the Bill Gates show
the Bill Gates show
Date: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 3:49 PM
<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1653 -- 3/07/2007 >>>>>
Bill Gates did his testimony thing in Washington DC today. Kennedy chaired
the committee and apparently wasn't interested in hearing from anyone else
so nobody was invited besides Gates and his senatorial groupies. Sen. Orrin
Hatch wasted no time getting on his knees when addressing Gates:
"You've done so much with your wealth that is so good for mankind
that I don't think anyone should fail to recognize that," Hatch
said, adding: "I usually don't lavish praise on anyone, but I
think you deserve it."
Gates made no bones about what he wanted -- his comment "open our doors" is
a code word for "open our borders". His message is the same as what we hear
from groups like the Chamber of Commerce, La Raza, and MeCHA -- only the
visa is different.
Gates said there's only one way to solve what he deemed a
"crisis"-level shortage of qualified scientific talent: "Open our
doors to highly talented scientists and engineers who want to live,
work and pay taxes here."
Gates suggested that there should be an infinite number of H-1B visas. As
the last commentary included in this newsletter points out, while Bill
Gates does everything possible to crush Microsoft's competition he thinks
American workers should be forced to compete with cheap labor from abroad.
When asked by Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) how many visas Congress
should approve, Gates repeated a suggestion he made years ago:
that there should be an "infinite" number. "Even though it
might not be realistic," he said,
"I don't think there should be any limit."
Sen. Gregg wasn't willing to grant Gates a blank check, but what he put on
the table must have brought joy to every greedy fiber in Bill Gates' nerdy
body.
Senator Judd Gregg, a New Hampshire Republican, said he agreed
that Congress needed to raise the H-1B cap. He asked if an
annual cap of 300,000 would be appropriate.
"It'd be a fantastic improvement," Gate said. "My basic view is
we should welcome as many of these people as we can get."
It was very noticeable that some Senators wanted to avoid blaming H-1B for
job losses. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, and Senator Bernie Sanders, a
Vermont independent, blamed outsourcing for the loss of jobs. They didn't
even mention H-1B role in the job destruction. How convenient!
Pay close attention to the way Brown dodges the issue:
"Time and time again, local businesses told me that they just
could not find the engineers or the computer scientists they
needed to run their businesses," he said. "At the same time,
skilled workers in my state are watching their jobs move
overseas, not because foreign workers are more qualified,
but because U.S. companies can get away with paying poverty
wages to workers in other countries."
If you missed the Senate testimony on Cspan don't worry. I just called
Cspan to ask if they will air a repeat. The answer is yes, but it hasn't
been posted on their schedule. It will probably be aired sometime this
evening on Cspan 1 or 2.
Go here to keep track of the schedule.
http://inside.c-spanarchives.org:8080/cspan/cspan.csp?command=dschedule
Cspan had a streaming video of the hearing but it was so buggy it wasn't
worth watching. They must be using Windows servers. You can go to this
webpage to read Gates' written testimony -- at least the Adobe acrobat
works (tsk!tsk!). Pay close attention to the short guest list
(Grrrrrrrrr!).
http://help.senate.gov/Hearings/2007_03_07/2007_03_07.html
Today Lou Dobbs will be doing a story on the hearing, so stay tuned!
Articles included for this newsletter
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9012426
Gates: U.S. risks losing technology leadership role
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-11153_22-6165166.html?tag=sas.email
Gates calls for 'infinite' H-1Bs, better schools
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/03/07/HNgatesimmigrantvisas_1.html
Gates: Tech needs more immigrant visas
http://weblog.infoworld.com/realitycheck/archives/2007/03/to_gates_on_h1b.html
To Gates on H-1B: How about unlimited visas to those who design better OSes
than Windows?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9012426
Gates: U.S. risks losing technology leadership role
Patrick Thibodeau
March 07, 2007 (Computerworld) WASHINGTON -- Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill
Gates said today that he feels "deep anxiety" over the ability of the U.S.
to compete globally and added that the country is risking its technology
leadership because of failures in its education system and immigration
policies and inadequate research spending.
"America simply cannot continue along this course," said Gates in written
testimony delivered to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions, which is holding a hearing on "Strengthening American
Competitiveness for the 21st Century." Gates said the U.S. is facing
serious problems in delivering a work force that can rise to the global
challenge.
"When I reflect on the state of American competitiveness today, my
immediate feeling is not only one of pride, but also of deep anxiety,"
Gates said in his prepared remarks. "Too often, we as a society are
sacrificing the long-term good of our country in the interests of
short-term gain."
Gates said in too many areas, the U.S. is "content to live off the
investments that previous generations made for us -- in education, in
health care, in basic scientific research -- but [is] unwilling to invest
equal energy and resources into building on this legacy to ensure that
America's future is as bright and prosperous as its present."
Many of the issues that Gates outlined are topics he has raised before in
various speeches and op-ed pieces. But this hearing was unusual. Gates was
listed as the only witness before a committee chaired by Sen. Edward
Kennedy (D-Mass.). Kennedy is working with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on a
major immigration reform bill, an important focus of Gates.
Gates told the committee the U.S. should ensure that its students and
workers have the skills to compete.
"A top priority must be to reverse our dismal high school graduation rates
-- with a target of doubling the number of young people who graduate from
high school ready for college, career and life -- and to place a major
emphasis on encouraging careers in math and science," Gates said.
Gates said immigration reform is needed as well. He cited the H-1B visa and
green card programs as areas in need of change.
The U.S. will begin accepting applications for H-1B visas April 1 for the
new fiscal year, and Gates said he expects the supply of visas will also
run within a month. The U.S. set a cap of 65,000 visas but has an
additional 20,000 visas available to foreign nationals who graduate with
advance degrees from U.S. universities. There are other exemptions in the
program as well.
Regarding the H-1B program, Gates predicts that "for the first time in the
history of the program, the supply will run out before the year's
graduating students get their degrees. This means that U.S. employers will
not be able to get H-1B visas for an entire crop of U.S. graduates. We are
essentially asking top talent to leave the U.S."
Gates also said the U.S. has to increase spending on basic research
significantly.
Regarding education, Gates said that over the next several years, six out
of every 10 new jobs will be in professional and service-related
occupations.
"Given the state of our educational system, it is not surprising that U.S.
companies are reporting serious shortages of skilled workers," said Gates.
"According to a 2005 U.S. Department of Education study, only 13% of
American adults are proficient in the knowledge and skills needed to
search, comprehend and use information, or to perform computational tasks.
This yawning gap between America's economic needs and the skills of its
workforce indicates that as a nation, we are not doing nearly enough to
equip and continuously improve the capabilities of American workers."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-11153_22-6165166.html?tag=sas.email
Gates calls for 'infinite' H-1Bs, better schools
03 / 07 / 07 |
WASHINGTON--Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates on Wednesday renewed his fight
for "infinite" H-1B guest-worker visas and improvements in U.S. education
before largely receptive senators on Capitol Hill.
In only his third appearance ever at a congressional hearing, Gates urged
politicians here on the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Committee to pursue a three-pronged approach to boosting the nation's
competitiveness: equipping American students, teachers and workers with
necessary math and science skills; elevating research spending; and
rewriting immigration laws to allow American companies to hire more
foreigners.
The United States has much to be proud of in the technology realm, Gates
told the politicians, but "when I reflect on the state of American
competitiveness, my feeling of pride is mixed with deep anxiety."
The Microsoft chairman's message was hardly new. Gates and other high-tech
leaders have been lamenting the state of the U.S. educational system and
work force, particularly in the realm of math and science, for years. They
argue that without dramatic policy changes, the United States will lose its
competitive edge in the high-tech realm.
On education, Gates called for doubling the number of science, technology
and math graduates in the United States by 2015. Doing that, he told the
committee, requires more funding and a number of additional steps,
including recruitment of 10,000 new science and math teachers in high
schools and creation of 25,000 new undergraduate scholarships and 5,000 new
graduate fellowships in the area each year.
On research, Gates implored politicians to dedicate more funding to federal
research programs and to make the research and development tax credit
permanent, an idea supported by President Bush. (Late last year,
politicians approved a temporary extension of the much-beloved break.)
Movement is already under way in Congress to pass a law designed to spend
more on federal programs in those areas. Earlier this week, a group of
Senate leaders, including Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell, introduced a bill, called the America Competes Act, that
attempts to promote many of the educational and research goals advanced by
Gates and other high-tech leaders.
Politicians indicated they're also willing to take cues from Gates as they
craft new laws in the immigration area. In his testimony, Gates said
there's only one way to solve what he deemed a "crisis"-level shortage of
qualified scientific talent: "Open our doors to highly talented scientists
and engineers who want to live, work and pay taxes here."
Gates repeated a now-familiar plea by high-tech companies for an overhaul
of the H-1B visa system. Established in 1990, that program currently awards
65,000 visas to foreigners with at least a bachelor's degree in their area
of specialty and allows them to remain employed in the United States for up
to six years.
Visa shortfall
Gates said there's a "terrible shortfall" in the number of visas available
to high-tech companies and cautioned that the nation will "find it
infinitely more difficult to maintain its technological leadership if it
shuts out the very people who are most able to help us compete."
"America has always done its best when we brought the best minds to our
shores," Gates said, citing German-born Albert Einstein as an example.
Several proposals were on the table last year to boost the number of visas,
but none of them was ultimately approved. Congress has already approved a
cushion of up to 20,000 additional visas for foreigners who receive
master's degrees or higher from American schools.
When asked by Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) how many visas Congress should
approve, Gates repeated a suggestion he made years ago: that there should
be an "infinite" number. "Even though it might not be realistic," he said,
"I don't think there should be any limit."
Gregg said he "agreed 100 percent" that there shouldn't be a limit on the
number of highly skilled people in the country, but he suggested Congress
might not be able to do more than double the quota.
Support for bumping up the number of visas is hardly universal. Advocacy
groups representing American computer programmers and scientists, such as
the Programmers Guild, have fiercely resisted the idea. They argue that
companies like Microsoft have not been making a good-faith effort to
recruit qualified Americans and that the current structure of the H-1B
program allows American companies to hire foreign workers at lower pay
rates than American counterparts.
Committee politicians embraced virtually all of the suggestions made by
their high-profile guest.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/03/07/HNgatesimmigrantvisas_1.html
Gates: Tech needs more immigrant visas
Microsoft chairman tells Congress the country's economic future depends on
raising the cap on skilled-worker visas
By Grant Gross, IDG News Service
March 07, 2007
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates called on the U.S. Congress to raise the cap
on skilled-worker visas, saying the county's economic future was at stake.
Gates, testifying before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Committee, said he'd prefer that "unlimited" numbers of highly skilled
foreign workers be allowed into the U.S., although he acknowledged that
might not be politically feasible. Right now, the controversial H-1B
program, which tech vendors and other companies use to hire foreign
workers, has an annual cap of 65,000 people a year, and the cap is
typically reached in the first couple of months the applications are
available.
"We have to welcome the great minds of this world, not drive them out of
this country," Gates said, repeating his earlier calls for a higher H-1B
cap. "These employees are vital to American competitiveness. We should
encourage them to become permanent U.S. residents; they provide the nation
economic growth, alongside America's native-born talent."
[Blog: More visas for Windows rivals?]
Several U.S. tech companies have recently said they have hundreds of
unfilled jobs because they can't find qualified workers.
Gates also repeated two other themes he said are necessary for the U.S. to
continue to compete in a global economy: He called on Congress to improve
the U.S. education system and increase government spending on research and
development. Without those three changes, the U.S. is at risk of losing its
economic power and high standard of living, he said.
"When I reflect on the state of American competitiveness today, my
immediate feeling of pride is mixed with great anxiety," he said. "The
challenges confronting America's global competitiveness and technological
leadership are among the greatest we have faced on our lifetime."
This generation of U.S. residents is too often living off the innovations
of the past, he said. He called for "courageous" leadership to fix failing
U.S. high schools, find more money for research, and welcome more
immigrants.
Few senators challenged Gates' position on foreign-worker visas, instead
asking questions about Gates' ideas on improving education, including the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's funding of experimental high-school
programs.
U.S.-based tech worker groups such as the Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers-USA (IEEE-USA) have opposed a higher H-1B cap,
arguing that companies use the program to hire foreign workers for less
money than unemployed U.S. workers would receive.
Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, said he heard different stories
from industries and workers during forums on the economy in his state last
month. "Time and time again, local businesses told me that they just could
not find the engineers or the computer scientists they needed to run their
businesses," he said. "At the same time, skilled workers in my state are
watching their jobs move overseas, not because foreign workers are more
qualified, but because U.S. companies can get away with paying poverty
wages to workers in other countries."
Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who often votes with
Democrats, also questioned the effect of outsourcing. U.S. companies can
hire overseas engineers at a "fraction of the cost" of U.S. engineers, he
said.
The free trade agreements that allow easy outsourcing benefits the U.S.,
Gates answered. The U.S. tech industry is able to grow by being able to
sell products all over the world, he said.
"The demand worldwide for highly qualified engineers is going to guarantee
them all jobs wherever they are located," Gates said. "The IT industry, I
guarantee you, will be in the United States as long as we can get these
people to come to the United States."
Senator Judd Gregg, a New Hampshire Republican, said he agreed that
Congress needed to raise the H-1B cap. He asked if an annual cap of 300,000
would be appropriate.
"It'd be a fantastic improvement," Gate said. "My basic view is we should
welcome as many of these people as we can get."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://weblog.infoworld.com/realitycheck/archives/2007/03/to_gates_on_h1b.html
To Gates on H-1B: How about unlimited visas to those who design better OSes
than Windows?
By Ephraim Schwartz
March 7, 2007
The headline reads, "Gates: Tech needs more immigrant visas--
Microsoft CEO tells Congress the county's economic future depends on
raising the cap on skilled-worker visas"
I wonder how Bill Gates would feel if each new H-1B applicant came here
with a new operating system in his portfolio? An OS that ran rings around
Windows and included the best desktop applications ever seen.
I wonder if Mr. Gates would then be so eager to remove the cap on H-1B
visas.
Actually, we know how Mr. Gates reacts to competition. We saw the evidence,
including memos from Gates to staff, during the United States versus
Microsoft antitrust trial back in 1998.
So it is okay to squelch competition and innovation and the possible
creation of more jobs if it threatens your dominance.
I think Gates and others know very well that H-1B is often misused as a way
to reduce wages by hiring foreign workers at a lower pay scale. But they
assuage their guilty conscience, if they have one, by believing that in the
long run, increasing the pool of skilled high-tech workers available to
U.S. companies will benefit our economy by creating more innovation, which
in turn creates more jobs.
Even if this is true, does that mean we should let people drown in the
short run for the common good? I don't think so.
Here's an excerpt with Berry's links from the blog of Kim Berry, the
president of the Programmer's Guild, written in anticipation of Gates'
testimony.
Gates will claim that H-1B workers are paid the "prevailing wage." To the
extent that this means "parity with what U.S. workers earn in the same
jobs," this is false. DOL defines four levels of "prevailing wage," and
Level One is about the 17th percentile of the average wage of U.S. workers
within the job classification - more than 80 percent of H-1Bs are at
Level One. DOL approves H-1B programmers to work in Silicon Valley for
$40,000 per year -- hardly a "prevailing wage" -- and hardly an indication
that these workers are the "best and brightest."
Here's the link for the entire blog by Berry.
There has to be a more equitable solution, and that is to monitor the H-1B
program more closely. Yes, allow H-1B visa applicants to work here, but
also make sure that every visa is actually used for a person who possesses
a skill that cannot be found here in the States.
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