Today I received an email from Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC) which is against any form of amnesty (I also get newsletters from the Tea Party). ALIPAC is against the current immigration bill and they are appealing to the American people, Congress and the President to reject Senate Bill 744.
The S.744: Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act (written in legalese) has a section § 4101 : MARKET-BASED H–1B VISA LIMITS (also written in legalese).
When I searched for this provision, I came to the website Global Trade Alert. On the About page of their website it says, "The up-to-date information and informed commentary provided by Global Trade Alert will help ensure that the G20 pledge not to 'repeat the historic mistakes of protectionism of previous eras' is met, by maintaining confidence in the world trading system, deterring beggar-thy-neighbour acts, and preserving the contribution that exports could play in the future recovery of the world economy."
I searched for the meaning of beggar-thy-neighbour acts and WIKI says, "A beggar-thy-neighbour policy is an economic policy through which one country attempts to remedy its economic problems by means that tend to worsen the economic problems of other countries."
What has the U.S. government and American businesses been doing with free trade agreements, off-shoring and H-1B visas (globalization) --- making conditions better or worse for other countries? And how?
Global Trade Alert has an article called United States of America: Visas for highly skilled workers, where they say, "Among the fields in which these visas are most commonly granted are computer programming, biotechnology, engineering, mathematics, physical sciences, medicine and health, and education. This further requires the attainment of a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent as a minimum."
Global Trade Alert notes that the bill would raise the current base cap for these visas from 65,000 to 110,000, and eventually to 180,000 --- and would also increase the visa application fee paid by employers from the current $2,000 to as much as $10,000 per visa applicant.
According to a white paper by Dr. Robert Handfield, "Eastman Kodak’s decision to outsource the information technology systems that undergird its business was considered revolutionary in 1989. They were quickly followed by dozens of major corporations whose managers had determined it was not necessary to own the technology to get access to information they needed. The focus today is less on ownership and more on developing strategic partnerships." (Meaning, multi-national corporations working together for a common cause.)
Lately the tech industry has been pushing for ever more H-1B visas. Last Fall at the Brookings Institution Microsoft presented a plan to add 20,000 H-1B visas and an equal number of STEM visa green cards to help get "qualified" workers. Facebook and others are also pushing for more H-1B visas --- even though it's been reported in the media that the H-1B visa program is just a scam to obtain cheaper labor.
John Boehner: Immigration Bill Top House Priority (scroll down the page) - "Boehner said he believes that passing an immigration bill in the House is the most important thing on his agenda this year. He did not say, however, whether that bill would include a pathway to citizenship for the some 11 million undocumented immigrants currently in the U.S". (Such as unskilled workers).
In the bill, Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, who gets the "Economic Opportunity" part? Although I suppose it could also be argued that for every 1,000 jobs in-sourced into the U.S., in could exponentially create 2 jobs here --- one at Walmart and one at McDonald's.