Immigration Law

WALL STREET JOURNAL: MORE VISAS, MORE JOBS

By Greg Siskind

As we hear the grim predictions from folks like Alan Greenspan that the US may be heading in to the worst economic downturn since World War II, Congress should be looking to promote free trade policies that will stimulate world economic growth rather than pushing protectionist policies that will only hurt our economy. That includes ending the artificial shortage of H-1B workers and letting market forces determine how many highly educated workers come from abroad. 

The Wall Street Journal has called on Congress to increase H-1B numbers. They are just the latest voice calling for action. But there are labor cartel members - the Programmer Guild, IEEE-USA and others - who would rather use legislation to maintain a scarcity situation in order to push up salaries beyond what the market dictates and preserve jobs for individuals unable and unwilling to compete. They are even willing to  see US companies fail before compromising. Unfortunately for them and for America, companies will do what it takes to survive. And for many, that means simply moving operations overseas. The ONLY responses the antis have to the outsourcing argument is that outsourcing is unpatriotic and the threats are idle. The threats are not idle. Moving operations overseas is a reality and you can hear Lou Dobbs whine about it on a nightly basis. As for patriotism, make it economically viable for companies to stay in the US and you'll see the pace of outsourcing drop precipitously.

Full post as published by Greg Siskind's Blog on March 22, 2008 (boomark / email).