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At some point hitherto, Duane Morin hath spake thusly:
> If I was *still* loading up on H1B's rather than paying competitive
> salaries to out of work American talent, then sure, you might have a
> point.  But do you expect me to just get rid of these excellent guys
> I already have?  What exactly did they do *wrong* other than being
> from another country?  

This is a very microeconomic viewpoint.  Keeping them might be good
for you, but you have to look at the larger picture.  With the influx
of foriegn technical labor, many Americans are out of work.  I don't
know what you do, but there's a good bet that you sell your products
primarily to American citizens, or American companies.

With a large percentage of high wage earners unemployed, your ability
to sell your product diminishes.  If you sell primarily to business,
you are still subject to the same economic pressures, because their
ability to buy your product depends on their ability to sell their
own.  While it's true that foriegn workers (obviously) must buy
American consumer goods, a large percentage of them take a good chunk
of their wages and send it to their families in their homelands, which
removes even more money from the U.S. economy.  They are also willing
to work for lower wages, making it tougher for their American citizen
counterparts to earn a "fair" wage (for some definition of fair that I
won't go into).  

It is far better overall for our economy to employ our own citizens
for our labor than it is to import that labor.  Doing so maximizes the
disposable income of our own citizenry, which is what drives economic
growth.  It means more money is available for savings, which can be
used by banks to feed capital investment.  It means that more money
will be spent on consumables, simply because it's available to be
spent.  And it means that *much* more money will be spent on
entertainment and luxury items, which I believe is what fueled the
amazing boom of the 90's.  

The large influx of foriegn workers for some of our highest paying
jobs has shipped a lot of money out of our economy, and I think this
has had a non-trivial impact on our economy.

Of course, no one in America ever wants to look at the big picture...

- -- 
Derek Martin               ddm@pizzashack.org    
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