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."