Smacking Huckabee

I am close to Doug, although it will be hard to be single issue on these. Democrats seem to be against trade and both Republican and Democrats seem to be against immigration. I thought the driver's license issue in NY was ridiculous. If anyone actually read what was proposed it was very reasonable. It would have been better for security to have legitimate info on people and it would have been better for drivers to allow people to get licenses and insurance. Instead we now have nothing.

Adam S, I don't think Dems are against trade. That would be self-defeating for them. However, the Dems do seem to pay more attention to the issues of job outsourcing, working poor, and shrinking middle class and widening gap between rich and poor. That's not the same as being against trade.

Further, the Repubs, possibly Dems as well, are paying lip service to the folks who are anti-immigrant. I emphasize Repubs because as the party of business (as opposed to labor) they don't have a problem with cheap labor in the form of immigrants. I think Dems and Repubs could get behind a guest worker program with tighter border controls, but to pass legislation to that effect would require both parties putting aside other differences and attempts at power plays and bill-stuffing, and working together on this one particular issue.

I agree with your point above that what's needed is clear thinking and analysis of the issues with less partisan reactionism.

Hi again, Adam S,

I think we may have to agree to disagree on the point that outsourcing is beneficial to the people in this country. I'll concede that lower prices are a good thing; however, what good are lower prices if the displaced breadwinner has to work 2 or 3 jobs to make ends meet? Quality of life carries a value that is difficult to quantify so that factor is left out of the metrics.

And the trend of high-tech workers coming here (in-sourcing?) is quite simply another way for companies to hire workers, albeit educated ones, at lower wages. Indeed, workers here on H1-B visas do command lower average salaries than those whom they've displaced. And while I don't have figures available, I do believe that the number of, for example, engineering grads is more than sufficient to meet the demand of industry without having to bring in H1-B workers.

Here's an example: We have in this area at least a large number of nurses who have come from other countries, notably the Phillipines. They start work at a lower pay, which also brings down wages for local grads. But local grads are hard to find because the training schools are short of qualified teachers. The local colleges have a waiting list of students who would like to study nursing but cannot because of class size restrictions. This necessitates the hiring of more H1-B workers, again at reduced wages, and this cycle continues with results including reduced wages, reducing both the short-term need for nurses and the long-term interest of local students in this type of work.

I will also concede that too many people, Dems especially, have a greater interest in protecting the status quo of teaching instead of working to fix the obvious problems, such as Johhny still can't f***ing read! In my opinion, teachers should have degrees in their subject matter, demonstrate competence in those subjects, and the degree in Education should be abolished.

Personally, I would like to see any corporation that reduces its American workforce to send jobs oversees lose any and all tax exemptions, and be taxed at a higher rate than other US corporations. Unfair, you say? No more unfair than for the corporation to get rid of American workers simply to increase profits and fatten the paychecks of the managers.

Note, too, that we haven't even begun to discuss things like quality of work, work ethic, insufficient resources for outsourced workers, insurance and health care, and perhaps most importantly, the spiritual aspects of these decisions. Corporations do not have a soul, but the people within them who make these decisions behind the color of "business" certainly do.