Heard on the Street

Bill Gates and friends say that education is the key to American success in the workplace. They say the reason that they are outsourcing and importing foreign labor is due to lack of qualified Americans. Most of us know that this is just a front for a scam to get labor as cheap as possible. And this does affect Americans, both in their education choices, and their employment opportunities. Some anecdotes heard on the street:

A college student: "I am taking XYZ as a major. I figure they can't outsource that."

A web developer: "(Large Networking Company) XYZ has me work as a temporary worker, but I would like to be permanent. It is frustrating that during the time I have worked as a temp, I have seen many people hired as permanent workers; people from India on visas. They just won't hire me as a perm employee, even though I already do the work."

A software engineer: "(Large Search Engine Company) XYZ always says that they need tech people, but when I give them my resume, they respond and say that they don't have any positions available that match my background. They say they need software engineers, but now I hear they are outsourcing and hiring all of their programmers in China."

Immigration March to Reverse Worker's Rights

May 1st, 2006, International Worker's Day:

As hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants and persons with mixed loyalties march in the streets of the U.S., a quote from President Teddy Roosevelt said it best: for U.S. citizens, born or naturalized, there should be no divided allegiance, and a standard language (English).

Of course the absolute irony of a march of illegal immigrants on May 1st, a worker's holiday, should not be overlooked. For what interests are they marching? To reverse the years of hard fought worker's rights? To reverse the work of Cesar Chavez and others? The right to work for little pay, under slave-like conditions? The right for the children of the last generation of immigrants (who are U.S. citizens) to be replaced by cheaper imported labor? How ironic! How misled!

"In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American...

There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile...We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

--Theodore Roosevelt, 1919