Trump Targets the Abuse of H-1B Visas 492
An anonymous reader writes: As part of Trump's comprehensive immigration overhaul, his plan not only addresses immigrants who enter or stay in the country illegally, but also the H-1B visa program and its well-documented abuses. Parts of the proposal include requirements to offer positions to U.S. STEM graduates and effectively requiring a minimum wage for hiring out of the country that would make it prohibitive to do so.
Amazing (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Amazing (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course you might. There's nothing like America for single-issue voting.
"Well, yeah, he's a complete idiot, and he'll plunge our country into a new depression, and half the population will starve to death, and the other half will eat them to stay alive, but there might be a few more jobs for American tech workers at the end of it!"
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Overreact much?
Re:Amazing (Score:5, Funny)
It's called hyperbole, and everyone does it.
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The policies of the last couple of decades have insured a depression is on it's way in the next couple of years anyway.
Re:Amazing (Score:4, Funny)
The also seem to have ensured illiteracy.
Re:Amazing (Score:5, Interesting)
Of course you might. There's nothing like America for single-issue voting.
"Well, yeah, he's a complete idiot, and he'll plunge our country into a new depression, and half the population will starve to death, and the other half will eat them to stay alive, but there might be a few more jobs for American tech workers at the end of it!"
Actually Trump wouldn't hurt the country that much. Most laws he will try to pass probably will get vetoed by Congress or the Senate (forget who vetoes who) and when they try to pass laws, he's veto them because that is the sort of asshole he is.
And unlike how Obama lets congress do whatever, we'd have high comedy when Trump talks smack about them all the time.
Re:Amazing (Score:5, Insightful)
And that's the real issue. Trump makes a lot of claims and promises that would require Congress to cooperate, and looking at how Trump scores on the whole "get along with other people" index, it suggests that his Presidency, rather than being some great revolutionary change, would be four very long years of him shouting crude abuses at Congressional leadership.
Re:Amazing (Score:5, Funny)
And unlike how Obama lets congress do whatever, we'd have high comedy when Trump talks smack about them all the time.
This is true. No other president would be half as fun as Trump.
There may be a few nukes and world wars along the way, but the White House would be funnier than American Dad. Hell, I'm off to buy a year's supply of popcorn now.
Re:Amazing (Score:4, Insightful)
A thread complaining about how broken American politics is includes a nugget like "[I] forget who vetoes who". Wow.
We should bring back these:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyeJ55o3El0 [youtube.com]
Re:Amazing (Score:4, Insightful)
He says all the time he need flexibility to do deals.
This amounts to 'trust me' which where politicians are concerned, doesn't generally work out well. This is the worst thing about Trump IMO.
For instance, he was pro-choice a few years ago, and now he's pro-life because he wants the GOP nomination. Once he supported single payer healthcare, now he doesn't because he wants the GOP nomination. From my point of view I wish he'd never changed his positions. This says to me, these issues aren't very important to him. Or maybe they are and he's just making a deal.
Also, the birther thing, he de-emphasizes now seems to paint him as an idiot, but it may have appealed to more people than it put off. Was it ever important to him, or just a way of getting attention. Also, consider that appearing dumb enough to do stupid things might help him in negotiations by giving him flexibility. If you appear too rational, it can be a weakness because it allows others to predict your moves. Computers still don't dominate poker.
The wall seems dumb at first. And getting Mexico to pay for it, just stupid, but I don't think he really wants a wall. He wants to use it to browbeat others. The pressure he will apply to get the wall built is an anti-nafta agenda with impounding of remittances, which if Trump has any brains ( which he probably does but hides well ) is what he really wants. I don't think he really wants to get the wall easily.
Making E-verify mandatory and penalties for violations by employers certain and severe will do more to deter illegal immigration than any wall ever could, which Trump says he wants to do.
His bluster about his willingness to send troops to the Middle East could easily be a bargaining chip he intends to cash in for a better deal. Would more military adventures in the Middle East be a bad idea? Yes. But then he may not actually want them.
The list goes on. but while you could imagine a rational Trump that is bluffing, you don't ever know that for sure. People like to see themselves in others when it's not really there. The thing he's saying to the American Public is 'Trust me.'.
And is your favorite Trump position core, to his agenda or something to be cashed in? Or maybe everything actually might be cashed in in some possible deal but the whole agenda is genuine.
That might be what Trump is trying to do by running. The right and left are moving further apart and alienating more and more people opening the way for a populist centrist candidate to take both right and left positions to synthesize a new deal.
As for the H1B thing, he'll get the internet on his side with that one. Too bad it keeps an upper level 'maximum wage' , just raising it ( which will be undone by inflation eventually ) rather than just eliminating H1B.
Still, it's something.
The two populist candidates are Bernie Sanders and Trump.
Bernie Sanders won't have the money to beat Trump.
If Hillary gets the nomination, how many populist Bernie Sanders supporters will go to Hillary and how many will become Trump supporters when he shifts to the left in the general election ( which he will ).
Will Armerica stand for another non-populist president given how alienated they feel by the bought and paid for right and left?
And like it or not, America is becoming more National Socialist. America is not racist or anti-semetic, but they want some moderate socialism and realize that socialism isn't feasible without border control ( the nationalism ) or else you get a race to the bottom as people flood in from everywhere. You can't heat the great outdoors.
And being nationalist and socialist doesn't make you a hater and certainly doesn't make you Hitler. -- Hitler was a bad guy.
Being moderately socialist doesn't make you a commie, it just means you're not a Rothbardian Libertarian Ayn Rand worshipper. It makes you normal.
Being nationalist, doesn't make you racist if you define nation geographically and include all c
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Personally I won't vote for him because of his comments about Snowden.
Re:Amazing (Score:4, Insightful)
If you believe Snowden at all, he and plenty of others tried through channels, and nothing happened for years. Are you also for people just sitting on 0days when companies decide to wait 14 years to patch?
It sounded like responsible disclosure to me.
And really, did he reveal anything we all didn't strongly suspect anyway? Not that made the news. Sure it pissed off a lot of people, but there wouldn't have been anything to tell if
a) the govt was playing by the rules
or
b) actually responded to internal concerns in any real way vs covering it all up.
Then again, maybe he's the best Russian agent in decades for discrediting the US. In either case, it seems like he did everyone some good in calling the NSA out - though whether it really makes any difference is hard to tell.
Re: Amazing (Score:2, Funny)
Actually, Soylent is lead and cadmium.
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Re: (Score:2, Troll)
Really ? Climate Doom ring a bell ?
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All theories are essentially models.
Nothing like being lectured to by someone who is completely ignorant of how science works.
Re:Amazing (Score:4, Interesting)
So is it settled science that we can base policy on, or is it still not giving accurate prediction over the time period in question ?
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A theory does not have to be complete to have utility, and the insurance industry accepted AGW years ago.
Re:Amazing (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Amazing (Score:5, Informative)
Yeah because that doesn't happen anyway
http://www.mercurynews.com/sci... [mercurynews.com]
But hey never let a good crisis go to waste, when you can lie to move your agenda.
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4 bankruptcies out of 100's of companies, 10 billion + in assets, yeah, he's a real failure there.
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I understand Trump's platform includes changes to the 14th amendment so that you're not a citizen when you'r
Solve the actual underlying problem (Score:2)
Not the symptom or its manifestation.
The fundamental problem is that few US citizens are motivated to attain high levels of education, and to earn their wages / wealth by contributing to society, rather than living off subsidies doled out by the guvment.
A related problem is the high debts incurred in the process of getting educated, thereby creating wage slaves.
Another less fundamental problem is that the dollar is artificially high, and kept there by vested interests. If the market value of the dollar refl
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Your second sentence: source, please?
The high debts incurred is not "a related problem" but rather the cause for "few US citizens...motivated to attain high levels of education."
Also, "If the market value of the dollar reflects its true worth.." leads you to a false "then" statement. By definition, the market value of the dollar does reflect its worth. And as long as USD are backed by reliable, stable economic fiat, that will continue. Of course, if you try to shut down the government via silly grandstandin
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Not the symptom or its manifestation.
The fundamental problem is that few US citizens are motivated to attain high levels of education, and to earn their wages / wealth by contributing to society, rather than living off subsidies doled out by the guvment.
What are you kidding? Or is this Bill Gates? This is a lie. 65.9 percent of high school graduates enroll in college for the next semester. That is almost 2/3, which is a pretty astonishingly high number. And that number is down from previous years.
The REAL problem is that there are millions of unemployed college educated workers out there who can't get a job because companies have hired H1b at lower wages to do the job instead.
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I might actually vote for him because of this policy. Never thought I would say that.
You'd cut off your balls for a wart on your pecker.
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I might actually vote for him because of this policy. Never thought I would say that.
I'd be inclined to see whether his various business ventures have exhibited this sort of hiring policy; or whether he's a "Buy American!" sort of guy when looking for votes; and a buy Mexican sort of guy when looking for labor...
His willingness to play the overt nativist is useful in that it may help force the Republicans to quit equivocating on whether they feel like serving their plutocratic wing's enthusiasm for cheap labor or their working class wing's desire to not be reduced to squalor and/or surro
Blind squirrel finding an acorn (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd be inclined to see whether his various business ventures have exhibited this sort of hiring policy; or whether he's a "Buy American!" sort of guy when looking for votes; and a buy Mexican sort of guy when looking for labor...
Trump CLEARLY would never say anything that wasn't true or self serving... [/sarcasm]
Seriously, anyone thinking of actually voting for this guy is an idiot. Trump may be good for a laugh but he is not presidential material. We need someone who will actually try to understand issues before spewing whatever dumb idea jumps first into his mouth. Someone who has more nuance to their rhetoric than calling people "losers" or "rapists". There should be some dignity to the office and dignity is something Trump completely lacks. He might have said something that appeals on this one issue but that hardly makes him the guy you should vote for.
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I agree, but if he gets the Republican nomination, the Democrats could run a cucumber against him and win.
Re:Blind squirrel finding an acorn (Score:5, Funny)
Crap. Well, that completely ruins any hope for Biden.
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Agreed.
I find myself nodding along with Trump when he's talking about how bad other politicians are, but just because a stopped clock is right twice a day doesn't mean you rely on it for all of your timekeeping needs.
Re: Amazing (Score:3)
Why does it matter? Don't hate the player, hate the game. It doesn't bother me if Trump as a businessman engaged in standard business practices. He's now saying the game sucks and needs to be changed. Good for him. Booo to people who think supposed hypocrisy is the greatest sin imag
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Why does it matter? Don't hate the player, hate the game. It doesn't bother me if Trump as a businessman engaged in standard business practices. He's now saying the game sucks and needs to be changed. Good for him. Booo to people who think supposed hypocrisy is the greatest sin imaginable and should prevent us from fixing errors.
Then the question would be what would it be changed to? I came from a country when a successful business man became Prime minister. What he did? Of course, change most of the country to be his way and benefit him and his people. Is that what you want this country to be if he becomes President? Good for you. ;-)
Talk is cheap. (Score:2)
Why does it matter? Don't hate the player, hate the game. It doesn't bother me if Trump as a businessman engaged in standard business practices. He's now saying the game sucks and needs to be changed.
It's almost axiomatic that we need immigration reforms. Saying that fact is hardly a revelation. The real question is WHAT changes. Saying we need change without a credible and achievable plan to do it is meaningless. Nothing that has come out of Trump's mouth is a credible plan for change. It's rhetoric designed to pander to people who are already pissed off about the issue. Pointing out the obvious fact that there is a problem does not constitute a plausible plan to fix it.
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During his announcement speech, he knocked the HealthCare.gov website by saying that he has websites built for $3. Now, you can claim that HealthCare.gov cost too much or that it was too buggy and you'd have fair points. You can claim that the government shouldn't be running a "HealthCare.gov" and you'd have a fair political point. (One that many would disagree with, but still a fair opinion.) However, claiming that HealthCare.gov could be built for $3 is totally false. As a web developer, I know how m
Re:Amazing (Score:5, Insightful)
Trump has a political brilliance, a strategic brilliance, a thoroughness in showmanship unlike anything anybody else running has, a personal image perfect for maximizing his control over public opinion through the rhetorical strategy of hyperbole, and the money to do this his own way, right, without needing to be phony to satisfy some donor or other.
Doesn't mean he will be a great president, but his use of hyperbole sticks in many average voters minds as it move the goal posts in his direction, even if the numbers he uses are actual incorrect. It is a great rhetorical device.
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He is trying to get things changed so that "buying American" is something doable again.
How? By making enough of the population so hopelessly poor that they'll work for $0.50/hour?
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and yet TFS didn't even give us a link to his policy!
Here's a "news" article that gives a link and a summary piece [breitbart.com] about it.
Re: Amazing (Score:2, Interesting)
WTF are you talking about?
The H1-b visa is government meddling in the free market because of lobbying by tech firms who wanted to increase the supply of workers to reduce wages.
Here's another way wages have been reduced, increased working hours for the same pay - actually lower because of inflation.
2001 C++ programmer made 80k around here working 40 hours a week- maybe a couple weeks a year of 60+ hours.
Now it is 65k a year and 60 hour weeks are the norm.
Don't like it? Well, you are unqualified and lack the
Re: Amazing (Score:4, Informative)
The H1-b visa is government meddling in the free market because of lobbying by tech firms who wanted to increase the supply of workers to reduce wages.
No free market of labour would mean that anyone who could get a job offer in the USA could come in. Not many people would want this!
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Many Democrats seem to be leaning that way.
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No, that is not free market labor. Free market labor is anyone who can get a job offer in an area they are allowed to be in can take the job. it is what we have now, minus the h1-b program.
Re: Amazing (Score:4, Insightful)
No, that is not free market labor. Free market labor is anyone who can get a job offer in an area they are allowed to be in can take the job.
<devilsadvocate>So your definition of a free market is one where the government (who explicitly decides who is allowed to be in the country) gets to decide who can and can't participate in trade?</devilsadvocate>
Don't get me wrong, I think labor is a classic example of where a regulated market is better for everyone overall. But it's still a pretty regulated market.
Re: Amazing (Score:5, Insightful)
Sure it does. Business licenses are regulation. They can, and are, also abused sometimes. Joe Mayor's brother's kid gets that contractor license instead of Joe Blow. Import restrictions on things, including labour, are called "protectionism," which is the opposite of "free trade."
Americans are weird. You're so afraid of (OMG) socialism that you just redefine whatever regulation you find desirable as "free market."
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2001 C++ programmer made 80k around here working 40 hours a week- maybe a couple weeks a year of 60+ hours.
Now it is 65k a year and 60 hour weeks are the norm.
That's the entry level of H1B. Also, number of hour a week is fixed to 40-hour a week for a full-time job (if less than that, it is invalid for the work permit); thus, number of hours per week has nothing to do with it.
So you meant an entry level of a programmer should get 80k a year???
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Where do you get that the 2001 job was entry level? It seems you are just pulling that out of your, well you know. Also how do you figure that an entry level of h1-b is an entry level programmer? He could be a programmer with 10 years of experience, coming to the US to take the job of a 10 years of experience citizen, because he is willing to take less money.
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Re:Amazing (Score:5, Informative)
Why do you think a businessman would be for a free market? Businessmen prefer regulation in their favor over free markets any day.
This "businessman" has driven his various companies bankrupt on at least 3 occasions, and fancies himself a self-starter when he inherited all his money from his actually successful father. No wonder he's a Republican.
That's BS. Sure he inherited money but there's not many people that achieve a 10,000 % ROI.
I don't even like the guy and don't believe a word he is saying but I can't stand people that make shit up
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That is not the purpose of the H1-B program. If you would like to hire those from another country, fine, but they dont get to jump to the front of the immigration line jsut because you want cheaper labor.
Also the US candidate is asking for what the job is worth if you want the job done in the USA.
The reason H1-B exists is because the companies dont want to, or cant offshore the job.
Your last sentence is counter to the entirety of your post.
Re: Amazing (Score:5, Informative)
What on earth makes you think an H1B worker "isn't free to leave for a higher paying job"?
As someone in the US on an H1B, I can assure you, changing jobs is trivially easy (once you live in the bay area, and have something like "Google", "Uber" or "Apple" on your CV, everyone wants you). The process of changing jobs on an H1B involves exactly what it would do for a US citizen - go and interview, get the job, move. The only gotcha is that the other company must be willing to sponsor taking over the H1B (which is a tiny cost compared to the wage they'll be paying you).
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So then it does not "involve exactly what it would for a US citizen". As a US citizen, I do not have to make sure someone will sponsor me.
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Thankfully, this is a trivial task, and does not in any way justify the idea that you are "[not] free to leave for a higher paying job"
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I am not saying you cant leave, that was the other poster, I was just pointing out that your statement was factually incorrect.
Re: Amazing (Score:5, Interesting)
I am glad that your experience on the H1-B Visa program has been a trivial task for you. That is not always the case though.
At a previous company, we had an H1-B visa employee that we hired from another company and despite the fact he was sponsored by the other company and we were willing to sponsor him, he almost got deported because of the process of handing off from 1 company to another did not go smoothly.
He worked for us for 3 years, and then went to another job and again, almost ended up deported. It was a nightmare on both ends.
I also know a few H1-B visa employees at my current place of employee who have had similiar fears.
Citizen loses a job or goes to another job, nothing happens. H1-B Visa person always has the possibility of being kicked out of the country if HR screws up the sponsorship.
I am not part of the IT tech industry, but chemical manufacturing and the people I know have been electrical or chemical engineers and not working for Google or other big names like those you mention. So while ti can be smooth, you are 1 HR screw up away from losing your status and being deported.
I am glad you have worked for companies who have it down well enough that their HR has worked for you, but that is by no means the norm for smaller companies.
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I am glad that your experience on the H1-B Visa program has been a trivial task for you. That is not always the case though.
At a previous company, we had an H1-B visa employee that we hired from another company and despite the fact he was sponsored by the other company and we were willing to sponsor him, he almost got deported because of the process of handing off from 1 company to another did not go smoothly.
He worked for us for 3 years, and then went to another job and again, almost ended up deported. It was a nightmare on both ends.
I also know a few H1-B visa employees at my current place of employee who have had similiar fears.
Citizen loses a job or goes to another job, nothing happens. H1-B Visa person always has the possibility of being kicked out of the country if HR screws up the sponsorship.
I am not part of the IT tech industry, but chemical manufacturing and the people I know have been electrical or chemical engineers and not working for Google or other big names like those you mention. So while ti can be smooth, you are 1 HR screw up away from losing your status and being deported.
I am glad you have worked for companies who have it down well enough that their HR has worked for you, but that is by no means the norm for smaller companies.
You're sensationalizing things. Saying almost got deported is like saying you almost died in a car crash due to a reckless driver cutting you off this morning.
Plus, deportation is involuntary removal. Without a job and a means to make money, who would sit around and wait for to be deported? They would voluntarily go back.
Plus, there is a grace period to look for a job (6 months without incurring a penalty). Additionally, you can always come back when you find a new job.
Plus, it's not HRs to screw up.
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The process of changing jobs on an H1B involves exactly what it would do for a US citizen - go and interview, get the job, move.
Except you need the government to get involved. Your paperwork needs to be approved, and there is an annual quota.
Also, if you're Indian or Chinese, you have a long waiting list for the green card (friends in my company - some who joined as early as 2008, still don't have a priority date - for those who know what that means). Changing jobs can require redoing the labor certification which may put you in the back of the queue. For most H-1s, it's not a big deal. For Indians and Chinese who've been waiting fo
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Ahh calling a fallacy at the same time as committing a fallacy, always entertaining. There is no "protectionism" involved. if the company wants to give the foriegner a job, then give it to them, in their home country. If tech has destroyed millions of jobs in the USA, then you dont need to come here to take it. The problem is it has not destroyed the jobs you are talking about, it is that the company wants a cheap source of labor, cheaper then it is valued at in the USA, but they dont want to give up the be
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So your assertion is that even though it's trivially easy for me to find a new job, it's impossible for me to find a new job?
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I mean... I could... sure... But the company I work for is actively looking for more people (either American or non) to do basically the same job as I do (there just aren't enough of us). They can't actually get enough people to do the job. All I would do in leaving is make the company less able to do its thing, and the US economy smaller.
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An intelligent, thoughtful person whose background gives him some insight into the problems of a wide swath of Americans.
Not the answer you wanted? Then why the fuck did you ask it?
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Some one who hasn't had four companies go bankrupt on his watch.
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Or managed more than 20 people prior to becoming president.
Re:Amazing (Score:4, Insightful)
Someone who managed to get Russia, China, France and Britain to sit down and negotiate with Iran, even while Russia and the West are embroiled in a mini Cold War.
That's the kinds of things historians will take notice of, not some asshole who talks about female journalists having blood come out of their "you know where".
Re:Amazing (Score:4, Interesting)
Trump (Score:2, Informative)
I'm starting to like this Trump guy.
Re: Trump (Score:2)
It should never be about tech. It should always be about jobs.
I like a Trump (Score:2, Funny)
I usually have a good, long trump when I'm on the can
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Thank goodness Bloom County is back!
https://www.facebook.com/berkeleybreathed/photos/a.114529165244512.10815.108793262484769/1022932631070823/?type=1&theater [facebook.com]
(NOTE: In fairness, Berke is not above directing the humor at himself [facebook.com].)
Awaiting Instructions From The Mother Ship (Score:5, Funny)
I sense a great disturbance in the Force, as though millions of independent-minded correct-thinking Slashdotters crying out in confusion about what opinion they're supposed to have about Donald Trump...
Re:Awaiting Instructions From The Mother Ship (Score:5, Insightful)
Even a stopped clock gives the right time twice a day.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
In that reasoning, a stopped clock is more often right than a clock that's running slightly slower or slightly faster than it should...
Re: Awaiting Instructions From The Mother Ship (Score:2)
"In that scenario, any Republican proposals are scary, because they suggest that the Democrats are in no way, shape, or form considering the position reasonable."
There, FTFY.
End the H1b program (Score:5, Insightful)
It was there to fill a claimed temporary shortage, but it had the inevitable result of driving down wages and thus reducing people training to enter the field. It should have been killed a long time ago, there are other visa categories that can be matched for skilled labour.
The H1b has some benefits for US employers, particularly it locks the employee in, they can't switch to a better job, Zuckerberg loves them, his slave army, but it gives H1Bs an advantage even for the same pay grade.
Plus at the end, they leave, fully trained, and ready to work at your offshore division for a wage lower than the US and above the local wage, thus exporting the job and the skills.
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It was there to fill a claimed temporary shortage, but it had the inevitable result of driving down wages
An economist will tell you those are the same thing. Labor has a supply/demand curve, just like any other commodity. If you make more of anything available, you drive down the price. If less is available, the price goes up.
...and thus reducing people training to enter the field.
Also something an economist could tell you, but still an important point.
Still, even though its my ox gored here, I don't have a huge problem with bringing in more tech workers. Indians have families to feed too. The issue I have is that H1-B's are designed so that the employer has a ri
Scott Adams said it best... (Score:5, Insightful)
http://blog.dilbert.com/post/1... [dilbert.com]
""
Like many of you, I have been entertained by the unstoppable clown car that is Donald Trump. On the surface, and several layers deep as well, Trump appears to be a narcissistic blow-hard with inadequate credentials to lead a country.
The only problem with my analysis is that there is an eerie consistency to his success so far. Is there a method to it? Is there some sort of system at work under the hood?
Probably yes. Allow me to describe some of the hypnosis and persuasion methods Mr. Trump has employed on you. (Most of you know I am a trained hypnotist and this topic is a hobby of mine.)
""
Trump is a complicated subject... because its insane... but the situation is so nutty that he starts to make sense... which tells you how insane the situation is...
Americans are furious. Both sides of the political spectrum.
Republicans are pissed.
Democrats are pissed.
No one trusts anyone.
Both side's politicians are full of shit.
There is a general consensus that the elites are fucking over the people at large.
The republicans tried to purge their own party with the "tea party" and similar things. Democrats only see this form their perspective but they don't realize that a fair amount of the animus was directed at the establishment republicans which is why the establishment doesn't like the tea party.
The democrats tried to purge their own party with stuff like code pink, occupy wall street, and now black lives matter.
And all of this is failing. The Establishment of both parties is very good at stonewalling this stuff. Black Lives Matter shows up to a Bernie speech and basically takes it over. They try the same thing at a Hillary speech and they don't even get in the front door. Think about that.
And that's basically what has been going on. So what is Donald Trump?
In my view, he's a purgative. A drug you take to induce vomiting. You accidentally eat poison... it has to get out. So you take a purgative... and you vomit.
The American electorate has been dry heaving for decades. We're that cat that just can't seem to get up that golf ball sized fur ball. And we just stand there back arched... dry heaving trying to get it out.
Do I like Donald? He's a weird guy. But I think BOTH parties should have someone like him running. Because Hillary is business as usual, Bernie is weak, and I've not seen anyone else out of them that is ready to challenge the establishment.
To paraphrase Augustus, "things that can't go on forever - don't."... The status quo is not acceptable. The corruption, the incompetence, the deceit... it has to stop.
We tried just voting them out. That failed.
We tried splinter political factions. That failed.
We tried lobbying and bribery to make them stop. That failed.
So... we're open to the "unstoppable clown car" that is Donald Trump.
If this fails as well... it just means the madness will be escalated another notch. This is not stopping.
Something that I think the establishment is starting to wake up to is that people are f'ing furious. And while some may giggle at the fury, it is unwise to not appreciate that people behave increasingly unpredictably as the fury builds. The sort of rage that is building is the kind where you rip off your OWN arm and beat someone to death with it. The establishment can't handle that.
I assume Donald is going to lose here... but whomever does win... whomever is in charge... they're going to have to change the way things are done. Because the whole "you need to pass the law to see what is in it" thing along with powerful people blatantly violating federal law and getting away with it... The big powerful companies fucking up and then getting bailed out by everyone that didn't fuck up.
This is starting to get dangerous.
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Uh, I have to go think about stuff now. I feel so manipulated.
Presidential elections are like Microsoft Windows (Score:4, Insightful)
Presidential elections are like software versions. They promise great new features, they promise to fix existing bugs.
Once you buy it on the promises, the fix or feature is slotted for the next version or update.
Most of the time you will forget it was promised or by they time they get to version 3, it will be a problem for the new development team.
Remember, the president is like a CEO/Sales person. He can not really fix any of the issues, he can only suggest that it be fixed and push others to fix it.
Re:Presidential elections are like Microsoft Windo (Score:4, Informative)
Remember, the president is like a CEO/Sales person. He can not really fix any of the issues, he can only suggest that it be fixed and push others to fix it.
Well said...seems every election year, people forget that most of the issues the candidates claim they will fix, actually require Congress to fix them. The President relies upon 535 House members and 100 Senators to actually do any of their promises...hence, most don't happen.
Clinically insane (Score:3)
They're still bug-fuck crazy, though.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:But but he's bad with women! (Score:4, Informative)
"Trump will be the first alpha maleish candidate we've had since at least Kennedy"
Did you forget Reagan?
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Still wouldn't vote for him but ... (Score:2)
Trump taking a position at all on H1Bs (Score:3)
...is kind of interesting. Have we had any candidate outsdie of the far left who's done anything besides outright supporting the H1B program as big business likes it, quietly going along with it or ignoring it? It sure seems like the most common reactions among both parties are to either vigorously support H1B programs because they want support from big business or dot-com, pretend it isn't an issue or stake out some kind of multiculturist pro-immigration position claiming we need the world's best and brightest. The latter is at least a position that sounds rational but seldom includes changes to the program to eliminate abuses and usually just ends up being an entity that didn't get the visas they wanted for the people they wanted.
To me that Trump is critical of this in at least a somewhat thoughtful way shows an interesting policy position. Either it shows Trump is more intelligent than he seems or at least is far savvier in staking out positions than might be expected from his bellicose pronouncements.
It's too easy to say he's just pandering to natvist sentiments because I don't think the H1B visa program has the kind of visibility among the kinds of people who hate immigration because immigrants are brown and talk funny.
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...and now the others are going to have to talk about it...
agent provocateur, long overdue
Also in The Register (Score:5, Interesting)
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"Marco, you've got some 'splaining to do..."
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Warren Buffett for tax reform because he doesn't think he or any other billionaire pays enough is also a mind f*k
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Damn straight. Talk about flat tax but if you're not talking about capital gains and all those little high-frequency transactions also being taxed at the flat rate, you're just blowing hot air.
Flat tax is regressive and has no justice and would STILL be an improvement if it jacked up capital gains taxation a whole bunch.
Re:Standing up for American workers (Score:5, Interesting)
Now when he starts screaming about capital gains being taxed higher, then I'll start listening to him.
This is precisely what he has been screaming about. Here is the first article you will find if you google for "warren buffett capital gains tax":
A Minimum Tax for the Wealthy [nytimes.com]. It was written by Warren Buffett in 2012. When he talks the decades when our capital gains taxes were almost double what they are now, he says "Never did anyone mention taxes as a reason to forgo an investment opportunity that I offered.
He does want excessive incomes derived from capital gains to be taxed higher, so are you listening now?
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Maybe managing shit loads of business makes you a crazy bastard but actually quite good at business.
That's what concerns me about Trump running for president. Because let's be honest, what is the main goal of a business? To make money for the people at the top. We don't want the government run like a business raking in massive profits (with the senior executives taking most of it). Trump is undoubtedly an intelligent person, and he wouldn't invest all this time and money without the possibility of a very large return on that investment.
Personally, I would rather have a person who has run several lar
Re:well hot damn (Score:5, Interesting)
Oh, he's intelligent all right.
He'll lose, but could literally move to Texas, secede, and become King. He could open hotels in every red state and increase his wealth by an order of magnitude: and you think Sarah Palin was a media darling after the McCain/Palin campaign?
Donald Trump doesn't have to win the Presidency to get an insanely huge return on THIS investment. Those aren't voters he's courting. They're obsessive lifelong customers bordering on worshippers, in a cult of personality that suits him just fine. This will make the Apple cult of Jobs look smalltime.
In the Fox debate, Trump was literally on the central throne, the position of power, all the lesser pols lined up to the sides helplessly. He is loving this and will continue to love it and have the most hyoooogely awesome time ever.
If I could have as much fun as Trump is having, telling the truth, I'd count it a life well spent.
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Personally, I would rather have a person who has run several large non-profits over a business mogul as President, because they know how to make an organization run on limited funds and making do with what they have.
Depends on the non profit. If they ran a hospital or group of hospitals I wouldn't trust them, I have heard way too many stories from my father (biomedical technician) about the decisions made by management. This even excludes a lot of the other much more dodgy non profits that mostly use the money they take in to just pay salaries and expenses while doing very little actual good.
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Personally, I would rather have a person who has run several large non-profits over a business mogul as President, because they know how to make an organization run on limited funds and making do with what they have.
Depends on the non profit. If they ran a hospital or group of hospitals I wouldn't trust them, I have heard way too many stories from my father (biomedical technician) about the decisions made by management. This even excludes a lot of the other much more dodgy non profits that mostly use the money they take in to just pay salaries and expenses while doing very little actual good.
I was thinking more of an NGO-type non-profit, particularly the types that do international work whose goals are to actually do things, as opposed to the types of non-profits that spend most of their money on fundraising/advertising/lobbying or the non-profits that somehow seem to make a lot of profits(like hospitals).
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One way to look at it is that Trump is already one of the richest people in the world -- he doesn't need to use the office to become rich, which is generally what happens when someone elected to office isn't yet rich. When rich CEOs come calling for favors he may not be impressed by their rich CEO status or feel the need to genuflect to them for money.
I think another reasonable narrative is that Trump has been on the buying side of government payola long enough to understand it better than most politicians
Re:well hot damn (Score:4, Interesting)
One way to look at it is that Trump is already one of the richest people in the world -- he doesn't need to use the office to become rich, which is generally what happens when someone elected to office isn't yet rich.
There are very few rich people who stop trying to become even richer. You can always have more money. Populist policies, setting up a cult of personality, a penchant for making money: Trump wants to be an American Putin.
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Personally, I would rather have a person who has run several large non-profits over a business mogul as President, because they know how to make an organization run on limited funds and making do with what they have.
I would think you'd want someone who has ran several small to medium size non-profits then because the large non profits (Gates Foundation as one example) operates on a fairly large budget and has very little chance of ever running out of money. One of the perks of being large.