The Biden Administration

[Anselm]

Jobs plan

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/biden-to-let-trumps-h1-b-visa-ban-expire-in-win-for-tech-firms/

American tech firms, from Facebook Inc. to Google, rely on foreign talent to shore up domestic workforces. Infosys Ltd. and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. traditionally dispatch Indian software engineers to work in tandem with their American clients, which include some of the largest Wall Street banks and technology corporations. It remains unclear whether Biden will ease visa restrictions in general, reversing curbs imposed by the former Trump administration.

[Puget]

Jobs plan

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/biden-to-let-trumps-h1-b-visa-ban-expire-in-win-for-tech-firms/

American tech firms, from Facebook Inc. to Google, rely on foreign talent to shore up domestic workforces. Infosys Ltd. and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. traditionally dispatch Indian software engineers to work in tandem with their American clients, which include some of the largest Wall Street banks and technology corporations. It remains unclear whether Biden will ease visa restrictions in general, reversing curbs imposed by the former Trump administration.

And your point is what exactly? The unemployment rate among US software engineers probably approximates zero (hence the demand for foreign talent), and you can't put an unemployed restaurant or coal mine employee into a software engineer job. You can train that coal worker for a new infrastructure job though, and that H1B visa holder will be buying meals from restaurants putting workers back to work.

There is lots of evidence that immigration helps, not hurts, the US economy.

[Anselm]

Jobs plan

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/biden-to-let-trumps-h1-b-visa-ban-expire-in-win-for-tech-firms/

American tech firms, from Facebook Inc. to Google, rely on foreign talent to shore up domestic workforces. Infosys Ltd. and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. traditionally dispatch Indian software engineers to work in tandem with their American clients, which include some of the largest Wall Street banks and technology corporations. It remains unclear whether Biden will ease visa restrictions in general, reversing curbs imposed by the former Trump administration.

And your point is what exactly? The unemployment rate among US software engineers probably approximates zero (hence the demand for foreign talent), and you can't put an unemployed restaurant or coal mine employee into a software engineer job. You can train that coal worker for a new infrastructure job though, and that H1B visa holder will be buying meals from restaurants putting workers back to work.

There is lots of evidence that immigration helps, not hurts, the US economy.

My point:

https://www.smh.com.au/technology/us-programmers-forced-to-train-their-replacements-20030825-gdhac7.html
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article81676692.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/04/us/last-task-after-layoff-at-disney-train-foreign-replacements.html
https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2016/mar/30/citylights-engineers-axed-train-replacements/

[mamselle]

Can't find another place to post this; the House vote on Res. 716 is live right now, very interesting:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl7LHRo6YXI

(Reuters feed)

ETA:

It did clear (219-1 not voting/Dem; 204-8 not voting/Rep); I am very sorry to observe that Schumer probably killed any possibility of any crossovers although the balance of the abstentions are interesting.

M.

[Anselm]

Isn't this all mostly theater?  Don't they always eventually raise the debt ceiling?

I wonder if they are seriously considering minting the trillion dollar platinum coin.

[Parasaurolophus]

Isn't this all mostly theater?  Don't they always eventually raise the debt ceiling?

I wonder if they are seriously considering minting the trillion dollar platinum coin.

They always do, yes. Because they have to, since it's an entirely artificial limit.

There's no point in minting such a coin, except for show. All they have to do is change some numbers on a spreadsheet at the Federal Reserve.

[mamselle]

Yes, it's mostly theater with a fair bit of pain for those on unemployment thrown in.

After lay-offs one year, it was excruciating to watch (always the Republicans) playing with my ability to pay my rent just so they could grandstand and act all virtuous about balancing a budget that doesn't need to be balanced (I remember that from Samuelson, too...interthreadual note) because of the scare tactics they use to goose the economy in favor of their big-corporate-donor friends.

My folks fell for the whole "inflation is evil" message, and I've never quite forgiven the GOP for putting them in such an unnecessary tizzy.

Or for putting those of us waiting on our UI checks under so much pressure with landlords, utility companies, etc.

The only redeeming part of the experience was the very savvy big-haired/bright-T-shirt-wearing state unemployment agent who knew all the ins and outs, comforted all of us by showing us how to fill out the retrospective payment forms (because it doesn't save any UI money, it just gets paid out later in a lump sum), and huffing and rolling her eyes without ever saying an impeachable thing about the system that would get her or us in trouble.

She was such a great character, and so much in the right place at the right time.

She might have even been an angel, now that I think of it.

Some of them probably do have big, teased-up hair and wear bright, wacky T-shirts with eyebrow-raising statements on them....

M.

[marshwiggle]

After lay-offs one year, it was excruciating to watch (always the Republicans) playing with my ability to pay my rent just so they could grandstand and act all virtuous about balancing a budget that doesn't need to be balanced (I remember that from Samuelson, too...interthreadual note) because of the scare tactics they use to goose the economy in favor of their big-corporate-donor friends.

You mean like Google, Facebook, etc.? Both parties have "big-corporate-donor friends" aplenty. And they both cater to them.

[mamselle]

After lay-offs one year, it was excruciating to watch (always the Republicans) playing with my ability to pay my rent just so they could grandstand and act all virtuous about balancing a budget that doesn't need to be balanced (I remember that from Samuelson, too...interthreadual note) because of the scare tactics they use to goose the economy in favor of their big-corporate-donor friends.

You mean like Google, Facebook, etc.? Both parties have "big-corporate-donor friends" aplenty. And they both cater to them.

This was at a time long before Facebook was a gleam in Zuckerman's eye, and 'Google' would have looked like someone misspelled what a diver wears.

I'd say more like Big Auto, Big Tobacco, those guys...the ones that didn't like unions because they made them give people weekends off and pay them something closer to a living wage.

M.

[marshwiggle]

After lay-offs one year, it was excruciating to watch (always the Republicans) playing with my ability to pay my rent just so they could grandstand and act all virtuous about balancing a budget that doesn't need to be balanced (I remember that from Samuelson, too...interthreadual note) because of the scare tactics they use to goose the economy in favor of their big-corporate-donor friends.

You mean like Google, Facebook, etc.? Both parties have "big-corporate-donor friends" aplenty. And they both cater to them.

This was at a time long before Facebook was a gleam in Zuckerman's eye, and 'Google' would have looked like someone misspelled what a diver wears.

I'd say more like Big Auto, Big Tobacco, those guys...the ones that didn't like unions because they made them give people weekends off and pay them something closer to a living wage.

With all of the research indicating the social costs of social media, the tech companies now are responsible for comparable, (or possibly worse), damage to society.

Big money from big donors is a siren call for politicians all over the spectrum.

[mahagonny]

Yes, it's mostly theater with a fair bit of pain for those on unemployment thrown in.

After lay-offs one year, it was excruciating to watch (always the Republicans) playing with my ability to pay my rent just so they could grandstand and act all virtuous about balancing a budget that doesn't need to be balanced (I remember that from Samuelson, too...interthreadual note) because of the scare tactics they use to goose the economy in favor of their big-corporate-donor friends.

My folks fell for the whole "inflation is evil" message, and I've never quite forgiven the GOP for putting them in such an unnecessary tizzy.

Or for putting those of us waiting on our UI checks under so much pressure with landlords, utility companies, etc.

The only redeeming part of the experience was the very savvy big-haired/bright-T-shirt-wearing state unemployment agent who knew all the ins and outs, comforted all of us by showing us how to fill out the retrospective payment forms (because it doesn't save any UI money, it just gets paid out later in a lump sum), and huffing and rolling her eyes without ever saying an impeachable thing about the system that would get her or us in trouble.

Sounds shady.

Did it provide you with more time for social media/forums?

[mahagonny]

After lay-offs one year, it was excruciating to watch (always the Republicans) playing with my ability to pay my rent just so they could grandstand and act all virtuous about balancing a budget that doesn't need to be balanced (I remember that from Samuelson, too...interthreadual note) because of the scare tactics they use to goose the economy in favor of their big-corporate-donor friends.

You mean like Google, Facebook, etc.? Both parties have "big-corporate-donor friends" aplenty. And they both cater to them.

FB & zuck are  hard left and may well have bought the election for Joe. More regulation coming, maybe.

[mamselle]

Yes, it's mostly theater with a fair bit of pain for those on unemployment thrown in.

After lay-offs one year, it was excruciating to watch (always the Republicans) playing with my ability to pay my rent just so they could grandstand and act all virtuous about balancing a budget that doesn't need to be balanced (I remember that from Samuelson, too...interthreadual note) because of the scare tactics they use to goose the economy in favor of their big-corporate-donor friends.

My folks fell for the whole "inflation is evil" message, and I've never quite forgiven the GOP for putting them in such an unnecessary tizzy.

Or for putting those of us waiting on our UI checks under so much pressure with landlords, utility companies, etc.

The only redeeming part of the experience was the very savvy big-haired/bright-T-shirt-wearing state unemployment agent who knew all the ins and outs, comforted all of us by showing us how to fill out the retrospective payment forms (because it doesn't save any UI money, it just gets paid out later in a lump sum), and huffing and rolling her eyes without ever saying an impeachable thing about the system that would get her or us in trouble.

Sounds shady.

Did it provide you with more time for social media/forums?

Sorry, what?

Have you ever been on unemployment?

It's half the pay with no help on basic expenses with the other half, and all the rocky nonsense I just described.

And the social media platforms I spent my time on then (they were just forming) were Monster, Indeed, Linked-In, and all the job pages on all the schools, businesses, and editorial groups in the area.

In fact, the CHE forum was just then starting up in its revised iteration and I joined it, maybe a year or so later.

After I had a job.

(And it was the first and is still the only one I spend any time on, aside from the town forum that helped me re-find our lost relatives in the UK).

You do take deliberate insults to the level of an aspirational art-form, I must say.

Cut it out.

M.

ETA: Oh, and during that time I still had to travel to Europe (tix already booked) to give a conference paper, return to the US the next day to give one here, and I wrote and delivered three more in the time it took to find another position (I'm in a high-expense, highly-competitive area, so grocery-clerking wasn't going to suffice, or I'd have done it). 

[mahagonny]

Sorry, what?

Have you ever been on unemployment?

Nope.

ETA: What you've posted so far about your friend at the unemployment office is enough to make one wonder whether the rules were being bent. Plus your attitude suggests you don't think the system is shooting straight so you might not be obligated to either. Unless I misread. But I doubt it.

[mamselle]

Sorry, what?

Have you ever been on unemployment?

Nope.

So, you have no basis for comparison.

I was called in at 7 AM on my day off to take the call telling me that most of our unit was being laid off.

I supported the VP of R/D at a software tech company which had been a high-functioning startup bought out by a software giant whose name you'd recognize as one of those big-time Republican supporters.

The golden handcuffs had come off my boss about a year before, and after having bought out six other small competitive startups in the area we covered, the parent company was starting to downsize redundant labs and workers with a mind to transporting all the leftovers to the new VP's old "home company" site.

We all knew layoffs would be coming, and (myself included) had started looking elsewhere, but other local groups were in similar positions, so the pickings were slim: along with all the pharma labs in the area (in which I'd also worked as an EA), these "shareholder's profit-driven layoff cycles" are so familiar that there's a known protocol for getting contact info, setting up mutual job support chains, and looking out for each other as soon as it becomes clear.

And the quarterly cycles all fall at the same times in the fall and spring, so there are usually gluts of folks all looking at the same time.

Nothing shady about it.

You'd done good work, you needed (and really, deserved: the layoffs were structural, they were not job-performance-related) the unemployment income, and there were the good congressfolk of the land playing chicken over the budget and tying your hands behind your back when it came time to pay the bills.

And I didn't have kids, or a mortgage, or any of the other things that some of the bench folks and lab PIs had.

If it's never happened to you, you're lucky is all.

No call to be smug.

M.