality outsourcing is not a crisis. The crisis will only come if we try to
stop it.
11. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.schons.net/archives/cat_offshore.htm
High-tech employment back on high wire
Leading U.S. trend, hiring rebounds strongly in Colorado
By Roger Fillion, Rocky Mountain News
February 14, 2006
It's about time.
Six years after the Internet bubble burst, Colorado's high-tech job market
is staging a notable comeback. And by one gauge, the Mountain states region
is the strongest in the nation - thanks to a recovery in the tech economy.
Industry executives and recruiters said the local market for technology
jobs is healthy, despite dozens of job cuts at Oracle Corp.'s Denver
operations last week. Job candidates are getting multiple offers and
salaries are rising.
"It's the strongest it's been in five years. No doubt about it," said Brad
Weydert, president of Statera, an information technology consulting firm in
the Denver Tech Center.
Statera, which employs about 125 here, hired 19 people in January and six
so far in February. The company has more than 40 local job openings. It's
been seeking software developers, project managers and sales staff.
"The job market right now is good for technology," said Andrew Albarelle,
principal executive for Remy Corp., a Denver information technology
staffing firm.
His firm has received 68 risumis from laid-off Oracle employees who
were cut in a companywide effort. But Albarelle is bullish on their
prospects.
"There are a lot of openings in Colorado for those people," said Albarelle.
Recruiters report demand for software developers, project managers, sales
representatives and others.
While not an outright boom, the strength is a change. Tech-heavy Colorado
struggled more than most places to emerge from the high-tech meltdown that
began in early 2000. Tens of thousands of tech jobs were eliminated.
The positive high-tech job outlook here matches the national trend.
Companies are again investing in technology projects and consumers are busy
snapping up computers, i-Pod music players and other gadgets.
That translates into demand for tech workers.
"The tech job market was flat on its back throughout most of the decade,"
said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Economy.com. "It's now back on
its feet. I expect it to break into a jog this year."
Zandi expects the tech industry nationally will post its strongest year
since 2000, churning out 217,000 jobs with rising wages.
According to a survey from Robert Half Technology, the Mountain states -
which run from Colorado to Arizona to Idaho - are the hottest tech job
market in the nation.
The high-tech staffing firm also said the strength of Denver's high-tech
job market matches the national average.
The survey found that 15 percent of Denver-area chief information officers
plan to add staff in the first quarter. Three percent anticipate cuts,
based on the 200 respondents in the survey.
The net difference between the two figures - a positive 12 percentage
points - is up 2 points from the area's fourth-quarter 2005 forecast and
mirrors the average for the nation.
Companies that are hiring tech workers vary. They include: software makers
Rally Software Development in Boulder, IQNavigator in Denver and Privacy
Networks in Fort Collins; Arapahoe County-based Jeppesen Sanderson Inc., a
producer of flight information for airlines and private fliers; and Douglas
County-based engineering and construction company CH2M Hill.
"Hiring is definitely up," said Brad Feld, managing director at
Superior-based Mobius Venture Capital, which invests in local tech
companies.
"Most of my companies have been adding people at a steady clip across all
parts of the company, but especially in engineering and sales."
What's more, job candidates are seeing upward pressure on salaries. That's
a stark contrast from the depths of the economic slump here.
"Four or five years ago companies could fill a $100,000-a-year job for
$85,000. But now they can't do it," said Judy Kennelley, president of
Integrity Network, an Arapahoe County high-tech executive search firm.
"It's much more competitive for hiring managers or employees."
12. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/business/13867441.htm
Posted on Tue, Feb. 14, 2006
High-tech firms want visa quota raised for workers
BY EVELYN IRITANI
LOS ANGELES TIMES
President Bush's recent call for more visas for skilled foreign workers
increases the likelihood that relief is on the way for U.S. technology
firms that say they are struggling to fill key positions.
In a Feb. 2 speech at the Minnesota headquarters of 3M, the president said
it was a "mistake not to encourage more really bright folks who can fill
the jobs that are having trouble being filled here in America." He called
on Congress to be "realistic" and "reasonable" and expand the quota of H-1B
visas, which are used to bring in skilled workers on a temporary basis.
Paul Zulkie, a Chicago immigration attorney, said the president's statement
raised the pressure on Congress to respond to a "crisis faced by American
businesses." He said he receives at least two calls a week from companies
desperate for help in hiring prospective foreign employees.
Silicon Valley companies are among the most vocal advocates of H-1B reform.
For decades, these companies attracted engineers, computer programmers and
other professionals from around the globe. Now they say they are
experiencing a reverse brain drain as skilled workers flock to the booming
economies of China and India.
"Every employer still faces a shortage of certain talent," said Lynda Ward
Pierce, head of human resources for SVB Financial Group, the parent company
of Silicon Valley Bank. "I think people going from here to there
exacerbates the problem."
Though the debate about outsourcing work overseas has quieted down in the
United States, it remains a sensitive political issue. In December, an
effort to get an H-1B visa expansion provision attached to a budget bill
was defeated in Congress.
"The business community is incredulous at the congressional intransigence
in refusing to raise the cap," said Zulkie, the immediate past president of
the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
In response to high demand for H-1B visas at the start of the decade,
Congress expanded the annual quota to 195,000 visas for three years, then
cut it back to the current 65,000.
The allotment of H-1Bs for the fiscal year that started Oct. 1 was filled
by August, and companies have to wait until April to apply for next year's
slots. The U.S. agreed this year to give 20,000 additional visas to foreign
graduates of U.S. master's and Ph.D. programs, but those were filled last
month.
If no changes are made, immigration experts expect next year's quota to be
filled even faster, given the improving economy and tightening of the job
market.
Marland Buckner, a senior federal affairs manager for Microsoft Corp., said
the company has had "several thousand core technology positions" go
unfilled in recent years because of a limited ability to hire qualified
foreign workers. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates called last year for the
elimination of the H-1B cap.
"We certainly think it's in the best interests of Microsoft and, we
believe, in the best interest of national competitiveness from an
innovation standpoint to bring as many smart people to the U.S. as
possible," Buckner said.
But some say fears about a shortage of skilled workers in the United States
are exaggerated.
Ron Hira, vice president of IEEE-USA, an organization representing 225,000
electrical and computer engineers, said many U.S. companies don't even
bother to recruit Americans because they can find foreigners willing to
work longer hours for less pay.
"The bottom line is, we need to fix this program before we expand it," said
Hira, who is a professor of public policy at Rochester Institute of
Technology in Rochester, N.Y.
For their part, business and science leaders insist immigration reform is
critical to maintaining U.S. competitiveness in a global economy. They say
tighter screening measures imposed after Sept. 11 and bottlenecks in the
immigration system have made it harder to attract and retain foreign
talent.
Companies say that too few U.S. citizens are earningupper-level degrees in
math and sciences.
13. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.mises.org/story/2051
The Myth of the Math and Science Shortage
by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
[Posted on Tuesday, February 07, 2006]
[Subscribe at email services and tell others]
Why do we keep falling for this? Once in every second-term presidency, the
chief executive lectures the country about the impending disaster of a
shortage of mathematicians and scientists. People think: oh no, we'd better
get on the stick and create some in a hurry!
Thus does the President want to spend $50 billion over 10 years - a figure
these people made up out of whole cloth - and we are all supposed to
submit, cough up, and turn our sons and daughters into natural-science
brainiacs. And the President is just sure that his great job-training
mission is not limited to Silicon Valley but extends to all cities, rural
areas, and ghettos in America.
He is not only raising false hopes, diverting career paths, and wasting
money, he is raising a non-problem and purPORT 66,69,254,99,132,4
ches are necessary. No commission needs to be
established. No taxpayer dollars need to be expended to make it all happen.
We need only pay attention to the signals of the market and follow our own
self-interest. The shortages and surpluses are systematically driven toward
equilibrium, provided there is no government intervention to spoil the
process.
Think of how jobs have changed. We have fewer people around today who know
how to farm because fewer people are necessary to do the job. More kids
than ever are going into computer sciences because of the perception that
these fields will be lucrative in the future. In neither case was a
government program necessary. People entering the job market find out
quickly what is in demand and what isn't and compare that to their own
capacity for doing the job.
The reason the whole math and science racket bamboozles us again and again
has to do with our own limitations and our perceptions of foreign
countries. We think: heck I know nothing of these subjects, so I can
believe that there is a shortage! And surely math and science are the keys
to just about everything. And look at those Japanese kids in school that we
see on television. They can run circles around the tattooed bums that
populate American public schools. We are surely "falling behind!"
In the first place, it wouldn't actually matter if it were true. The whole
point of the international division of labor is that we benefit from the
skills of everyone around the world. If there were one country in the world
where everyone knew math and science - call it Nerdistan - and one other
country in the world where everyone specialized in art and literature -
call it Poetistan - both countries would enjoy the benefits of both talents
provided they were engaged in trade. The Nerds could enjoy poetry and the
Poets would have lots of hand-held contraptions. And since the professions
in both countries were presumably chosen by market means and voluntary
choice, that configuration of talent yields the best of all possible
worlds.
Apart from that, however, there is another consideration: none of the past
predictions of a math-and-science shortage have ever come true. In fact,
when Al Gore raised the same frenzy some years ago, some commentators noted
that it is actually easier to make a case that we face a shortage of less
skilled workers: people to drive trucks, work in warehouses, clean kitchens
and hotels, take care of kids, and work on docks. Here is probably where we
are going to see the wage growth in the future.
In any case, people who have studied this in detail have reached an
inconclusive verdict, except to observe that current unemployment rates
among math and science people with PhDs are higher than the general
population.
Also, as Daniel Greenberg writes, "Average salary scales for professors
show the marketplace value of different disciplines: law, $109,478;
business, $79,931; biological and biomedical sciences, $63,988;
mathematics, $61,761." He points out that the editor of Science Magazine
even noted the absurdity: "Why do we keep wishing to expand the supply of
scientists, even though there is no evidence of imminent shortages?"
Actually, Donald Kennedy's entire article is worth a read. He points out
that the worst thing that could happen is for government to attract people
into a technical field that they really can't handle. They only end up
working outside the area in which they are trained, or adding to the ranks
of the unemployed. The scientists themselves know how hard the job market
is, and of course they don't want more people in their field driving down
wages. But the point stands: if wages were high enough, good people would
be attracted to these fields without subsidies, badgering, and lecturing.
And what pretense does government have for purporting to know better than
the market what jobs are necessary in the future? Somehow it seems
especially egregious for the political class to get into this act, for this
group is probably the least well educated in technical fields. Their
specializations are in duplicity, glad handing, and handing out other
people's money to those who are willing to participate in the racket of the
redistributivist state. What do they know about the market for
mathematicians?
More from Lew: $25
So why does government continually badger us about the impending shortage
of mathematicians and scientists? Maybe it is just a big excuse for getting
and spending our money, and one excuse is as good as another. But maybe
there is something more sinister at work. Perhaps government would like to
create a glut of mathematicians and scientists who cannot find work in the
private sector, and so these people would have no alternative but to go to
work for the Pentagon and other warfare state agencies. Here, politicians
imagine, they would create great gizmos to spy on people, centrally plan,
and create smart bombs and other toys for politicians to play with.
Sound crazy? I'm open to any explanation, and perhaps this "conspiracy"
view supposes the political class to be smarter than it really is.
Regardless of the real reason, let us not suppose that the real reason is
the one they give: that we face an imminent shortage. We don't. And if we
did, the political class would be the last to know about it. To the extent
they succeed, they will end up wasting people's time and money, and the
person repainting your house might just have a PhD in mathematics.
Lew Rockwell is president of the Mises Institute and editor of
LewRockwell.com. Rockwell@mises.org. Comment on the blog.
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