From an anonymous WH reader:
"...I do miss your political postings - Can't you take at least one day a week to update us humble proletariat on your views - We are wandering aimlessly now and seek your wisdom."
TW: Obviously an astute observer...I am going to try to crank out some posts soon but in the interim things are quite simple. If Barack Obama suggests something it is probably a good idea, if Mr. Limbaugh or Mr. Beck or Ms. Palin does so, it probably is not (the titular leaders of the Republican party, McConnell and Boehner are mere puppets to them at this point). This stuff is not that complicated.
The further away from the everyday babble (and I have at times become quite immersed in it) I get the better off I feel and realize my guy knows what he is doing amidst the tumult of many insecure folks whipped into a fury by some really bad media.
Immigration for instance is somewhat complex but the Republicans are on top of it:
Via Taegan Goodard:
"South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer (R) said that lazy state residents are contributing to the number of illegal immigrants in his state, the Columbia State reports.
Said Bauer: "The problem is we have a give-away system that is so strong that people would rather sit home and do nothing than do these jobs. Laziness is not a disability. There are a lot of people that are flat-out lazy and they are using up the goods and services in this state."
TW: This stereotyping fantasy has been around for centuries, just think if the Anglo-Americans had just gotten off their collective asses a hundred years ago we would not have had to let in all of those Italians and Irish and Germans and Russians and Hungarians and Polish and etc.
Showing posts with label Immigration Policy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Immigration Policy. Show all posts
Monday, April 26, 2010
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Immigration Clusterfug
TW: Even before 9/11 our immigration policies favored families over skilled workers. Since 9/11 our poor protocols on skilled workers have become even more burdensome and ineffective. Now with the relative weakness in the U.S. economy versus some emerging markets we are sending folks back home rather than retaining them. This is craziness. We should be promoting policies to make skilled workers flock to the U.S.
ps: I saw as well that the aggregate number of foreign born folks in the states fell by 100K last year the first time in forty years.
From USA Today:
"...What was a trickle has become a flood," says Duke University's Vivek Wadhwa, who studies reverse immigration.
Wadhwa projects that in the next five years, 100,000 immigrants will go back to India and 100,000 to China, countries that have had rapid economic growth.
"For the first time in American history, we are experiencing the brain drain that other countries experienced," he says.
Suren Dutia, CEO of TiE Global, a worldwide network of professionals who promote entrepreneurship, says the U.S. economy will suffer without these skilled workers. "If the country is going to maintain the kind of economic well-being that we've enjoyed for many years, that requires having these incredibly gifted individuals who have been educated and trained by us," he says..."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-09-20-brain-drain_N.htm
ps: I saw as well that the aggregate number of foreign born folks in the states fell by 100K last year the first time in forty years.
From USA Today:
"...What was a trickle has become a flood," says Duke University's Vivek Wadhwa, who studies reverse immigration.
Wadhwa projects that in the next five years, 100,000 immigrants will go back to India and 100,000 to China, countries that have had rapid economic growth.
"For the first time in American history, we are experiencing the brain drain that other countries experienced," he says.
Suren Dutia, CEO of TiE Global, a worldwide network of professionals who promote entrepreneurship, says the U.S. economy will suffer without these skilled workers. "If the country is going to maintain the kind of economic well-being that we've enjoyed for many years, that requires having these incredibly gifted individuals who have been educated and trained by us," he says..."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-09-20-brain-drain_N.htm
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Immigrant Peril
From Economist:
"...There can never be full integration of the migrants “swarming” into Brussels, according to a report by the Royal Belgian Geographical Society—at least among the current generation of adults. The immigrants are too different in their religious beliefs and customs, and their impact is too overwhelming. “When they are sufficiently numerous in a neighbourhood” they open their own hairdressing salons, grocery shops and bakeries, the report notes, not to mention “butcher’s shops where they sell meat from ritually slaughtered animals”. They have large families and cram twice the agreed number of tenants into flats, creating “deplorable” living conditions, annoying landlords and disturbing their neighbours. Perhaps “partial assimilation” may one day be achieved, it concludes, but it will be hard: the newcomers’ religion and language “do not ease any attempts at contact.”
The report in question? It dates from 1933 and describes the panic caused by Jewish immigrants from Poland, when they moved into Brussels neighbourhoods like Schaerbeek.
...Schaerbeek is now heavily Moroccan, and the same complaints about ritual killing of animals, foreign customs and overcrowded housing can be heard today. So we have, at least, been here before. And those Jews of 1933: at least those who survived the Holocaust? At a guess they are living in suburban comfort, along with the successive waves of Italian, Spanish, Greek or Portuguese migrants who filled central Brussels after the war, and who have now integrated and moved to greener districts. Does that mean the task of integration is simple? No. But we should not panic, either. The presence of foreigners in our midst, and the tensions caused by the arrival of “alien” faiths is something intrinsic to the European experience. Europe is not perfect, but it is more robust than some outsiders think."
http://www.economist.com/blogs/charlemagne/2009/09/immigrants_causing_panic_weve.cfm
"...There can never be full integration of the migrants “swarming” into Brussels, according to a report by the Royal Belgian Geographical Society—at least among the current generation of adults. The immigrants are too different in their religious beliefs and customs, and their impact is too overwhelming. “When they are sufficiently numerous in a neighbourhood” they open their own hairdressing salons, grocery shops and bakeries, the report notes, not to mention “butcher’s shops where they sell meat from ritually slaughtered animals”. They have large families and cram twice the agreed number of tenants into flats, creating “deplorable” living conditions, annoying landlords and disturbing their neighbours. Perhaps “partial assimilation” may one day be achieved, it concludes, but it will be hard: the newcomers’ religion and language “do not ease any attempts at contact.”
The report in question? It dates from 1933 and describes the panic caused by Jewish immigrants from Poland, when they moved into Brussels neighbourhoods like Schaerbeek.
...Schaerbeek is now heavily Moroccan, and the same complaints about ritual killing of animals, foreign customs and overcrowded housing can be heard today. So we have, at least, been here before. And those Jews of 1933: at least those who survived the Holocaust? At a guess they are living in suburban comfort, along with the successive waves of Italian, Spanish, Greek or Portuguese migrants who filled central Brussels after the war, and who have now integrated and moved to greener districts. Does that mean the task of integration is simple? No. But we should not panic, either. The presence of foreigners in our midst, and the tensions caused by the arrival of “alien” faiths is something intrinsic to the European experience. Europe is not perfect, but it is more robust than some outsiders think."
http://www.economist.com/blogs/charlemagne/2009/09/immigrants_causing_panic_weve.cfm
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Seeing Around Corners With Immigration
TW: or alternatively how to potentially make the Limobovian/Palintoligist party's heads explode next year. Who know if Obama can pull off immigration reform after health care reform, resuscitating a failing economy, reducing our presence in Iraq, fighting through Afghanistan etc., but it would sure be nice. Somebody has to do it and if it makes some heads explodes even better.
From Economist:
"...maybe introducing an immigration bill in spring 2010 and having it dominate the headlines in the summer of a mid-term election year would be great for Democrats. As the Sonia Sotomayor Supreme Court confirmation battle showed, the overwhelmingly white conservative core of the Republican Party can be reliably counted on to go absolutely crazy over anything connected to racial diversity and the fossilised remains of the issue formerly known as "political correctness". It's true that immigration reform caused George Bush immense political trouble in 2006. But the reason why it caused him trouble was that it caused a far-right revolt among white conservatives, whose racially tinged invective devastated Republican Party support among Hispanics. Mr Bush's immigration reform efforts were excellent politics—for Democrats.
The conventional wisdom now seems to be that Mr Obama is hesitating to go ahead with a "controversial", "polarising" bill that will doubtless engender "fierce opposition". As Brer Rabbit would say, please, don't throw me in that briar patch! It seems likely that a year from now, with an immigration bill in Congress and elections on the way, we will be looking at right-wing talk-show hosts losing their minds, Minutemen and other conservative groups making borderline racist statements, and, in general, a "divisive racial issue" that pits white nativist conservatives against white liberals... and Hispanics, and blacks, and free-market conservatives, and pretty much everybody else in the country. And suddenly we'll remember that Barack Obama was born and raised in that briar patch."
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2009/08/the_immigrationreform_briar_pa.cfm
From Economist:
"...maybe introducing an immigration bill in spring 2010 and having it dominate the headlines in the summer of a mid-term election year would be great for Democrats. As the Sonia Sotomayor Supreme Court confirmation battle showed, the overwhelmingly white conservative core of the Republican Party can be reliably counted on to go absolutely crazy over anything connected to racial diversity and the fossilised remains of the issue formerly known as "political correctness". It's true that immigration reform caused George Bush immense political trouble in 2006. But the reason why it caused him trouble was that it caused a far-right revolt among white conservatives, whose racially tinged invective devastated Republican Party support among Hispanics. Mr Bush's immigration reform efforts were excellent politics—for Democrats.
The conventional wisdom now seems to be that Mr Obama is hesitating to go ahead with a "controversial", "polarising" bill that will doubtless engender "fierce opposition". As Brer Rabbit would say, please, don't throw me in that briar patch! It seems likely that a year from now, with an immigration bill in Congress and elections on the way, we will be looking at right-wing talk-show hosts losing their minds, Minutemen and other conservative groups making borderline racist statements, and, in general, a "divisive racial issue" that pits white nativist conservatives against white liberals... and Hispanics, and blacks, and free-market conservatives, and pretty much everybody else in the country. And suddenly we'll remember that Barack Obama was born and raised in that briar patch."
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2009/08/the_immigrationreform_briar_pa.cfm
Sunday, March 15, 2009
An Issue Where the Dems Are Wrong
TW: It is not only the Dems, but the Dems control Congress so they bear the brunt of the blame. In the new stimulus we are making it more not less difficult to attract foreign talent into the U.S. Without repeating the tired cliches, this attitude contravenes a core competency of American society whereby talent regardless of its source is embraced and encouraged to flourish.
In today's world such narrow-mindedness is doubly troubling as many international markets are now not only more able to retain their homegrown talent but willing and able to compete to bring others to their shores as opposed to letting them move one to places like the U.S. The Republicans are committing political suicide with their nativist approach to less skilled immigrants. The Democrats are being foolish in permitting restrictions to grow for highly skilled immigrants.
From Business Week:
"...we're losing sight of an important fact: America is no longer the only land of opportunity for these foreign-born workers. There's another, increasingly promising, destination: home. New research shows that many immigrants have returned to their native countriesplus or minus—especially India and China—to enjoy what they see as a better quality of life, better career prospects, and the comfort of nearby family and friends.
The trend has accelerated in the past few years, in part because these workers have also lost patience with the U.S. visa backlog. At the end of 2006, more than a million professionals and their families were in line for the yearly allotment of just 120,000 permanent-resident visas. The wait time for some has been longer than 10 years.
And with Washington trying to create jobs for Americans comes another hurdle: provisions in the just-passed stimulus bill making it tougher for companies getting bailouts to hire workers on temporary H-1B visas.
...Immigrants to America have always felt lonely and homesick. They've always made sacrifices so their children could have a chance to succeed. Now they have another option in their quest for a better life: returning home. We may not need all these workers in the U.S. during this recession. But we will need them to help us recover from it. What might bring them back? Such a recruitment effort would almost certainly require major changes to immigration policy. That hardly seems likely given the current political climate, where the focus seems to be on doing whatever it takes to keep existing American jobs—even if that comes at the cost of America's long-term promise."
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_11/b4123069998812.htm?chan=magazine+channel_opinion
In today's world such narrow-mindedness is doubly troubling as many international markets are now not only more able to retain their homegrown talent but willing and able to compete to bring others to their shores as opposed to letting them move one to places like the U.S. The Republicans are committing political suicide with their nativist approach to less skilled immigrants. The Democrats are being foolish in permitting restrictions to grow for highly skilled immigrants.
From Business Week:
"...we're losing sight of an important fact: America is no longer the only land of opportunity for these foreign-born workers. There's another, increasingly promising, destination: home. New research shows that many immigrants have returned to their native countriesplus or minus—especially India and China—to enjoy what they see as a better quality of life, better career prospects, and the comfort of nearby family and friends.
The trend has accelerated in the past few years, in part because these workers have also lost patience with the U.S. visa backlog. At the end of 2006, more than a million professionals and their families were in line for the yearly allotment of just 120,000 permanent-resident visas. The wait time for some has been longer than 10 years.
And with Washington trying to create jobs for Americans comes another hurdle: provisions in the just-passed stimulus bill making it tougher for companies getting bailouts to hire workers on temporary H-1B visas.
...Immigrants to America have always felt lonely and homesick. They've always made sacrifices so their children could have a chance to succeed. Now they have another option in their quest for a better life: returning home. We may not need all these workers in the U.S. during this recession. But we will need them to help us recover from it. What might bring them back? Such a recruitment effort would almost certainly require major changes to immigration policy. That hardly seems likely given the current political climate, where the focus seems to be on doing whatever it takes to keep existing American jobs—even if that comes at the cost of America's long-term promise."
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_11/b4123069998812.htm?chan=magazine+channel_opinion
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Creative Solution For Slumping House Prices
TW: Friedman mashes up concepts: immigration, protectionism with a little housing thrown in. While I doubt pulling in 2 million folks to buy up depressed housing is viable or desirable it is indicative a path available to the U.S. One of the things that will keep the U.S. relatively strong amidst the worldwide economic carnage is open door policy with immigrants combined with rational trade policy.
Obama and the Dems are headed in the right path on immigration but have been sending out troubling signals on protectionism. The buy American clause of the original stimulus package received far more coverage overseas than here and sent a very bad signal. If there is one thing that could turn the Great Recession into a depression it is poor trade policy (will have more soon on the topic).
From Tom Friedman at Int'l Herald Tribune:
"All you need to do is grant visas to 2 million Indians, Chinese and Koreans," said Shekhar Gupta, editor of The Indian Express newspaper.
"We will buy up all the subprime homes. We will work 18 hours a day to pay for them. We will immediately improve your savings rate - no Indian bank today has more than 2 percent nonperforming loans, because not paying your mortgage is considered shameful here. And we will start new companies to create our own jobs and jobs for more Americans."
"Dear America, please remember how you got to be the wealthiest country in history. It wasn't through protectionism, or state-owned banks or fearing free trade. No, the formula was very simple: Build this really flexible, really open economy, tolerate creative destruction so dead capital is quickly redeployed to better ideas and companies, pour into it the most diverse, smart and energetic immigrants from every corner of the world and then stir and repeat, stir and repeat, stir and repeat, stir and repeat."
While I think President Barack Obama has been doing his best to keep the worst protectionist impulses in Congress out of his stimulus plan, the U.S. Senate unfortunately voted on Feb. 6 to restrict banks and other financial institutions that receive taxpayer bailout money from hiring high-skilled immigrants on temporary work permits known as H-1B visas.
Bad signal. In an age when attracting the first-round intellectual draft choices from around the world is the most important competitive advantage that a knowledge economy can have, why would we add barriers against such brainpower - anywhere? That's called "Old Europe." That's spelled: S-T-U-P-I-D.
...If there is one thing we know for absolute certain, it's this: Protectionism did not cause the Great Depression, but it sure helped to make it "Great." From 1929 to 1934, world trade plunged by more than 60 percent - and we were all worse off.
We live in a technological age where every study shows that the more knowledge you have as a worker and the more knowledge workers you have as an economy, the faster your incomes will rise. Therefore, the centerpiece of our stimulus, the core driving principle, should be to stimulate everything that makes us smarter and attracts more smart people to our shores. That is the best way to create good jobs."
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/02/11/opinion/edfriedman.php
Obama and the Dems are headed in the right path on immigration but have been sending out troubling signals on protectionism. The buy American clause of the original stimulus package received far more coverage overseas than here and sent a very bad signal. If there is one thing that could turn the Great Recession into a depression it is poor trade policy (will have more soon on the topic).
From Tom Friedman at Int'l Herald Tribune:
"All you need to do is grant visas to 2 million Indians, Chinese and Koreans," said Shekhar Gupta, editor of The Indian Express newspaper.
"We will buy up all the subprime homes. We will work 18 hours a day to pay for them. We will immediately improve your savings rate - no Indian bank today has more than 2 percent nonperforming loans, because not paying your mortgage is considered shameful here. And we will start new companies to create our own jobs and jobs for more Americans."
"Dear America, please remember how you got to be the wealthiest country in history. It wasn't through protectionism, or state-owned banks or fearing free trade. No, the formula was very simple: Build this really flexible, really open economy, tolerate creative destruction so dead capital is quickly redeployed to better ideas and companies, pour into it the most diverse, smart and energetic immigrants from every corner of the world and then stir and repeat, stir and repeat, stir and repeat, stir and repeat."
While I think President Barack Obama has been doing his best to keep the worst protectionist impulses in Congress out of his stimulus plan, the U.S. Senate unfortunately voted on Feb. 6 to restrict banks and other financial institutions that receive taxpayer bailout money from hiring high-skilled immigrants on temporary work permits known as H-1B visas.
Bad signal. In an age when attracting the first-round intellectual draft choices from around the world is the most important competitive advantage that a knowledge economy can have, why would we add barriers against such brainpower - anywhere? That's called "Old Europe." That's spelled: S-T-U-P-I-D.
...If there is one thing we know for absolute certain, it's this: Protectionism did not cause the Great Depression, but it sure helped to make it "Great." From 1929 to 1934, world trade plunged by more than 60 percent - and we were all worse off.
We live in a technological age where every study shows that the more knowledge you have as a worker and the more knowledge workers you have as an economy, the faster your incomes will rise. Therefore, the centerpiece of our stimulus, the core driving principle, should be to stimulate everything that makes us smarter and attracts more smart people to our shores. That is the best way to create good jobs."
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/02/11/opinion/edfriedman.php
Friday, February 20, 2009
Republicans Will Either Embrace Hispanics Or Wilt
TW: This is one of those easy, no need really to ponder issues. The Republicans in 2007 and 2008 pissed on immigrants as a source of our problems. Of all of W. Bush's faults not trying to embrace immigrants was not one of them but his own party abandoned him and cut his immigration policy off at the knees.
Given demographic realities if Hispanics (and other immigrant groups) move to the Dems in big numbers along with African-Americans, gays, women, etc., then the party is over. That said while the Tancredo, Buchanan etc. forces may carry weight for another election cycle or two, they will eventually fade, they must and they always do, that is the way democracy works.
From Economist:
"TODAY...the Republican National Hispanic Assembly is leading a two-hour panel on Republicans and the Hispanic vote. Halfway through, the discussion is surprisingly raw, and the message is unambiguous—Republicans need to stop bashing immigrants or they'll lose every election.
Richard Nadler of the pro-immigration American Majority Foundation named and shamed Republicans who'd attacked immigration on the campaign trail, such as Tom Tancredo, the former congressman who worried that Miami was becoming a "third world" city. "Some people don't learn," he said, attacking "the conservative broadcast media" for blaming immigrants for America's economic woes.
Carlos Gutierrez, George W. Bush's last Secretary of Commerce, told Republicans to accept that "immigration is who we are," and that the GOP can't be the "party of prosperity" if it wants to keep away foreign workers.
George Allen, the former senator from Virginia (who lost in 2006 after slipping and racially slurring a young Indian-American Democrat), pleaded for Republicans not to look at race. "In sports, what you have is a level playing field," said Mr Allen. "You don't care about race, all you care about is who can help you win. Team America has to have that same competitive spirit!"
...Tito Munoz, a conservative construction company owner, who won brief campaign fame as "Tito the Builder," sat in the back of the room, listening in. He lives in Prince William County in northern Virginia, where local Republican leaders have passed laws punishing businesses that hire undocumented immigrants and punishing renters who let them rent apartments. "It's created a tension in the community," he said. "It's hurt the Republicans." His suggestion was for Republicans to come out for a simpler, cheaper, and more fair process for acquiring citizenship. "
Given demographic realities if Hispanics (and other immigrant groups) move to the Dems in big numbers along with African-Americans, gays, women, etc., then the party is over. That said while the Tancredo, Buchanan etc. forces may carry weight for another election cycle or two, they will eventually fade, they must and they always do, that is the way democracy works.
From Economist:
"TODAY...the Republican National Hispanic Assembly is leading a two-hour panel on Republicans and the Hispanic vote. Halfway through, the discussion is surprisingly raw, and the message is unambiguous—Republicans need to stop bashing immigrants or they'll lose every election.
Richard Nadler of the pro-immigration American Majority Foundation named and shamed Republicans who'd attacked immigration on the campaign trail, such as Tom Tancredo, the former congressman who worried that Miami was becoming a "third world" city. "Some people don't learn," he said, attacking "the conservative broadcast media" for blaming immigrants for America's economic woes.
Carlos Gutierrez, George W. Bush's last Secretary of Commerce, told Republicans to accept that "immigration is who we are," and that the GOP can't be the "party of prosperity" if it wants to keep away foreign workers.
George Allen, the former senator from Virginia (who lost in 2006 after slipping and racially slurring a young Indian-American Democrat), pleaded for Republicans not to look at race. "In sports, what you have is a level playing field," said Mr Allen. "You don't care about race, all you care about is who can help you win. Team America has to have that same competitive spirit!"
...Tito Munoz, a conservative construction company owner, who won brief campaign fame as "Tito the Builder," sat in the back of the room, listening in. He lives in Prince William County in northern Virginia, where local Republican leaders have passed laws punishing businesses that hire undocumented immigrants and punishing renters who let them rent apartments. "It's created a tension in the community," he said. "It's hurt the Republicans." His suggestion was for Republicans to come out for a simpler, cheaper, and more fair process for acquiring citizenship. "
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Making It More Difficult For Talented Immigrants Is Utter Foolishness
TW: I will not bore with cliches about the contributions of most and especially highly educated immigrants over our history but these policies are just stupid. Since 9/11 it has become more and more difficult for well-educated (or those seeking education) immigrants to spend time in the U.S. One of the U.S. key competitive advantages as a nation has been our ability to attract and take advantage of talented immigrants throughout the world. We should be initiating policies to make them more welcome not less. If the Dems (and apparently some Republicans) in Congress are getting sideways on this, then shame on them.
From the Economist and Tom Friedman:
"Thomas Friedman alerts us to a very troubling development on the immigration front:
'While I think President Obama has been doing his best to keep the worst protectionist impulses in Congress out of his stimulus plan, the U.S. Senate unfortunately voted on Feb. 6 to restrict banks and other financial institutions that receive taxpayer bailout money from hiring high-skilled immigrants on temporary work permits known as H-1B visas.'
This has the potential to be just as, if not more, harmful than “Buy America”, at least in the long run. Like it or not, finance has become an increasingly quantitative field, and Wall Street is going to need highly-skilled people to repair the financial system. New techniques need to be developed and employed. There are simply not enough natives with adequate skills to go around. Particularly if salaries in the finance field shrink, quantitatively-skilled Americans will be drawn to other industries.
Even more troubling, as Mr Friedman points out, is that these high skill immigrants are the very ones who can create jobs. According to research by:
25.3 percent of technology and engineering companies started in the United States from 1995 to 2005, at least one key founder was foreign-born. Nationwide, these immigrant-founded companies produced $52 billion in sales and employed 450,000 workers in 2005. The majority of these immigrant entrepreneurs came from India, United Kingdom, China, Taiwan, Japan and Germany.
...a main source of job growth in America is entrepreneurial firms. The immigrants who start these types of firms often come to America as students and then work in industry on H1-Bs. This visa is often a gateway to residency.
American immigration policy was at one point unique for encouraging highly-skilled immigrants, but other industrialised countries have begun to attempt to attract educated workers. Britain now has a points system in place, and the European Union is considering a blue card which will speed up the visa process for high skill workers. So if America does not want these job creators, they can go elsewhere.
Immigration is a major impetus for entrepreneurship and innovation. If long-term economic growth and job creation is the purpose of the rescue package moving through Congress, then preventing firms from hiring immigrants undermines that goal."
http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2009/02/dangerous_protectionism_rears.cfm
From the Economist and Tom Friedman:
"Thomas Friedman alerts us to a very troubling development on the immigration front:
'While I think President Obama has been doing his best to keep the worst protectionist impulses in Congress out of his stimulus plan, the U.S. Senate unfortunately voted on Feb. 6 to restrict banks and other financial institutions that receive taxpayer bailout money from hiring high-skilled immigrants on temporary work permits known as H-1B visas.'
This has the potential to be just as, if not more, harmful than “Buy America”, at least in the long run. Like it or not, finance has become an increasingly quantitative field, and Wall Street is going to need highly-skilled people to repair the financial system. New techniques need to be developed and employed. There are simply not enough natives with adequate skills to go around. Particularly if salaries in the finance field shrink, quantitatively-skilled Americans will be drawn to other industries.
Even more troubling, as Mr Friedman points out, is that these high skill immigrants are the very ones who can create jobs. According to research by:
25.3 percent of technology and engineering companies started in the United States from 1995 to 2005, at least one key founder was foreign-born. Nationwide, these immigrant-founded companies produced $52 billion in sales and employed 450,000 workers in 2005. The majority of these immigrant entrepreneurs came from India, United Kingdom, China, Taiwan, Japan and Germany.
...a main source of job growth in America is entrepreneurial firms. The immigrants who start these types of firms often come to America as students and then work in industry on H1-Bs. This visa is often a gateway to residency.
American immigration policy was at one point unique for encouraging highly-skilled immigrants, but other industrialised countries have begun to attempt to attract educated workers. Britain now has a points system in place, and the European Union is considering a blue card which will speed up the visa process for high skill workers. So if America does not want these job creators, they can go elsewhere.
Immigration is a major impetus for entrepreneurship and innovation. If long-term economic growth and job creation is the purpose of the rescue package moving through Congress, then preventing firms from hiring immigrants undermines that goal."
http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2009/02/dangerous_protectionism_rears.cfm
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