Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all! May 2008 be a much better year, especially to all you programmers and other workers who are getting screwed by Congress with all the offshoring and the visa histrionics.

A Fence Plus More

I do not believe that a border fence will be effective by itself. Here are the arguments supporting this from a colleague of mine:

Fences work best near large urban areas, where the illegals can overwhelm the effectiveness of any small contingent of enforcement police through a sudden swarming action and can quickly blend ("disappear") into areas with similar culture and language. Thus the fence near San Diego has reduced illegal entry there tremendously.

Virtual fences can only work if there's a will to enforce the law with boots on the ground, and since the lack of such a will has caused the problem in the first place, an expensive virtual fence is unlikely to do much except serve as a firearms target for coyotes. Bush promotes the virtual fence idea of course because it gives the appearance that he's doing something when he really isn't -- except wasting our money and stalling to run out the clock on his term of office.

Of course the most important thing is to remove the rewards of coming here illegally -- employment, driver's license, education, free healthcare for the putatively indigent, sanctuary cities, unwillingness to enforce the law. The courts, the government at all levels, and the cheap labor lobby have strenuously fought any such removal.

Where Do They Stand?

Do you want to know how the 2008 Presidential candidates stack up on the issues of illegal immigration and on importing foreign workers? Look no further than here. This grid will be frequently updated as new information is gathered.

As a left-leaning independent, the whole Democratic slate sickens me on these issues. Looking overall at both the Republican and Democratic slates, I can only ask why is it so damn hard to find a policitican that still believes in the concept of America?

The Chickens Come Home to Roost

Looks like Boeing is paying through the nose for all the "quick easy savings" afforded by offshoring in this WSJ Article.

Anonymous reactions:

I remember the layoffs of 10,000s. Now they will pay 10 times the labor savings and probably go bankrupt.

I have seen companies having problems building two Test Stations alike and only 20ft. apart. Between off shoring to their vendors and the Matrix system they can expect more delays. They will never learn. I feel sorry for those on the first test flights.

The sad part is that those jobs are gone, the American workers paid the price and the CEO who made this decision got away with millions in bonuses.

"Foreign doctors" push back against Britain

Guidance making it harder for doctors from overseas to take up training posts in the NHS has been ruled unlawful.

The Department of Health said they could only be considered for a training post if there was no suitable graduate from the UK or European Union. The Court of Appeal has ruled that they must be allowed to compete for training posts on an equal footing.

See the remainder of the article here.

As an associate pointed out after reading this article, how many European or American doctors are allowed to compete in India for government paid training? No matter how you cut it, China and India are exclusionary, to the point that would not be tolerated in this country. This is a big reason why Americans compete on an unequal playing field.