Sold Out: How High-Tech Billionaires and Bipartisan Beltway Crapweasels Are Screwing America's Best and Brightest Workers
Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 7 years, 9 months ago to Books
Sold Out: How High-Tech Billionaires and Bipartisan Beltway Crapweasels Are Screwing America's Best and Brightest Workers
Book Review
Authors, Michelle Malkin and John Miano ISBN 978-1-5011-1594-3 336 pages including appendixes, excluding approximately 100 pages of notes/citations and the approximately 20 page index.
Our visa system is broken. It is a tool for big businesses and political cronies to get rich from the power of pull, not production. Despite the constant propaganda there is no shortage of American workers with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) degrees. Despite the rhetoric that they are all trying to look out for American workers and create more American jobs, the truth is the complete opposite. They are interested in American jobs all right; they are interested in stealing them, outsourcing them and undercutting the wages.
The H1B visas are being used to bring in foreign workers as indentured servants, to force American workers to train their own replacements before being given pink slips or face being fired and risk their severance pay and unemployment benefits. Most are being forced to sign non-disclosure agreements also in order to receive their severance and layoff notices. Many of these foreign workers are not highly skilled, are actually holding worthless pieces of paper from overseas diploma mills, and are paid far less than the workers they are replacing. Once trained, the foreign nationals are often sent overseas along with the jobs to nations with lower wages and regulations. The politicians are pressured and rewarded with big contributions by the Industry giants; they have a vested interest in increasing the number of visas and ensuring that there is lax enforcement and data collection regarding overstaying of the visas. The result is depressed wages and fewer jobs for American workers.
Even the F1 visas (student visas) are sources of vast amounts of corruption. Fake colleges and universities have cropped up all over America in order to attract foreign "students" for a fee, going so far as to promise green cards and immediate job opportunities contrary to law. The corruption is rampant and massive. Many come here with full knowledge that they will not have to attend one single class and be free to take whatever jobs they can find, so long as they pay the "school" its annual fee in order to avoid being blackmailed and turned in to the INS for deportation. Many take even low wage and entry level jobs, so it is not just the highly educated Americans that lose opportunity, it is also the poor and less educated that are adversely affected.
In all cases the Sword of Damocles is held over the heads of the foreign visa holders. If they complain about their wages or indenture to their employers, since they are required in many cases to work for them for a number of years, they face deportation. Many if not most are lured here under the false pretense that they will eventually be granted a green card, if not citizenship. Even though the government record of tracking and deporting overstaying of visas is a joke, the threat of deportation when initiated by the sponsor is real. It seems this is the only time the INS will actually act, because they do virtually no investigation and tracking on their own, which is the way the cronies want it.
The astounding and horrifying list of players range from big businesses like Microsoft, Intel, Disney, Apple, etc., etc., the politicians from the Gang of Eight, and a legion of others.
Dear reader, this book is not an enjoyable read. It reads like a dry report of cases and statistics so voluminous that it is difficult to get through. Were it not for the wonderful word-smithing of the authors and the occasional personal stories of some of those directly affected it would be unbearable as well as depressing. Nonetheless, I would recommend those that can handle such dry reading to give it a try, but be prepared to be outraged, yet empowered with the facts.
Respectfully,
O.A.
Addendum: It is a generally excepted principle among the best economists that outsourcing is mutually beneficial to the economies involved. It is so, as long as it is done along laissez-faire principles. It is not necessarily so when it is the result of crony capitalism and political entrepreneurship as apposed to economic entrepreneurship. That is the main premise of this book and my concern.
Book Review
Authors, Michelle Malkin and John Miano ISBN 978-1-5011-1594-3 336 pages including appendixes, excluding approximately 100 pages of notes/citations and the approximately 20 page index.
Our visa system is broken. It is a tool for big businesses and political cronies to get rich from the power of pull, not production. Despite the constant propaganda there is no shortage of American workers with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) degrees. Despite the rhetoric that they are all trying to look out for American workers and create more American jobs, the truth is the complete opposite. They are interested in American jobs all right; they are interested in stealing them, outsourcing them and undercutting the wages.
The H1B visas are being used to bring in foreign workers as indentured servants, to force American workers to train their own replacements before being given pink slips or face being fired and risk their severance pay and unemployment benefits. Most are being forced to sign non-disclosure agreements also in order to receive their severance and layoff notices. Many of these foreign workers are not highly skilled, are actually holding worthless pieces of paper from overseas diploma mills, and are paid far less than the workers they are replacing. Once trained, the foreign nationals are often sent overseas along with the jobs to nations with lower wages and regulations. The politicians are pressured and rewarded with big contributions by the Industry giants; they have a vested interest in increasing the number of visas and ensuring that there is lax enforcement and data collection regarding overstaying of the visas. The result is depressed wages and fewer jobs for American workers.
Even the F1 visas (student visas) are sources of vast amounts of corruption. Fake colleges and universities have cropped up all over America in order to attract foreign "students" for a fee, going so far as to promise green cards and immediate job opportunities contrary to law. The corruption is rampant and massive. Many come here with full knowledge that they will not have to attend one single class and be free to take whatever jobs they can find, so long as they pay the "school" its annual fee in order to avoid being blackmailed and turned in to the INS for deportation. Many take even low wage and entry level jobs, so it is not just the highly educated Americans that lose opportunity, it is also the poor and less educated that are adversely affected.
In all cases the Sword of Damocles is held over the heads of the foreign visa holders. If they complain about their wages or indenture to their employers, since they are required in many cases to work for them for a number of years, they face deportation. Many if not most are lured here under the false pretense that they will eventually be granted a green card, if not citizenship. Even though the government record of tracking and deporting overstaying of visas is a joke, the threat of deportation when initiated by the sponsor is real. It seems this is the only time the INS will actually act, because they do virtually no investigation and tracking on their own, which is the way the cronies want it.
The astounding and horrifying list of players range from big businesses like Microsoft, Intel, Disney, Apple, etc., etc., the politicians from the Gang of Eight, and a legion of others.
Dear reader, this book is not an enjoyable read. It reads like a dry report of cases and statistics so voluminous that it is difficult to get through. Were it not for the wonderful word-smithing of the authors and the occasional personal stories of some of those directly affected it would be unbearable as well as depressing. Nonetheless, I would recommend those that can handle such dry reading to give it a try, but be prepared to be outraged, yet empowered with the facts.
Respectfully,
O.A.
Addendum: It is a generally excepted principle among the best economists that outsourcing is mutually beneficial to the economies involved. It is so, as long as it is done along laissez-faire principles. It is not necessarily so when it is the result of crony capitalism and political entrepreneurship as apposed to economic entrepreneurship. That is the main premise of this book and my concern.
Create a mass of people dependent on the govt for their basic needs. No job , no work. Vote for food is akin to slavery. I recently posted discussing the danger of a rapid, govt mandated , large increase in the minimum wage and the resulting servitude. Another job killer.
Wage control like price controls are always a long term disaster. Free market pricing is the only mechanism that promotes growth and provides for higher pay for greater skill and value.
I visited with a friend who recently quit his job of electronic testing and repair of an aerospace deicing product. FAA and Fortune 500 Corp. type of bureaucracy at work.
When entering the main room to start his day of labor there was a large sign that just said OBEY.
First of all he worked with many Asian immigrants and he said they were very reluctant to stand up for themselves from management abuses. He quit because mgmt kept asking him to do training and higher level repair work at his lower pay scale He said that he would be happy to do at the pay scale for said work. They continually requested and he would not buckle. Then mgmt sent him to H.R. Dept for a talking to and according to my friend when he refused their order to train a higher paid technition at his lower wage,
he stunned them by saying "I quit". They didn't know what to do.
O.A. I never thought when I was much younger that our elected leaders would blatantly destroy the economic engine of our country . Now it is rarely out of my mind.
With much respect to you,
Dobrien
Thank you for your support. I feel as you do.
Respectfully,
O.A.
Indeed. Thank you for your support. Some of the books I read are difficult to take, but I feel it necessary to gather all information available and try to present an objective analysis.
Respectfully,
O.A.
If only it was being handled that way. The most qualified workers are not the ones always replacing the existing workers. In many of the documented cases the qualified workers are being forced to train inferior workers to do their jobs and once trained the companies are setting up shop in other countries and moving the businesses there. In some cases it does not work out and the companies realize too late. This is no help to the displaced workers though, since by then they have moved on or the company is no longer in a position to hire them back. Instead our government has interfered in the labor market and made rules that do indenture the foreign workers.
Yes, the government is the most responsible player in this crony game. They set the stage and the rules.
Respectfully,
O.A.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Population and available workers does not create demand nor does that create jobs or wealth. Simple volume of consumers does not create sales or wealth or jobs.
Production and productivity of the individual does. Government, Pelosi and Democrats have said over and over, Unemployment programs, and welfare are the biggest and best way to grow your GDP and grow the economy. Really?
Indeed. Thank you for your input.
Respectfully,
O.A.
total laissez-faire system.
This book documents many cases like yours. According to this book and the examples contained within, the laws and rules have been set up to be unintelligible and full of loopholes and legalese. I encourage all that feel strongly about this issue, either way, to read this book and decide how to proceed for themselves.
Respectfully,
O.A.
You are welcome.
The sad thing is, many of the leaders of these businesses started out as true economic entrepreneurs, but somewhere along the way they became political entrepreneurs.
Regards,
O.A.
The liberal progressive brain is the most dangerous thing in the universe!
I have seen the corruption you talk about first-hand, but I reject this notion of stealing jobs. Jobs are not something 1 oz gold coins, of which there are only so many on earth to go around. Jobs are people helping one another for money. The gov't visa system views jobs as coins. You have see if any American wants it before giving this coin to a foreigner. But that's wrong. The buyer is giving money, and the seller is giving work. There're only so many hours of work in humans' lifetimes, but there's no limit to what we might create. I see the corruption in the visa system the same way I see people evading drug and prostitution laws. For better or worse, people want the goods/services and there are people interesting in providing what they want.
I have never worked at a single company that paid H1B people less than US citizens with the same skill level and experience. There is simply too much competition for skilled workers, H1B or not for this to work.
Now there are lower in contractor job shops that bring in people with generally not as good skills and pay them as little as possible and exploit them. But this is not done by the major tech companies and certainly not by "tech billionaires".
There is no evidence that tech wages are more stagnant than wages in general have been for the last decade or two. Nor do I see any shortage of tech jobs out there.
I don't know where you get your opinion but it is completely at odds with what I have seen on the ground in Silicon Valley.
This is not my opinion; it is a book review. Your experience is anecdotal. The evidence in the book is well documented and collected nation wide. There are very few opinions in the book. It is filled with data. If you read the book, check the citations and can prove its data is false or biased with evidence as credible as the research and documentation of the book, then you should write a book that does so and I will gladly read it with an objective, open mind and review it. You could make a lot of money. This book was written by credible authors with bestsellers to their credit.
Even if you do not write a book with a contrary position, but just read this book and can prove it is filled with falsehoods, Please post your findings here. I would appreciate the information and if it can be corroborated, I will state as much here publicly.
I do not dispute your experience. Clearly there are some cases that are as you say, but that is not necessarily representative of the entire industry or conclusive proof that the documented abuses are nonexistent.
Respectfully,
O.A.
I've no doubt this is happening...just try and solve a problem these days by calling one of the companies. If your lucky, they'll speak a few words you might be able to make out otherwise it'll be a frustrating experience and not be able to solve your problem for all your trouble. And that's assuming your speaking to someone in This country.
Indeed it is. I considered naming names, but the list was too voluminous. Of course the Gang of Eight are easily identified, but the truth is that the list included the majority of congress and so many lobbyists with familiar names... The list of businesses was also extensive and included Facebook, Google, etc... it would be near impossible to avoid them and still do business in this information age.
Respectfully,
O.A.
And that's my opinion of WDC
Moving on, isn't it obvious that hiring foreign workers (in high tech) is a result of failing American market of producing a sufficiently qualified and motivated workforce? The problem is not the "greedy" capitalists, but the socialist government. If it wasn't for the foreign workers, America would likely have collapsed already, or gotten much closer to that point.
I do not work in this field so the comments I made in the review are an expression of the information presented. They are a summary. I have not expressed an opinion as such, only a synopsis of the material.
I was surprised by the number of documented American applicants that were turned away from some of the larger corporations that were actually advertising for H-1B applicants and discriminatory against Americans (contrary to law) with equal or greater qualifications. There were many qualified Americans working outside their desired fields due to this bias. It appeared as if the HR departments of the firms in question were offering lower wages than would attract Americans as well as brooming older workers that earned pay commensurate with their time at the companies with foreign workers willing to work for less knowing the opportunities and incentives were greater than they could expect in their native countries.
I do not relish the conclusions, but some of the most egregious events are unknown to the public, yet they are public information because there were so many court cases and large settlements. The reason they are not known is explained in the book and also documented. The cronies on both sides do all they can to keep it quiet and the mass unlimited immigration advocates work in concert with them.
I do believe it is a matter of socialist government to a great degree. Capitalists are naturally looking for the lowest cost workforce they can find, but government is subsidizing this workforce by virtue of its policies. It may very well be that if they were not doing so, the overall wages of these people would have to be raised to employ Americans by virtue of market forces. If you can believe the stats in this book they are depressed by numbers of foreign workers that accept these jobs for less because they see residence and opportunity in the US as incentive. The thing is, America may not have suffered collapse and maintained its technological edge and advantage if it were not for the outsourcing of the knowledge and jobs. The market would have to bear the costs, but standards of living would be higher. naturally consumers would pay a bit more for our gadgets, but that would be born worldwide. Other nations would be also less likely to steal IP and undercut our manufacturers if the offshoring was not aided by forcing existing employees here to train their replacements.
I would very much like to get counter evidence and find the conclusions one must draw from the preponderance of evidence presented in this book to be unjustified, but I found the research and extensive documentation compelling. If you read this book and find it is biased and contains falsehoods. I would very much like to revisit this.
I am an open market proponent as you know. However, I am as strongly against political entrepreneurship.
If you have time and inclination to read this book, I would love to hear your thoughts and expert opinion/refutation if you can debunk and discredit the information contained within. I do appreciate your input and experience and also wish sjatkins had time to review this book and provide substantive refutation. I am not locked in or rigid on my position. I am persuadable providing I am given irrefutable evidence that the data in this book is inadequate or false.
Thank you for your input.
Respectfully,
O.A.
I can attest that H1B visas are not cheap. Not just the lawyer fees, but the time invested and the wait for the person. I can can see only one reason for doing it - if the person is much better than what is available otherwise. That said, being that it is a government program, it is open to abuses, mostly, from what I can tell, of having the foreign worker locked in the employ of one company, who can abuse them, if they wish. Again, the problem is the government - with a free exchange and mobility of people, this abuse would never happen. I can also see the motivation of the authors to skew the statistics (very easy to do with any statistics on any subject) - admitting to the inferior quality of an American worker is not something that they would want to do. After all, how many people will buy a book that says that they suck? A point on qualifications - when a person applies for a job, with a degree from a US university, do you consider that person qualified? The reality is, unfortunately, no. What is a degree in? Gender studies? If the person is black or other "minority," you may as well divide their grades by at least 2, because you know that they were most likely unqualified getting into the school and did not really earn the grades that they received. I've read portions of Michelle Obama's master's thesis - juvenile complains about racism, white people, life in general (while on full scholarship in one of the most expensive schools) and every paragraph had several grammatical errors. Would you hire her? And if you do make the mistake of hiring her, how do you get rid of her? Perhaps the research that they've done is credible, but without mentioning what I have brought up above, it makes it unbalanced and dubious.
Thank's
I appreciate your taking the time. I don't blame the employers as much as the government that has created the paradigm. That said: it is clear from the preponderance of the evidence in the entirety of the book that some are more interested in increasing their wealth through political entrepreneurship (crony capitalism) at the expense of the best employees and customer service. As a business man myself of over three decades, I feel this is short sighted and I am more loyal to the people that helped me make a success of my business and keep it going. Also I feel the politicos are feathering their nests through cronyism. This is unacceptable to me. There is a perverse incentive for them to keep it more expensive to do business here and force employers to choose as they do.
I appreciate your perspective and adding balance to this thread. If you read more and have anything else to add, please do so at your convenience.
Respectfully,
O.A.
I'm afraid we are withering on the vine. Many of these larger corporations are not without skilled workers. The notion that they cannot find workers is not accurate since they already have workers to whom they are giving pink slips, after they are coerced into training their own replacements. The fact is they are simply looking to reduce their labor costs and increase their profit, or are forced to do so to stay solvent. We have a shrinking middle class with stagnant or declining wages, 94 million Americans unemployed or underemployed, the lowest labor participation rate in decades, a 1.2% GDP growth rate and thirty plus years of trade deficits. We have a self defeating practice of outsourcing jobs and destroying our own market. If these jobs were not lost the government would not have to tax the remaining work force so heavily and the spin-off support jobs from these high tech jobs would also add to the economy. If we had a healthy economy with greater employment and rising wages isn't it possible that these Moguls of industry could raise the cost of their products slightly and still make the necessary profit? I believe that if it were so, they would sell more of their products to a larger market, even if, for example, you had to add another ten or twenty dollars to the price of a smart- phone. Something is wrong with this paradigm and the government is encouraging and facilitating this spiral. The one world economy, new world order, globalists are clearly benefiting at the expense of our domestic job market. Something is seriously wrong with this trend and picture.
Hang on tight; it is going to be a bumpy ride.
Respectfully,
O.A.