Post: #62726

On H-1B "guest worker" visas, some talk, still not much significant action.

I hate to link WaPo, but the issue doesn't get much mainstream attention, and 98% of that is total propaganda, so this is unusual in that it's only partially propaganda and does propose some measures that would be in the right direction (even though it continues with the myth of labor shortages.) Forgive the wall of text, I want to save people from needing to give WaPo any clicks.

Quote:THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION is taking its first, cautious steps to clean up the much-abused H-1B visa system, by which skilled foreign workers are imported to fill jobs in the technology sector and other specialty occupations. The moves so far, mainly involving tighter oversight, are fine but inadequate. Deeper reforms are needed for a program that, while vital to maintain the nation’s competitiveness, has been used to displace well-paid and older American workers with cheap and ostensibly temporary foreign labor and to turn some of those guest workers into virtual indentured servants.

As a candidate, Donald Trump talked out of both sides of his mouth, at different points saying he favored importing skilled guest workers into the United States and saying he didn’t like it, citing well-documented instances of abuse. (Among the worst involved Disney, which required American workers to train their lower-paid foreign replacements.)

Now, as president, Mr. Trump is starting to move. Just as tens of thousands of H-1B applications were filed last week, the administration announced that enforcement agents would intensify site visits to the companies that rely most heavily on the guest-workers program, especially Indian outsourcing firms that use it to import tens of thousands of information-tech workers annually. The goal will be to ensure that the guest workers qualify as “specialty” labor, which is a requirement of H-1B visas.

At the same time, the Justice Department announced it would not tolerate employer misuse of that program to discriminate against or displace American labor.

Employers and some economists are at odds over the extent to which companies face a shortage of American workers to fill tech and other skilled jobs. A frequently cited figure of 500,000 unfilled positions may be somewhat inflated, but there is no doubt that U.S. colleges and universities cannot keep up with the demand for graduates, especially with advanced and highly specialized degrees.

Hence the importance of the H-1B program, which grants 85,000 visas annually to guest workers, nearly three-quarters of them from India — a fraction of the overall applications. Of that number, many have only bachelor’s degrees and are chosen by lottery; just 20,000 are foreign graduates of U.S. universities with advanced degrees.

Reforms are needed on several fronts. For starters, H-1B visa holders already in the country should be allowed to change jobs to prevent their exploitation by employers. More fundamentally, the program should be retooled to ensure that genuinely high-skilled labor is prioritized, not that of entry-level programmers. That may disadvantage the big Indian outsourcing firms that flood the system with applications; so be it.

The current minimum salary of $60,000 for some programmers and other H-1B recipients must also be raised to an amount closer to the prevailing wage for comparably skilled American workers, which is more than $100,000. Otherwise, the visas will be continue to be used in too many cases to push U.S. employees onto the unemployment rolls.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/...story.html (link provided for annotation but the above is the whole article.)

There is also a Brietbart article about a White House meeting on the subject. Plus side the meeting happened, and Stephen Miller seems like a good person to be involved. Downside, no indication of anything solid coming, and Trump didn't even show up for the meeting. So it could be interpreted as trying to appease without doing anything.

Quote:WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Donald Trump’s senior adviser Stephen Miller held a closed door meeting this week at the White House to discuss the controversial H-1B foreign guest worker visa program.

Attorney Sara Blackwell tells Breitbart Texas exclusively that she attended a meeting set up by Miller, saying that Trump was initially expected to attend. Blackwell represents Americans fired by U.S. companies after being told they would be replaced by H-1B labor.

“Stephen Miller was definitely in charge of the meeting,” Blackwell told Breitbart Texas. “And there’s no doubt that this is the same Stephen Miller that we’ve known that’s in the White House. He cares about this issue. He wants to amend it.”

“Since I got involved in this, Stephen Miller has cared about this issue,” Blackwell said. “And now we know, Stephen Miller still cares about this issue.”

Blackwell said the meeting largely focused on what the President and Congress could do for the H-1B visa, but said no reforms were discussed.

“It was not directed at anything,” Blackwell told Breitbart Texas. “We just met for an hour discussing H-1B. That doesn’t mean reform isn’t being discussed.”

That's the first part, there is more at http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2017/04/1...ourt-h-1b/

The Breitbart article includes this quote

Quote:Without the H-1B, computer science job availability in the labor market would be up 11 percent and wages in the tech industry would have increased by five percent, Breitbart News reported

which I think vastly, vastly understates the impact. Five percent impact to wages? I'm confident that the damage done to IT wages by years and years of this program is closer to 50%. Americans are laid off, then have to try to find different jobs, and forced to accept lower pay if they want to make their mortgage payments. Keep cycling through that long enough and "average wages" in IT are in a place so far removed from where they would be without guest workers that no one really knows where they could be. Also we've now had a couple of decades of heavy use of this program, accelerating offshoring (by rapid knowledge transfer) and deliberately giving work experience to non-citizens over citizens. Experienced US IT workers for the most part are beaten down and bleeding and have had no support from any administration from either party in decades. Most of the ones who think things are fine are the 20-something kids who assume they have a career trajectory and don't realize that the trajectory is going to be flat or negative unless something big changes.

Post: #62727

(04-13-2017 10:29 AM)Leonard D Neubache Wrote:  

(04-13-2017 10:04 AM)Enigma Wrote:  ...
Guys, do you remember that time that Leonard said "wow, I'm not posting in this thread anymore", then proceeded to post in the same thread about 20+ more times in a week? I wonder who the overly emotional party is here.
...
On a similar note, pay close attention to the many people who now want to shame any sort of nationalism displayed by Americans.

Everybody was all pro-nationalism, anti-globalism a week ago, but oh, how quickly their tunes are switched back to the "ignorant American sheep" insults.

And no, I'm not referring to legitimate, non-snarky criticisms of Trump or US foreign policy, before anyone throws out that strawman again.

You're absolutely right on me going back on my claim I'd bail and correct to call me out on it, but in the end I figured it would be stupid to walk away if it meant abandoning the thread to anti-reason.

And some of the posters here questioning Trump are not anti-American (same with us or against us binary demand) and are in fact very pro-American. Case in point, we wouldn't bother pointing out serious pitfalls in Trump's actions if we didn't give a shit, or worse, if we wanted him to fail.

Non-Americans are quite relevant pundits because we're not getting caught up in the ground-level patriotic fervour that has a tendency to blind people. Claims of emotionalism or defeatism are misplaced. Any of us should care greatly about the outcomes and to care is emotion.

I'll say it for the hundredth time. I hope all my criticisms of Trump turn out to be misplaced, but I'm not going to cuck for the guy on the assumption that he's infallible or that he hasn't been flipped.

This is how you closed the post that I just quoted back to you.

Quote:So it came and went. The last chance to name the beast. The last chance for a bloodless revolution. The last chance to restore freedom without a body count. From here on in it will be disappointment after disappointment, as surely as the sun rises. Trump will get his wall and America will get plane-loads of muslim immigrants instead of truck-loads of Mexican ones.

And by the time the next president takes his place, that wall will be used to keep Americans in, not Mexicans out.

And after declaring that America has been doomed since the first month of Trump's presidency, you've gone on to accuse people who don't share your same nihilistic world view as North Korean-like drones engaging in "anti-reason".

Post: #62728

Silicon Valley is globalist territory.

Trump would do well to smash the Zuckerspergs and frame it as a fight for American workers.

I can't see a lot of downsides for that.

If he doesn't do exactly what I say then we'll all know that he was part of a 20 year globalist conspiracy and is actually a lizard person.

It will all be over. Everything will be a lie. All our base will belong to them. The only thing left will be to decide which order we want to eat our children in. I will be on suicide watch, and will never touch another keyboard for as long as I live.

This is my sworn statement, and may lightning strike me dead if I waver from it!

Post: #62729

(04-13-2017 10:58 AM)Enigma Wrote:  This is how you closed the post that I just quoted back to you.

Quote:(snipped Cure lyrics)

And after declaring that America has been doomed since the first month of Trump's presidency, you've gone on to accuse people who don't share your same nihilistic world view as North Korean-like drones engaging in "anti-reason".

It was a depressive rant. May Roosh strike the likes from beneath it. It was over the top. Too much. You are correct to a greater degree than I am correct. Lesson learned.

I will try to frame all future criticism in a more level and balanced fashion. I don't want to bum out the other train passengers.

p.s. I'm not even being sarcastic. I'm serious. That post has aged incredibly poorly. I still think Trump's move there was shit but it wasn't apparently as bad as first thought.

Post: #62730

Honestly guys, there's alot of hostility towards eachother in the last 20 pages, I remember when we were pessimisitic, outright laughed at the fact Trump was running (looks at my first post on page 1), some never doubted him.

Then we were unified brothers behind Trump throughout all the primaries and the election. We all celebrated when he won the presidency.

Now we're at each others throats. I'm afraid some good posters on here will get warnings or worse, banned. I'd hate to see this happen.

Cooler heads should prevail in a turbulent time like this.

I know Trump isn't going to please everyone on every action item, I understand that.

He forever will be the better choice than Hillary Clinton.

Post: #62731

#4DChess

I know most here don't like him, but taking into account the dude has better analysis than about 95% of the forum, I could not really be bothered to care. There is a lot of logic in (some of) what Trump is doing right now, EVEN IF YOU DON'T like it, it does not mean that there is not political gain to be had.

Trump is NOT AN IDEOLOGUE. He never was. This was easy to notice from Day 1. The President of the USA can never be a strict ideologue. You cannot roll the world into a mold and work within it from that framework. It is a recipe for failure.

This thought that one can go from a century of total war, central banking and some 50 years of cosmopolitan ideology into "America First" in the first few months, or even in one, or two mandates is utopian. What Trump can do is lay the ground work. Sometimes he will have to compromise. As long as the core objectives remain and are enforced, it will have been worth it. PATIENCE!

Post: #62732

delete

Post: #62733

Post: #62734

(04-13-2017 11:03 AM)Leonard D Neubache Wrote:  

(04-13-2017 10:58 AM)Enigma Wrote:  This is how you closed the post that I just quoted back to you.

Quote:(snipped Cure lyrics)

And after declaring that America has been doomed since the first month of Trump's presidency, you've gone on to accuse people who don't share your same nihilistic world view as North Korean-like drones engaging in "anti-reason".

It was a depressive rant. May Roosh strike the likes from beneath it. It was over the top. Too much. You are correct to a greater degree than I am correct. Lesson learned.

I will try to frame all future criticism in a more level and balanced fashion. I don't want to bum out the other train passengers.

p.s. I'm not even being sarcastic. I'm serious. That post has aged incredibly poorly. I still think Trump's move there was shit but it wasn't apparently as bad as first thought.

No problem. There's definitely room for criticism, and I have no problem with non-American members commenting on American politics, to be clear.

I think everyone's just getting a little carried away on both sides.

Post: #62735

"US drops 'largest non-nuclear bomb' in Afghanistan in area populated by Isis members"

"Mother of all bombs" - ouch!

All over CNN and elsewhere - I walked into Dunkin Donuts and saw it.

Would post a link but I'm on my phone.

[EDIT] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/...82996.html

Post: #62736

Trump bombing the shit out of ISIS!!!

Post: #62737

'Creates a blast radius stretching a mile in each direction'.

Post: #62738

Edit

:
^^
Nineteen84 posted same

Post: #62739

(04-13-2017 11:12 AM)kaotic Wrote:  He forever will be the better choice than Hillary Clinton.

Quoted for Truth.

It's easy to lose sight of this.

Post: #62740

The target:
   

Post: #62741

I went looking at a description of the MOAB. At least one earlier video shows a hollow waffle plate 4 fin design. I thought, where have I seen that before?

Oh yeah, the SpaceX falcon uses that design.

Wonder where it came from...

Post: #62742

I am completetely fine with Trump bombing the shit ouf ISIS and similar groups. Much better than sending in troops and losing lives. If the US doesn't start proxy wars, and at the same time succeeds to exterminate Islamic extremist groups, it's Middle East foreign policy will have already been a success compared to previous years.

Post: #62743

Interesting editorial from one of China's English-language state-owned newspapers, The Global Times.

Quote:US President Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday that "North Korea is looking for trouble. If China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them!"

North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly convened on Tuesday. A few days later, North Korea will mark the birth anniversary of the late leader Kim Il-sung on April 15, also known as the Day of the Sun. Pyongyang likes to launch nuclear activities as a political salute around this date. Therefore, April is widely seen as a high-risk period for new nuclear tests by North Korea.

The US aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson is headed toward the Korean Peninsula after abruptly turning back from sailing to Australia, and Trump sent a warning via his tweet. These are probably related to reports that satellite surveillance shows North Korea is likely to conduct new nuclear tests. Washington's latest threat to Pyongyang is more credible given its just launched missile attack at an air base in Syria. The Korean Peninsula has never been so close to a military clash since the North conducted its first nuclear test in 2006.

If Pyongyang conducts its sixth nuclear test in the near future, the possibility of US military action against it will be higher than ever. Not only Washington brimming with confidence and arrogance following the missile attacks on Syria, but Trump is also willing to be regarded as a man who honors his promises.

Now the Trump team seems to have decided to solve the North Korean nuclear crisis. As the discussion runs deeper, a situation of no-solution will not be accepted. A new nuclear test or an intercontinental ballistic missile test, if conducted by Pyongyang at this time, will be a slap in the face of the US government and will intensify the confrontation between North Korea and the US.

Presumably Beijing will react strongly to Pyongyang's new nuclear actions. China will not remain indifferent to Pyongyang's aggravating violation of the UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution.

Not only does it reference the example set by the Syria strike and predict Chinese opposition to NK, it also makes a point to justify US military action in response to any NK nuclear tests.

Post: #62744

(04-13-2017 10:58 AM)Leonard D Neubache Wrote:  Silicon Valley is globalist territory.

Trump would do well to smash the Zuckerspergs and frame it as a fight for American workers.

I can't see a lot of downsides for that.

For people not close to the industry, it's important to understand that when we talk about IT workers, we aren't just talking about people who work for those big tech companies like Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, etc. ALL big companies have large amounts of IT work to do (I could explain why but it would fit better in another thread.) GE, Verizon, American Express, Proctor & Gamble ... all of them. Not even just the huge companies, any company with a couple of hundred employees, or even less, needs IT work done. Some have an IT department of 1-2 people who mainly ensure the internet works and everyone has a working laptop. Some of them have hundreds or thousands of people working on gigantic multiyear projects to build websites and apps, process data, integrate systems, analyze data, and do all kinds of work specific to their company and business, to support their business operations. When we are talking about having a million plus guest workers, they aren't just working in Silicon Valley, they are working in every city from Charlotte to Chicago to Phoenix.

That's part of the political challenge. ALL of those companies are, theoretically, saving significant amounts of money by paying less for non-US citizens. They were going to offshore some of that work anyway, but they still needed some of it done in the US, so offshoring wasn't good enough. They had to bring large numbers of offshore workers here to the US to replace Americans ... and, force the wages for those Americans down due to the labor market being flooded. It also has been a form of knowledge transfer from Americans to the guest workers, which helps the globalists by raising the knowledge level outside the US compared to that inside the US. The guest workers can go home with training and experience, and work in offshore development and IT support centers.

Post: #62745

NK Kim has to be shitting himself right now.

Post: #62746

The main carrot that China has dangled that no one has noticed is the fact that they did not voice much opposition to the strikes on Syria and publicly side with Assad and Russia after the strikes.

Post: #62747

(04-13-2017 12:35 PM)philosophical_recovery Wrote:  NK Kim has to be shitting himself right now.

   

Post: #62748

Since there are lots of retard journalists who don't know the difference between tons and kilotons, and are thus comparing the MOAB to Little Boy, I feel compelled to point out that Little Boy was a 15,000 ton yield. Not 15 ton. MOAB = 11 ton.

Pretty sure it doesn't have a mile blast radius either. More like 150-200 meters. Little Boy had about 1 mile destructive blast radius.

I suppose this is what happens when "Journalism" = "Find the quickest available quote on the internet from any possible source including Wikipedia and other articles".

Post: #62749

The one thing I am somewhat amazed by is how incredibly pro-war the media is (especially when Syria was bombed). I mean they were practically falling over themselves.

Post: #62750

(04-13-2017 01:06 PM)Menace Wrote:  The one thing I am somewhat amazed by is how incredibly pro-war the media is (especially when Syria was bombed). I mean they were practically falling over themselves.

I like to hope that the media gushing over Trump bombing Syria and the Kendall Jenner Pepsi commercial red-pilled a lot of shitlibs.