[TriLUG] OT: PT One tech issue from tonight's debate

[P L Charles Fischer]

I asked a couple of questions trying to get a response. Well I sure got 
one. I felt my karma was in danger if I did not post what I think we 
should do. The H1B visa problem is a very complex one. Like most of our 
problems, the simple bumper sticker answers are incorrect. In fact I 
doubt if any one person has the best answer, including myself. With that 
said here goes.

I think Romney's statement (“people around the world with accredited 
degrees in — in science and math get a green card stapled to their 
diploma, come to the US of A.") was an off the cuff remark, that was 
telling of his position.

I do think that the US of A does benefit from attracting the best and 
brightest from other countries. That does not mean I think that 
everybody with a STEM degree should have a free pass to a green card. I 
want only the best and brightest to get H1B visas. The rules for H1B 
visas need to change so that for people to qualify for an H1B visa they 
must have an advanced degree from an American collage. There should be a 
cost to the company for the H1B visa of about 10-20% of the employ's 
compensation. The 10-20% should go to enforcement of H1B visa rules and 
to reduce the cost of STEM training in the US. The H1B visa holder 
should be allowed to stay in the US looking for work up to twelve months 
if they leave their sponsors employment.

We still have the problem of not enough qualified citizens getting STEM 
degrees and those that do having the qualifications employers are 
looking for. Part of the problem is compensation. Unfortunately 
compensation will be under pressure from outside the US from now on. You 
cannot expect a company to hire high cost citizens when they can 
offshore the work at a fraction of the cost. You can expect that the 
company will be required to pay the prevailing wage for a worker in the US.

If we lower the cost of STEM education and align it with the skills 
needed we should be able to get more people into STEM. If the current 
employment picture needs C# programmers (god help us), schools need to 
be turning out good C# programmers and not compiler writers. When I was 
in school there were two physics programs. One was the typical 
theoretical physics for students that were heading for NASA (an option 
at that time) or for grad school. The other was called engineering 
physics and was applied physics. Computer science may need to go the 
same way. So we need jobs for STEM people and some of those jobs should 
be government jobs. We have a strategic need to have good STEM educated 
citizens. The future will demand that we stay on top of technology if we 
are going to stay one of the largest economies in the world. It is the 
place of government to have the big programs such as space exploration, 
expansion of communications and medical research. If we can drive up 
demand for STEM graduates compensation will also increase.

In short we need to invest in our future. In order to invest in our 
future without mortgaging it, we need to increase taxes. Sorry, but that 
is the only way. The Ryan budget does not do this. Mitt's talking points 
do not do it. The Obama budget does not really do it, but it comes closer.