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posted by martyb on Friday November 30 2018, @09:47AM   Printer-friendly
from the Quite-a-few-from-Europe-and-China,-too dept.

As a former H1 visa holder, this article interested me and shows the value that immigrants bring to the USA.

According to this opinion piece, the USA and specifically Santa Clara county is only the leader in tech because of immigrants.

In 1965, the Immigration Act of 1924 was repealed, opening the gates to immigrants and allowing a critical mass of technology companies to develop in clusters around Boston and Santa Clara County. A significant proportion of all the best graduates from the best schools in India (IIT) came to the USA -- in effect, the USA siphoned off India's best talent and used it to develop leadership in technology and to grow the economy.


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by fyngyrz on Friday November 30 2018, @05:47PM (4 children)

    by fyngyrz (6567) on Friday November 30 2018, @05:47PM (#768364) Journal

    Unless you are a believer in trickle down economics, they are not the same thing.

    And if any of you are believers in trickle down economics, I wish to make sure you understand the dynamics completely. In order to help with that, I present this visual aid [flickr.com].

    The underpinnings for many who make the argument that importing skilled labor has helped the US is that the importing of skilled individuals provides us with skills we don't already have in our citizenry. This is highly dubious (in fact, so much so, that without specific data to prove it, I can't take it seriously.)

    What it does do is:

    • create an economic advantage for the entities doing the hiring
    • thin the job market for citizens with the relevant skillset(s)
    • erode the value for citizens of building the relevant skillset(s)
    • continue to push dollars to the upper income tiers
    • continue to force the middle income tiers towards the lower income tiers
    • provide yet further excuses to lock out citizens for all manner of things from credit scores to lack of social media presence

    If business here actually needed US workers with the appropriate skillsets, they'd be a lot more willing to go after them than they are now. The constant influx of skilled workers from external sources eases that pressure on the businesses.

    And that is why I'm a lot more concerned about legal immigration policy than illegal immigration policy.

    TL;DR: Legal immigration WRT tech jobs is bad, mkay?

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Friday November 30 2018, @06:51PM (3 children)

    by Thexalon (636) on Friday November 30 2018, @06:51PM (#768390)

    And if any of you are believers in trickle down economics, I wish to make sure you understand the dynamics completely. In order to help with that, I present this visual aid.

    I usually call it "tinkle-down economics": It seems totally fine for the people on top, but the rest of us are just getting pissed on.

    --
    The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
    • (Score: 2) by TheFool on Friday November 30 2018, @07:38PM (1 child)

      by TheFool (7105) on Friday November 30 2018, @07:38PM (#768409)

      In the rural parts of the country there isn't even any tinkling down. The people at the top may be tinkling on the street corners near their employment centers, but we don't even get that. Instead we get some a few bizarre dehydration machines parked over us, slowly turning all our businesses and wallets into dry husks. A few of us figure out how to avoid that fate, but most don't. At this point, many of us would gladly drink piss if it was offered - it is at least something.

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Friday November 30 2018, @08:23PM

        by Thexalon (636) on Friday November 30 2018, @08:23PM (#768429)

        I've been a city mouse, and now am a country mouse. And I can assure you that the system sucks plenty for both of them. Urban decay and rural decay look different, but both of them are set up so that, as you say, most people gladly drink piss if it's offered, because it's better than nothing.

        The whole "cities are great, the rural areas are the ones in shambles" versus "the rural areas are great, the cities are in shambles" debate exists to keep the people in rural areas and cities from recognizing that they're only in shambles because they're being robbed wholesale by a relatively tiny number of people who have been making out like bandits. Oh, and don't think you can vote your way out of this problem, either, because the relatively tiny number of people have control over both major parties, and everybody with power gladly works together to make damn sure those two parties are the only ones with a chance of winning.

        --
        The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 01 2018, @07:00AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 01 2018, @07:00AM (#768569)

      Very clever. Did you think of that yourself? Did you also think of piddledown and reject it, or did you not even think of it. You sound like a very clever individual with a bright future of thinking of things.