Political Irony

9 Comments

1. Hassan wrote:

   Totally unrelated, but I want your (Iron Knee) input in this subject:

   http://www.computerworld.com/article/3094484/it-careers/clinton-its-heartbreaking-when-it-workers-must-train-h-1b-replacements.html

   I have worked in two cities in Texas for 5 companies (6th being my own business). And I know you have worked extensively over larger geographical area to perhaps have better picture of the issue. If you can post something about it, we can discuss there.

   Tuesday, July 12, 2016 at 11:41 am | Permalink
2. westomoon wrote:

   Brilliant! I’ve often thought while watching the endless video clips of Donnie, “This is the world’s biggest kindergartener.” But Watterson does a wonderful exposition of why.

   Tuesday, July 12, 2016 at 11:54 am | Permalink
3. Iron Knee wrote:

   Hassan, I’m personally familiar with the issue. I’ve worked in companies that off-shored work. The problem is, how do you stop it?

   Let me use an analogy. If you need to buy a car, you may have a choice between a car that was built in the USA or a car that was built somewhere else and is not only cheaper, but is better built. Which one do you buy? But if you buy the foreign car, you are off-shoring just as much as companies who off-shore work.

   There already are laws that if you want to hire a foreign worker on an H1-B visa (and I have actually done that!), then that worker cannot be paid less than an equivalent American worker, and you have to show that you cannot find someone with the same skills. But in the Disney situation, they got around that by not *hiring* the foreign workers, but by contracting with a separate company to do the work, and the separate company hired the foreign workers.

   There may be a solution that can fix that problem, but it will have to come from Congress. And under Republican control, Congress has not been very interested in doing that.

   I’m happy that Clinton is aware of the situation. That’s a lot better than Trump, who has declared that American workers are paid too much, and has hired illegal aliens on multiple occasions, and in at least one famous case, then screwed them.

   [When I hired a foreign worker, they really did have a skill that we could not find in the US, and we paid them *more* than an equivalent American worker, which to me is only fair. That person eventually founded their own company and hired a bunch of people. So it ended up a very good thing. I’m having lunch with them tomorrow.]

   Tuesday, July 12, 2016 at 11:02 pm | Permalink
4. Ralph wrote:

   Clever! Hopefully Waterson, should he catch wind of DeForester’s editing, is more amused than offended. His strip was typically apolitical unlike, say, Doonsebury who has unloaded on Trump in no uncertain terms over the past year or so (last Sunday’s strip was typically spot on, http://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/2016/07/10).

   So I guess we can expect bumper stickers like this to start appearing soon on a pickup truck near you, right next to the truck nuts of course. You know he’s thinking it, if not something worse.

   blob:https%3A//mail.google.com/3e19bfa5-03cc-463e-bebb-db723df60fb9

   Wednesday, July 13, 2016 at 7:32 am | Permalink
5. Hassan wrote:

   Iron Knee, offshoring/outsourcing vs replacing American with H1B workers may be different thing.

   In my limited experience, I have seen companies are desperate to find good resources (specially in software development), and they cannot find enough of them. I have connections with many recruiting companies who keep calling me if I know someone looking for job. So I cannot imagine a scenario where company is replacing existing performing employees with foreigners.

   Wednesday, July 13, 2016 at 8:18 am | Permalink
6. Iron Knee wrote:

   Hassan, about your first point, as Mr. Spock used to say, “Any difference that makes no difference is no difference.”

   As for your second point, I see how you snuck in the word “performing”. Engineers are not fungible.

   Wednesday, July 13, 2016 at 10:22 am | Permalink
7. William wrote:

   Brilliant use of Waterson’s work. Spot on.

   Regarding H1-B visas… A coworker was hired after being terminated from Intel. Several of his buddies were also terminated. By some strange coincidence, all were well-paid, and over 50. They were all terminated “for performance,” not just laid off, so Intel will never rehire them. (Dave is sharp and hard-working.) Meanwhile, Intel lobbies hard for permission to hire more foreign nationals using H1-B visas… Good luck lawyering up to sue Intel!

   Wednesday, July 13, 2016 at 1:42 pm | Permalink
8. Hassan wrote:

   Iron Knee, good resources are hard to find. Software Industry is flooded with poor low quality developers (many H1Bs). So the reason I mentioned performing is that it may be easier to blame the foreigners that took the job (or company) then to blame oneself.

   Wednesday, July 13, 2016 at 2:18 pm | Permalink
9. Hassan wrote:

   Just to clarify where I stand, I stand for hiring good quality workers and keeping them. My first choice will be American citizens/residents.

   Wednesday, July 13, 2016 at 2:22 pm | Permalink