F Bill Gates

[Lyion]

A big hearty fuck you to Bill, and his asswipe monopolistic company of scum

Edit- pasted the story here


Microsoft's Gates urges end to US tech visa limits
Wed Apr 27, 2005 03:44 PM ET
WASHINGTON, April 27 (Reuters) - The United States should remove visa limits to allow more skilled foreign citizens to work at U.S. companies if it wants to remain a leader in technology, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) Chairman Bill Gates said on Wednesday.

Microsoft is having a hard time finding skilled workers within the United States, and the lack of H-1B visas for skilled workers is only making the situation worse, Gates said in a panel discussion at the Library of Congress.

"The whole idea of the H-1B visa thing is, don't let too many smart people come into the country. The whole thing doesn't make sense," Gates said.

Gates echoed the concerns of other business and education leaders who warn that the United States must improve science education and boost spending on research and development to avoid falling behind India, China and other countries that are rapidly gaining ground.

But he reserved his sharpest criticism for the visa caps, which he called "almost a case of a centrally controlled economy."

"If the demand is there, why have the regulation at all?" he said.

Congress capped the number of non-immigrant visas for skilled professionals at 65,000 in 2004 and 2005 in an effort to increase border security and ensure more jobs for home-grown tech workers.

That is a third of the 195,000 work visas issued annually during the high-tech boom years from 2001 to 2003.

The entire quota of H-1B visas was snapped up the first day of the fiscal year last October by U.S. employers anxious to recruit foreigners for jobs in medicine, engineering, education, research and programming, among other fields.

While increasing the number of H-1B visas is important, "we can't be so naive to believe that there is not a very serious border-security problem that we need to deal with," said California Republican Rep. David Dreier, who heads the House Rules Committee.

Undersecretary of Commerce Phil Bond, a top Bush administration technology official, pointed out that the unemployment rate for engineers is above the national average.

But Gates said his company was hiring at all levels, from recent college graduates to those with more advanced skills. "Anybody who's got a good computer-security education, they're not out there unemployed," he said. "We're just not seeing an available labor pool."

Even with the labor shortage, Microsoft plans to keep most of its operations in the United States, Gates said. While the company just opened a research office in Beijing, "our development's going to stay in the United States," he said.


© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.

NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq and all other quotes delayed by at least 15 minutes. Reuters does not endorse the views or opinions given by any third party content provider.

[Martrae]

Story unavailable

[Ganzo]

We're sorry...this story is not available.

microsoft shenenigans

[The Kizzy]

I don't understand why you are upset. At least he isn't moving the company out of the US like so many others. So he wants to hire qualified people. What is the big deal there? Did I miss something?

[Jimmy Durante]

Microsoft is having a hard time finding skilled workers within the United States

Touche.

[Lyion]

Kizz, they want to import more workers so they can pay them peanuts and get rid and avoid hiring the US IT workers that are making decent salaries.

[The Kizzy]

The ones that aren't qualified?

[Lyion]

Note the point about the high unemployment rate for US Engineers.
Anyone in IT knows this is crap so they can continue to get cheap local workers from overseas.

MS and other companies have vast amounts of outsourcing. What good does it do our economy if these groups that enjoy US benefits can both outsource our jobs and bring in super cheap labor in the US. We lose at both ends.

Ask Arlos how unqualified he is...

[Insanityfair]

There are probably a ton in the US that are qualified but he could bring in workers from out of the country and be paying them less. (Think that's the point he's trying to make) Bill Gates wouldn't be the first one to do this me thinks.

[The Kizzy]

Didn't Bill Gates fuck over his partner in the early beginning? Why would he give a rat's ass about the country he lives in.

[Diekan]

You're not getting it, Kizzy. They ARE qualified, but they want a decent wage for the work they do. M$ doesn't want to pay that decent wage, so they want to import people from other countries who will do the work for a fraction of the wage. While the US workers are forced out and into jobs at their local Wal Mart.

This country needs a serious revolution - where we round up all the big CEO's and board members of all the companies that are hell bent on destroying us to benefit their own wallets and slit their throats on national TV... then burn their houses to the ground and distribute every fucking cent (most which is probably illegaly gained anyway) and distribute it the population. But, I'm not filled with hate for the American corporation at all.

p.s I work for a non-US company.

[Jei]

I have a very, very hard time believing that there are more skilled IT workers in India than there is in the USA.

[The Kizzy]

I get it now Diekan.

[Eziekial]

You're not getting it, Kizzy. They ARE qualified, but they want a decent wage for the work they do. M$ doesn't want to pay that decent wage, so they want to import people from other countries who will do the work for a fraction of the wage. While the US workers are forced out and into jobs at their local Wal Mart.

This country needs a serious revolution - where we round up all the big CEO's and board members of all the companies that are hell bent on destroying us to benefit their own wallets and slit their throats on national TV... then burn their houses to the ground and distribute every fucking cent (most which is probably illegaly gained anyway) and distribute it the population. But, I'm not filled with hate for the American corporation at all.

p.s I work for a non-US company.

This happened in China a couple of centuries ago. I can't remember the name of the revolution but I am pretty sure the outcome was not the rosey utopia you think it will be. If this where to happen here, I am willing to bet that life would be worse for everyone.

[labbats]

Blame the stockholders that measure happiness in dollar signs. CEOs just reflect that and are a mouthpiece to that mantra.

[Tikker]

I have a very, very hard time believing that there are more skilled IT workers in India than there is in the USA.

There are a lot of very skilled IT folk from India

but really, when it all comes down to it, as an employer, I would want to hire the 10 best people available

shouldn't matter who they are, or where they come from


I'm guessing Bill Gates is after the best brains

It's the accountants that are all for paying them less, Bill could probably care less

[Narrock]

nm

[vonkaar]

[Diekan]

What I have been screaming about all along - and it's been falling on deaf ears - is that the cost of living and prices have rocketed over the past couple of decades while wages have hardly moved. THAT is why the American worker screams for higher wages... to pay the 900 dollars a month rent for the shitty, rat and roach infested 1 bedroom apartment some greedy fucking landlord is charging (because "It's what everyone else charges") - then they've got to pay ever increasing utility bills, higher costs for food, pay for higher priced vehicles, pay for higher and higher insurance coverage, pay out the ass for a phone... then God forbid they have a couple of kids to support...

But, corporate America doesn't care. They want their money... not just enough to cover their over head and put a little in their pockets... they want IT ALL... and they will strive to "get it all" at YOUR expense.

If the cost of living and prices for goods and food actually matched our current wages - I hardly think we'd have as much of an issue as we're seeing now.

People like Mindia (and other suckers of the Bush shlong) will never get it.... they'll never see it. Until it's to late.

Corporate America is destroying this country - and the GOP is leading the charge.... and who's going to pay the price... you and I of course.

[Diabolik]

People like Mindia (and other suckers of the Bush shlong) will never get it.... they'll never see it. Until it's to late.

Corporate America is destroying this country - and the GOP is leading the charge.... and who's going to pay the price... you and I of course.

Meanwhile, there's distraction from our current state of affairs with a wasteful war, no marriage for fags, etc.

I want Clinton back. The country was much better off then.

[Gypsiyee]

I just got around to reading that, and I totally agree with you Lyion.

There's simply no need to outsource to other countries for qualified IT people when there are THOUSANDS and likely many more unemployed in the US who are more than qualified.

If I call a service center (Hi Dell, how the fuck are you) I don't want some fucking Habib who doesn't speak English telling me to turn my computer off and hold the button for 10 seconds, and if that doesn't work he needs to escalate my problem to some other Habib who also doesn't understand the concept of the English language. (I can't tell you how many times I went through this process before I knew anything about computers. God am I glad I took it upon myself to learn, fuck help centers)

Of course, help center is just one job that's outsourced, and I understand that this isn't necessarily the position that Bill Gates is looking for - however, there are so many qualified American workers that need these jobs just as badly. Cutting corners is just going to make the rich richer and the middle-class regress to lower-class with the unemployment rate.

Bill Gates may have earned his rightful place, but I agree, fuck him for being such a cheap-ass pompous dickhead. He's penny pinching in places that he simply shouldn't and doesn't need to.

[The Kizzy]

Again, as stated before, I doubt it is Bill Gates that is doing the penny pinching. 1% of his net worth would pay a very nice salary for many years for 10 employees.

THink about it, 10 employees making $250,000 a year is $2.5mil a year in salary times 10 years is 25million for salaries, which is about what he spends on socks.

[Gypsiyee]

It doesn't matter how rich he is I don't think, Kizzy. He's still going to look to save money wherever he can. He didn't get rich by spending frivilously - granted hiring American workers isn't spending frivilously, but it is more financially sound than hiring someone who will work for thousands less. Bill Gates isn't doing the penny pinching himself, obviously - he has people to do that for him.

[xaoshaen]

What I have been screaming about all along - and it's been falling on deaf ears - is that the cost of living and prices have rocketed over the past couple of decades while wages have hardly moved. THAT is why the American worker screams for higher wages... to pay the 900 dollars a month rent for the shitty, rat and roach infested 1 bedroom apartment some greedy fucking landlord is charging (because "It's what everyone else charges") - then they've got to pay ever increasing utility bills, higher costs for food, pay for higher priced vehicles, pay for higher and higher insurance coverage, pay out the ass for a phone... then God forbid they have a couple of kids to support...

Right, because higher wages would solve that. Increasing the average wage wouldn't just drive a corresponding increase in living costs. While we're at it, let's just raise the minimum wage!

But, corporate America doesn't care. They want their money... not just enough to cover their over head and put a little in their pockets... they want IT ALL... and they will strive to "get it all" at YOUR expense.

If the cost of living and prices for goods and food actually matched our current wages - I hardly think we'd have as much of an issue as we're seeing now.

From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs! Once the system is entrenched in the collective conscience, the state will wither away, leaving a utopian worker's paradise, where everyone is well-fed and happy.

We'll just conveniently ignore what actually happens when governments begin tearing down corporate entities for the good of the Citizens.

People like Mindia (and other suckers of the Bush shlong) will never get it.... they'll never see it. Until it's to late.

Corporate America is destroying this country - and the GOP is leading the charge.... and who's going to pay the price... you and I of course.

Newsflash: Gordon Gecko was right, greed is good. Greedy companies strive to maximize profits. Greedy workers strive to maximize wages. This creates an adversarial balance that we like to call a free-market economy, where supply and demand, not arbitrary government legislation determine costs.

[Eziekial]

Xaoshaen for the win!