-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

At some point hitherto, Steve hath spake thusly:
> No kidding. I've always wondered if a lot of H1Bs were from say Canada 
> instead of say China or India would the debate be so us-vs-them? It's 
> called a free market. You have a group of people who are willing to 
> bring more to the table for less. I guess this would make them
> attractive.

It's called a free market, but it ISN'T.  There is no end of
regulations restricting trade and the influx of population... not just
here, but in virtually all nations.  This is necessary, to some
degree, to ensure that a) unscrupulous business practices do not rule
the day (though they seem to anyway), and b) to make sure that
imbalances in resources (be they people, skills, raw materials, or
what have you) do not cause a drastic upset to the delicate balance
which is the world economy.  

> Unionizing in response to this is just putting one's head in the
> sand.  You use non-market forces (basically public collusion) to
> fight a free market battle. Guess who will win in the long term?

This, I entirely agree with.  Unions are a tool of the mediocre to
ensure unwarranted advancement, and of the piss-poor to avoid
termination.  I'd much rather compete on my merits.

Before someone complains that this is inconsistent with my arguments
against H1B employees, I should point out that what I have been
arguing is one practical solution.  It is not necessarily the one I
support (at least, entirely).  However I am in favor of ceasing H1B
imports, and gradually phasing out those we do have.  Why?  Because I
live here, was born here, and frankly as a citizen of this country,
YES, I do feel that I have more of a right to an American job than
someone who isn't.  I don't want to move to India or China...

- -- 
Derek Martin               ddm@pizzashack.org    
- ---------------------------------------------
I prefer mail encrypted with PGP/GPG!
GnuPG Key ID: 0x81CFE75D
Retrieve my public key at http://pgp.mit.edu
Learn more about it at http://www.gnupg.org
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.0.6 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org

iD8DBQE9NygidjdlQoHP510RAvBCAJ486LZZ/JUdp17TbpR+4HHxvx0y6gCgnErn
s742PigdmJMZTaVAChnP1E8=
=htaS
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----