Letter to Senator Jon Corzine (H1-B and L1 visa's)

This is a letter to Senator Jon Corzine, D, NJ. which I would like to share....
Senator Jon Corzine Hart Senate Office Washington, DC 20510
Subject: Allotment of H1-B work visas - Devastating effect on American Technical service workers and Computer Science and Engineering Graduates.

Dear Senator Corzine,
I am writing to you regarding the effect that the extremely high allotment of H1-B temporary work visas is having on American workers and the strategic capabilities of our data processing and engineering sectors.

I have been in the field of data processing over 30 years and have held positions in management and as an individual contributor and I feel that I am qualified to give you a true picture of this unfortunate, greed motivated situation.

Every argument put forth in favor of H1-B's by lobbyists is tainted by pure economic motivation. Foreign workers, specifically those from India, work for far, far less than their American counterparts.

They generally arrive with no family, have no home, and very little monetary obligations. English is a second language.

Verifying past experience is almost impossible when checking foreign resumes. They originate from a country 12,000 miles away that speaks 21 dialects.

During interview sequences any unanswerable question (what they don't know) they try to blame on language barriers.

Education claims are equally unverifiable, as is their true origin. Usually the resume will say "Graduated from the University of India" or something like that.

The lobbyists claim that there are no qualified American workers is equally ridiculous.
America invented modern data processing, our education capabilities are second to none, and the "Hot" skills, such as "C++, HTML, OOD" can be acquired by experienced workers in a matter of weeks, and sometimes days.

Lobbyists have yet to explain how a THIRD WORLD COUNTRY, like India, can turn out so many experienced workers. What do they work on? THE TRUE REASON FOR H1-B REQUESTS IS THAT FOREIGN WORKERS HAVE LESS OBLIGATIONS AND CAN WORK FOR MUCH LESS MONEY THAN THE AMERICAN WORKERS THAT THEY DISPLACE. So much less, in fact, that productivity is not an issue.

Jon, you were elected by American Workers, It is time for you to stand up for America and vote against continuing ANY H1-B allotments for Engineering and Data Processing.
Please do not be "Hoodwinked" again by corporate lobbyists.
We do not need additional foreign workers in High Technology fields.

Sincerely,
Walter L. Godek
Former IT Consultant

Jobs and Immigrants - WSJ - 08/26/2005

REVIEW & OUTLOOK Jobs and Immigrants
America needs more, not fewer, workers from overseas.
Friday, August 26, 2005 12:01 a.m.

Political pressure for an immigration crackdown seems to be building, with allegedly serious people even debating a 2,000-mile wall along the U.S.-Mexican border.

Meanwhile, in the U.S. economy, the demand for foreign workers continues, as shown by the collapse of the H-1B visa program. Since the restrictionists won't tell you about this, allow us to explain. Each year, the U.S. issues a set number of H-1B visas to educated foreign professionals with specialized skills.

Earlier this month the Department of Homeland Security, which administers the program, announced that the annual H-1B cap of 65,000 already has been reached for next year. In fact, it was reached in record time, or 14 months prior to the fiscal year in which the visas would be used.

What this effectively means is that any number of fields dependent on high-skilled labor could be facing worker shortages: science, medicine, engineering, computer programming.
It also means that tens of thousands of foreigners--who've graduated from U.S. universities and applied for the visas to stay here and work for American firms--will be shipped home to start companies or work for our global competitors.

Congress sets the H-1B cap and could lift it as it has done in the past for short periods. Typically, however, that's a years-long political process and cold comfort to companies that in the near term may be forced to look outside the U.S. to hire.
Rather than trying to guess the number of foreign workers our economy needs year-to-year, Congress would be better off removing the cap altogether and letting the market decide.

Contrary to the assertions of many opponents of immigration, from Capitol Hill to CNN, the size of our foreign workforce is mainly determined by supply and demand, not Benedict Arnold CEOs or a corporate quest for "cheap" labor.

As the nearby table shows, since the H-1B quota was first enacted in 1992 there have been several years amid a soft economy in which it hasn't been filled. When U.S. companies can find domestic workers to fill jobs, they prefer to hire them.

And let's not forget that these immigrant professionals create jobs, as the founders of Intel, Google, Sun Microsystems, Oracle, Computer Associates, Yahoo and numerous other successful ventures can attest.

The Public Policy Institute of California did a survey of immigrants to Silicon Valley in 2002 and found that 52% of "foreign-born scientists and engineers have been involved in founding or running a start-up company either full-time or part-time."

Moreover, the notion that Indian software writers are being hired by Microsoft at bargain-basement costs and driving down the wages of Americans is also refuted by the evidence.
A Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta study conducted in 2003 found no negative impact on U.S. wages.

Government fees and related expenses for hiring foreign nationals can exceed $6,000, and additional fees accrue if and when the H-1B status is renewed after three years.

The law also requires companies to pay visa holders prevailing wages and benefits, and it forbids hiring them to replace striking Americans.

A central irony here is that opponents of lifting the H-1B cap also tend to be the biggest critics of outsourcing, which is fueled by the arbitrary cap.

But the H-1B debate also exposes those who are giving lip service to immigration "reform" while doing nothing to fix the problem because they'd rather exploit it for political purposes.
American companies don't have that luxury. They operate in the real world.
Copyright © 2005 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110007166

GOP, globalists are killing our economy

Molly Ivins - July 23, 2005 - 7:00PM

If you had done a poll in November 2000, or in November 2004, I don’t think you would have gotten out of single digits with this proposition: “George W. Bush wants to radically revise American law, including complete repeal of the New Deal, and take us back to the economic legal system that prevailed at the turn of the 19th century — Robber Barons Redux.”

During the past five years, both media and political circles have devoted an enormous amount of attention to social issues and culture wars — rise of the Christian Right, anti-abortion groups, our debates over moral decline and moral relativism, prayer in the schools, school vouchers, displaying the Ten Commandments, sex and violence in entertainment, bias in the news media, gay marriage and all the rest of it.

I sometimes think all of it amounts to a bunch of people saying, “The world would be a much better place if everybody else thought exactly the same way I do.” Reminds me of Dr. Henry Higgins in his famous philosophical disquisition, “Why Can’t A Woman Be More Like A Man?” Higgins finally discovers the ultimate problem:
“Why can’t a woman be more like ME?”

Then, of necessity, we have spent huge amounts of time on Sept. 11, terrorism, Iraq, and related and ancillary problems. It is not necessary to review the bidding here, but Iraq is becoming as divisive and unpopular as the Vietnam War. While we have been absorbed in the silly circus of cultural issues and the riveting questions of the war, we’ve also been getting our pockets picked. Big time.

The U.S. is over $7 trillion in debt (no problem);
China buys $1 billion worth of U.S. treasury bills a day (thanks for floating us);
Americans love the prices at Wal-Mart (made in China, cute!);
the Chinese save 50 percent of their domestic product;
the average American has $9,000 on his credit cards;
our economy is fueled by a fragile housing bubble;
the minimum wage is $5.15 per hour;
taxpayers who earn over $1 million saved $30K under Bush tax cuts;
the war in Iraq costs $9 billion a month;
by 2040, our kids will be unable to do more than pay the interest on the national debt; bankruptcy reform makes it impossible to escape your debts;
in Darfur Sudan, people earn $1.25 a day.

For economic news, I recommend Bill Greider’s op-ed article in the July 18 New York Times, “America’s Truth Deficit.” He begins with the startling thesis that we face structural economic problems as serious as those that destroyed the late Soviet Union and that, as in the USSR before its breakup, our leaders cannot talk about these problems honestly. “Our weakening position in the global trading system is obvious and ominous, yet leaders in politics, business, finance and the news media are not willing to discuss candidly what is happening and why. Instead they recycle the usual bromides about the benefits of free trade and assurances that everything will work out for the best.”

It is a curious thing that as the disadvantages and, indeed, perils of globalization become clearer and the subject of ever more worried books by respected economists, the mainstream media keep treating the whole problem as though it were about a bunch of protesters in turtle costumes at the G8 summit. If it were not for Lou Dobbs on CNN, one would never even hear it mentioned on television.

Forget what the Supreme Court thinks about teaching creationism in the schools: Think about what it will contribute to the spiraling disasters of globalization by dismantling the entire economic regulatory system built up over the past 100 years. As Greider notes, “Washington defines ‘national interest’ primarily in terms of advancing the global reach of our multinational enterprises.”

Problem is, our multinational corporations increasingly work against the interests of Americans themselves. In addition to outsourcing jobs, the companies locate sham headquarters in offshore tax havens to avoid paying taxes. The only restraints we have ever had on multinational corporations are government regulation and the right to sue the bastards for the various kinds of harm they cause. It is precisely those two forms of control that are being not just undermined but tossed out entirely by an increasingly activist right-wing judiciary.

Recommended reading: Greider’s “One World, Ready Or Not”;
David Korten’s “When Corporations Rule the World”;
and Paul Krugman’s “The Great Unraveling.”
Ivins is a syndicated columnist.

Talk Back: [write to the editor] [discuss in the forum]
http://www.wvgazette.com/webtools/print/Columns/2005072210

With Bush's help, GE courts Indian PM, nuke sector

Bush's announcement on nuclear trade with India - By Adam Entous Saturday July 23 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Just over an hour after the White House's surprise pledge to help India develop its civilian nuclear power sector, the head of General Electric, the American company that could benefit most from the policy change, sat down for a celebratory dinner.

The host was President Bush; a few feet away was India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh, and his top aides. GE Chief Executive Jeff Immelt, a contributor to Bush's presidential campaigns, had a coveted seat at the president's table.

Bush's announcement on nuclear trade with India -- followed by a formal dinner in the State dining room -- was not just a victory for Singh. For GE, the only U.S.-owned company still in the nuclear business, it marked a possible turning point in a years-long push to re-enter the Indian nuclear power market, which it was forced to leave in 1974 when India conducted its first nuclear test.

"In the short term, it's really business as usual. ... But if things unfold the way it looks they may, then clearly it is a significant opportunity for us," said Peter Wells, general manager of marketing for GE Energy's nuclear business.
While the policy change may benefit GE and other companies in the long term, critics contend Bush's move closer to accepting the world's largest democracy as a nuclear weapons state could weaken decades-old prohibitions against atomic arms.

"This administration's rogue, shoot-from-the-hip move to launch nuclear cooperation with India puts the interests of industry ahead of our national security," said Democratic Rep. Edward Markey of Massachusetts, an arms control advocate.
GE was not mentioned in the joint statement issued by Bush and Singh, but Bush specifically pledged "expeditious consideration of fuel supplies for safeguarded nuclear reactors at Tarapur."

GE built Tarapur and one of its immediate goals in India would be resuming fuel sales to the reactors, Wells said.
Immelt -- who said in May that "all conditions are right to invest in India" and predicted that GE revenues from there could jump to $5 billion by 2010 -- was not the only American executive at Monday's dinner with a reason to court Singh.

Bush also invited Lockheed Martin Corp. chief Bob Stevens and Boeing Co.'s new chief executive, James McNerney. Bush cleared the way in March for the two defense contractors to compete for a potential $9 billion market selling combat planes to India. GE makes jet engines for Lockheed and Boeing.

GE spokesman Peter O'Toole said "tying GE's attending a State Dinner to a political contribution is misleading. We support officials in both parties and have done so for years."
"Jeff (Immelt) wants GE products picked to help solve India's challenges; who better to make the case with than the prime minister?" O'Toole added.

BUSH'S NOD TO GENERAL ELECTRIC
Washington actively promoted nuclear energy cooperation with India from the mid-1950s until the nuclear test in 1974. U.S. nuclear cooperation and exports were later halted, freezing out GE, which built the Tarapur reactor in 1963 and supplied it with low-enriched uranium as fuel.
India has since become the second-largest growth market behind China. In a sign of its growing importance to Washington, Bush on Monday promised India full cooperation in developing its civilian nuclear power program in exchange for New Delhi's commitment to adhere to international regimes aimed at curbing arms proliferation.

Provided the Indians move quickly to fulfill their obligations, congressional sources said, it was Bush's intention to seek congressional approval to implement the agreement on civil nuclear cooperation this year.

"It's the jewel in the crown," GlobalSecurity.org's John Pike said of the Indian market. "We're the world's two largest English-speaking countries. We're the two largest democracies and we're joined at the hip economically."

Henry Sokolski of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center said Bush's decision was unlikely to benefit GE any time soon. "This may be cream but it's certainly not gravy train, certainly not for a while." Sokolski said, adding that GE will face stiff competition from non-U.S. suppliers.

GE'S ROLE
In the runup to Singh's visit, GE held a series of meetings at the departments of State, Commerce and Energy, but Wells said the company did not explicitly lobby the White House to change longstanding policy.
"It maybe sounds a little subtle, but we try not to tell the U.S. government what we think their foreign policy should be," Wells said.

At a recent State Department meeting, Wells said, "We wanted to better understand what the U.S. government's view was of the situation and also to put an offer out there to them that was to say, 'We understand you've got a lot of considerations to go through here when you make a policy decision, and if there's anything we can do to help, then let us know."'
In addition to resuming fuel sales to Tarapur, Wells said GE could move quickly to offer technical and maintenance services for Indian nuclear plants, and eventually bid to build new reactors. If Bush succeeds in pushing through the policy changes, "clearly we would look for U.S. government support to advocate on behalf of GE," Wells said.

That support could take the form of government-to-government lobbying or Export-Import Bank loans for future GE projects in India, experts said.
Earlier this year, the Export-Import Bank gave preliminary approval for $5 billion in loans to help British-owned Westinghouse Electric Co. and other U.S. suppliers win contracts to build four nuclear power plants in China.

George W Bush: Willing SLAVE for a willing SLAVE owner

A Message from President Bush:
"America is not a fortress; no, we never want to be a fortress. We're a free country; we're an open society. And we must always protect the rights of our law -- of law-abiding citizens from around the world who come here to conduct business or to study or to spend time with their family."-- 14 May 2002, President Bush Signs Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act
Welcome to the Visa section of travel.state.gov, an official source of information about United States ( U.S. ) visa policy and procedures. We hope you’ll use this site to learn about different types of U.S. visas, the application process, and to better understand the requirements you need to meet in order to receive your visa.
Millions of foreign visitors travel to the U.S. each year. Others come to live here permanently. International visitors and immigrants add greatly to our nation's cultural, education and economic life. We welcome them. At the same time, we need to do everything we can to keep everyone here, safe. We believe in secure borders and open doors.
A citizen of a foreign country, wishing to enter the U.S., generally must first obtain a visa, either a nonimmigrant visa for temporary stay, or an immigrant visa for permanent residence. The type of visa you must have is defined by immigration law, and relates to the purpose of your travel. If your destination is the U.S., please watch this brief video , which explains new visa policies and procedures for visitors to the United States -- a nation with secure borders and open doors.

Tips for U.S. Visas: Temporary Workers
CLASSIFICATIONS
The Immigration and Nationality Act provides several categories of nonimmigrant visas for a person who wishes to work temporarily in the United States. There are annual numerical limits on some classifications which are shown in parentheses.
H-1B classification applies to persons in a specialty occupation which requires the theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge requiring completion of a specific course of higher education. This classification requires a labor attestation issued by the Secretary of Labor (65,000). This classification also applies to Government-to-Government research and development, or coproduction projects administered by the Department of Defense (100);
H-2A classification applies to temporary or seasonal agricultural workers;
H-2B classification applies to temporary or seasonal nonagricultural workers. This classification requires a temporary labor certification issued by the Secretary of Labor (66,000);
H-3 classification applies to trainees other than medical or academic. This classification also applies to practical training in the education of handicapped children (50);
L classification applies to intracompany transferees who, within the three preceding years, have been employed abroad continuously for one year, and who will be employed by a branch, parent, affiliate, or subsidiary of that same employer in the U.S. in a managerial, executive, or specialized knowledge capacity;
O-1 classification applies to persons who have extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics, or extraordinary achievements in the motion picture and television field;
O-2 classification applies to persons accompanying an O-1 alien to assist in an artistic or athletic performance for a specific event or performance;
P-1 classification applies to individual or team athletes, or members of an entertainment group that are internationally recognized (25,000);
P-2 classification applies to artists or entertainers who will perform under a reciprocal exchange program;
P-3 classification applies to artists or entertainers who perform under a program that is culturally unique (same as P-1); and
Q-1 classification applies to participants in an international cultural exchange program for the purpose of providing practical training, employment, and the sharing of the history, culture, and traditions of the alien's home country.
PETITIONS
In order to be considered as a nonimmigrant under the above classifications the applicant's prospective employer or agent must file Form I-129, Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker, with the United States Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Department of Homeland Security (BCIS). Once approved, the employer or agent is sent a notice of approval, Form I-797. It should be noted that the approval of a petition shall not guarantee visa issuance to an applicant found to be ineligible under provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
VISA INELIGIBILITY/WAIVER
The nonimmigrant visa application Form DS-156 list classes of persons who are ineligible under U.S. law to receive visas. In some instances an applicant who is ineligible, but who is otherwise properly classifiable as a temporary worker, may apply for a waiver of ineligibility and be issued a visa if the waiver is approved.
APPLYING FOR THE VISA
Applicants for temporary work visas should generally apply at the American Embassy or Consulate with jurisdiction over their place of permanent residence. Although visa applicants may apply at any U.S. consular office abroad, it may be more difficult to qualify for the visa outside the country of permanent residence.
Required Documentation
Each applicant for a temporary worker visa must pay a nonrefundable US$100 application fee and submit:
1) An application Form DS-156, completed and signed. The DS-156 must be the February 2003 date, either the electronic "e-form application" or the non-electronic version. Select Nonimmigrant Visa Application Form DS-156 to access both versions of the DS-156. You may also check with the Embassy Consular Section where you will apply to determine if the hard-copy blank DS-156 form is available, should you need it.
2) A Supplemental Nonimmigrant Visa Application, Form DS-157 provides additional information about your travel plans. Submission of this completed form is required for all male applicants between 16-45 years of age. It is also required for all applicants from state sponsors of terrorism age 16 and over, irrespective of gender, without exception. Seven countries are now designated as state sponsors of terrorism, including North Korea, Cuba, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Iraq, and Libya. Select Special Processing Procedures to learn more. You should know that a consular officer may require any nonimmigrant visa applicant to complete this form. Here is Form DS-157 .
3) A passport valid for travel to the United States and with a validity date at least six months beyond the applicant's intended period of stay in the United States. If more than one person is included in the passport, each person desiring a visa must make an application;
4) One (1) 2x2 photograph. See the required photo format explained in nonimmigrant photograph requirements .
5) A notice of approval, Form I-797.
Other Documentation
With the exception of the H-1 and L-1, applicants may also need to show proof of binding ties to a residence outside the United States which they have no intention of abandoning. It is impossible to specify the exact form the evidence should take since applicants' circumstances vary greatly.
U.S. PORT OF ENTRY
Applicants should be aware that a visa does not guarantee entry into the United States. The Directorate of Border and Transportation Security in the Department of Homeland Security has authority to deny admission. Also, the period for which the bearer of a temporary work visa is authorized to remain in the United States is determined by the Directorate of Border and Transportation Security, not the consular officer. At the port of entry, a Directorate of Border and Transportation Security official validates Form I-94, Record of Arrival-Departure, which notes the length of stay permitted. Those temporary workers who wish to stay beyond the time indicated on their Form I-94 must contact the Directorate of Border and Transportation Security to request Form I-539, Application to Extend Status. The decision to grant or deny a request for extension of stay is made solely by the Directorate of Border and Transportation Security.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Family Members
With the exception of "Q-1 Cultural Exchange Visitors," the spouse and unmarried, minor children of an applicant under any of the above classifications may also be classified as nonimmigrants in order to accompany or join the principal applicant. A person who has received a visa as the spouse or child of a temporary worker may not accept employment in the United States. The principal applicant must be able to show that he or she will be able to support his or her family in the United States.
Time Limits
All of the above classifications have fixed time limits in which the alien may perform services in the United States. In some cases those time limits may be extended by the BCIS in order to permit the completion of the services. Thereafter, the alien must remain abroad for a fixed period of time before being readmitted as a temporary worker under any classification. The BCIS will notify the petitioner on Form I-797 whenever a visa petition, an extension of a visa petition, or an extension of stay is approved under any of the above classifications. The beneficiary may use a copy of Form I-797 to apply for a new or revalidated visa during the validity period of the petition. The approval of a permanent labor certification or the filing of a preference petition for an alien under the H-1 or L classifications shall not be a basis for denying a visa.
FURTHER INQUIRIES
Questions about petitioning procedures, qualifications for various classifications, and conditions and limitations on employment should be made by the prospective employer or agent in the United States to the nearest BCIS office. Questions on the visa application to the American consular official should be addressed to the appropriate consular office abroad by the applicant.http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1271.html

Corporate Icons Lead Bad U.S. Labor Week

Led by Kodak and Hewlett-Packard, Corporate Icons Make It a Bad Week for American Labor - Friday July 22, 2:18 pm ET By Ben Dobbin, AP Business Writer

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) -- In a week where Alan Greenspan said he expected the U.S. economy to keep growing and Wall Street seemed generally pleased with corporate performance, workers at Eastman Kodak Co., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Kimberly-Clark Corp., among others, were warned about thousands of new layoffs.
"You get immune to it after a while," longtime Kodak technician John Hladis said with barely a shrug when the scythe fell once more at the Rochester-based photography company, slicing away another 10,000 employees.
But some economy watchers are suddenly concerned that this latest flurry of job cuts -- a byproduct of various trends such as outsourcing, mergers, automation, changing technology and consumer demands -- may foreshadow some trouble ahead.
"We won't know till afterwards, but I do think we may be seeing a tipping point in the economic cycle that these big layoffs are flagging," said John A. Carpenter, chief executive of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a Chicago-based employment research firm. "I think it's a sign that leaks are breaking out."
One thing is for certain: It was not a good week for American labor. In fact, it's been an unusually torrid summer in terms of trimming payrolls.
U.S. corporations announced plans in June to cut 110,996 jobs -- the highest monthly total in 17 months -- and July's toll could turn out to be steeper. Overall job cuts are on the rise in 2005, reaching 538,274 through June, according to Challenger's monthly job-cut analysis.
Suffering its third straight quarterly loss, Kodak upped its job-slashing target by 10,000 on Wednesday from an earlier range of 12,000 to 15,000. By mid-2007, its worldwide payroll should level out below 50,000, one-third what it was in 1988.
Even as the picture-taking pioneer enjoys rapid gains in digital photography, it is struggling to cope with plummeting demand for conventional silver-halide film, its cash cow for the last century.
"We cannot keep bleeding year after year," Kodak's new chief executive, Antonio Perez, told analysts. "We need to establish an end point to this transformation, and we need to get there soon." (STOP the bleeding, FIRE Kodak cheif Antonio Parez)
The same applies at Hewlett-Packard. The Palo Alto, Calif., computer and printer maker moved Tuesday to modify its pension benefits and eliminate 14,500 jobs, or nearly 10 percent of its work force, in a scramble to rein in bloated costs and combat efficient rivals.
Kimberly-Clark joined the job terminators Friday: The maker of Kleenex tissues and Huggies diapers plans to let 6,000 people go and sell or close as many as 20 plants. And Ford Motor Corp., which is already cutting 2,700 salaried workers this year, is mulling more aggressive measures.
In contrast, International Business Machines Corp.'s second-quarter earnings beat Wall Street's expectations, suggesting a rebound from its difficulties this spring when it targeted 14,500 job cuts, primarily in Europe.
Indeed, the economic picture displayed plenty of positives this past week.
The Labor Department said the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits plunged 34,000 to 303,000 -- the largest one-week improvement since December 2002. And while Greenspan cautioned that a big run-up in already high energy prices could throw a wrench into his forecast, the Federal Reserve Board chairman reiterated his bullish economic outlook.
"The economy," Challenger acknowledged, "has been very strong for the last year. We've seen over 2 million jobs created, we've seen unemployment drop to 5.0 percent, but I feel like we've probably hit the high water mark.
"We are beginning to see some of these icon companies topple a bit. It's not visible too much yet, but these are signs and suggest the next six months to a year are going to be tougher times for the economy."
The huge overhauls at General Motors Corp., Kodak and other bellwether companies are hardly surprising considering the heightened pressures of global competition, countered Pete Sperling, professor of finance at Yeshiva University's Sy Syms School of Business in New York. The U.S. economy has become more dominated by service industries, he said.
"It's something that's basically long overdue," Sperling said, referring to the transformations under way at many legacy manufacturers. "I would almost argue that if these businesses don't get it done now, we'll be in bigger trouble down the road. It's adapt or just go by the wayside.
"One of the most difficult things," Sperling added, "is you need a senior management that knows how to function in this kind of environment -- and that's very difficult to find. At Kodak, it sounds as if at least they're moving in the right direction."
Kodak is hoping film will continue to bring enough cash as it steadies on its new bearing. But less than seven weeks after taking the helm, CEO Perez is already reaching for the ax.
Hladis, 55, who joined Kodak in 1975, has survived a seemingly endless string of company cutbacks over the last quarter-century and is glad to be working in a research unit focused on "mostly digital stuff." But Stan Beloch, 52, a machine operator, worries his 15-year career has fallen in front of the firing line.
"They tell us nobody is going to lose their jobs, they can send us to other areas of the company," he said gloomily. "But there's not a whole lot of other areas you can go to."
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/050722/economy_job_losses.html?.v=4&printer=1

Race to the Bottom: Kodak and HP plans to cut around 25,000 jobs each

Kodak Shedding Up to 10,000 More Jobs
By BEN DOBBIN, AP Business Writer - Wednasday July 20, 2005
Eastman Kodak Co. said Wednesday it is cutting as many as 10,000 more jobs as the company that turned picture-taking into a hobby for the masses navigates a tough transition from film to digital photography.
The lightning transition to a world without film is forcing an extreme makeover at the world's biggest maker of the product and coincided with the disclosure of a second-quarter loss. Shares of the company stock dipped more than 6 percent.
On top of 12,000 to 15,000 layoffs targeted 18 months ago, Kodak is reducing its payroll by almost a quarter from where it stood in 2004, when a string of recent acquisitions is taken into account.
Kodak missed Wall Street forecasts by a wide margin, largely because of a steeper-than-expected slide in film sales — even in emerging markets such as China. It lost $146 million, or 51 cents a share, in the April-June quarter, compared to a profit of $136 million, or 46 cents, a year ago.
Revenue grew 6 percent to $3.69 billion from $3.46 billion in last year's second quarter.
Excluding restructuring and research charges, plus $19 million in asset impairments from an investment in China's Lucky Film Co., Kodak posted earnings from continuing operations of 53 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had forecast earnings of 80 cents a share.
"I don't need to change our overall strategy — the further we get into this, the better the strategy looks," Kodak's new chief executive, Antonio Perez, said during a conference call with analysts. "But I need to dramatically accelerate some of the steps needed to get there.
"Sales of our consumer traditional products are declining faster than expected," he said. "Although we have been moving rapidly to get our costs down ... we are picking up the pace dramatically. This is what the company needs to succeed as a digital company."
To fortify its swelling digital businesses, Kodak is slashing deeper than it set out to do in January 2004.
The new cuts will include 7,000 manufacturing jobs, many in Kodak's hometown.
"It's a company now oriented toward having others make everything else for them, and concentrating on research and marketing," said Ulysses Yannas, a broker for Buckman, Buckman & Reid.
Kodak plans to make as many 25,000 job cuts by the middle of 2007 and trim its traditional manufacturing assets to about $1 billion, down from $2.9 billion in January 2004. The company will also add about 8,000 employees, however, bringing its work force to under 50,000 people.
Kodak wrapped up an almost $3 billion shopping spree in January to expand its reach as a digital heavyweight in photography, medical imaging and commercial printing.
With the era of soaring sales and fat profits from chemical-based businesses now departed, Kodak expects digital technology to become its biggest source of revenue this year for the first time.
In the second quarter, sales of digital products and services in all its businesses rose 43 percent to $1.843 billion, helped by a sharp rise in sales of cameras, kiosks and thermal printers. In contrast, revenue on the analog side dropped 15 percent to $1.843 billion — exactly in line with digital sales.
Kodak said its digital sales in June exceeded traditional revenues for the first time ever. Hurt by falling traditional sales, even in China's more affluent, coastal regions, Kodak now expects its traditional sales to plunge from 23 percent to 27 percent in 2005, compared with a 20 percent drop forecast in April.
Health imaging sales rose 3 percent to $694 million, reflecting better-than-expected traditional sales. Graphic communications sales soared 144 percent to $794 million, largely because of Kodak's buyout this year of Sun Chemical Corp.'s 50 percent stake in a jointly owned commercial graphic-arts business.
Digital accounted for around $5.5 billion of sales in 2004, but could vault as high as $8 billion this year. Chemical-based businesses will account for around $6.6 billion, down from $8 billion in 2004.
Founded in 1881 by George Eastman, Kodak turned point-and-shoot photography into an overnight craze when it came out with a $1 Brownie camera in 1900. A century later, the swift shift to digital looked to have caught it off-guard. Kodak insists it was waiting for a mass market to clearly develop, and it has since captured the top spot in the U.S. point-and-shoot digital camera market.
"They're No. 1 in just about everything they compete in except for commercial digital printing," Yannas said. "They're No. 1 in health care, in cameras, in home printers.
Hewlett-Packard, IBM's been doing the same thing. It's a question of adjusting their model for the digital world."
Kodak stock fell $1.85, or 6.4 percent, to close at $26.89 in trading Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange. On the Net: http://www.kodak.com
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050720/ap_on_bi_ge/earns_eastman_kodak
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Huge HP layoff expected any day - Posted on Fri, Jul. 15, 2005
By Therese PolettiKNIGHT RIDDER
Hewlett-Packard could announce the layoff of as many as 10,000 to 25,000 employees next week as part of a plan to restructure the Palo Alto technology giant, according to Wall Street analysts.
Such a shake-up has been anticipated since HP Chief Executive Mark Hurd replaced ousted CEO Carly Fiorina in April. Some HP workers have taken to calling the expected reorganization ``the Big One.''
HP spokeswoman Alexa Hanes declined to comment on a growing number of reports on Wall Street that Hurd's unveiling of his strategy for HP is imminent. Hurd has said HP needs to cut costs and improve performance to compete against rivals like Dell.
On Thursday, Cindy Shaw, an analyst at Moors & Cabot, issued a report citing a Silicon Valley insider who said HP may announce a management reorganization as early as Monday that could include widely expected layoffs. Shaw's report was the first to predict job cuts could be as high as 25,000. HP employs 9,000 people in the Bay Area and 150,000 people worldwide.
She said a management reorganization could include the long-expected retirement of Chief Financial Officer Bob Wayman, if Hurd has found a replacement for him. Vyomesh Joshi, who heads HP's highly profitable printing business, will remain in his job.
Hurd, the former chief executive of NCR, already has brought in two outside executives to bolster his management team. He hired Dell's chief information officer, Randy Mott, clearly signaling his intent to replicate Dell's ability to hold down costs. Last month, Hurd separated the printer business from the personal computer business, undoing one of Fiorina's last moves as CEO. Hurd hired Todd Bradley, previously the CEO of handheld computer maker palmOne, to head up HP's PC business.
Toni Sacconaghi, a Sanford Bernstein analyst, recently issued a report predicting Hurd may also cut HP's research and development budget. That could endanger some of the company's loftier, futuristic research as well as what HP executives have long cited as a competitive advantage over Dell, which spends far less on R&D. Sacconaghi estimated Hurd could cut HP's $3.5 billion R&D budget by $250 million to $500 million. Sacconaghi estimated, though, that HP's research and development spending is nearly $1 billion more than the sum of its relevant competitors.
Earlier this week, HP introduced improvements in its printing technology that will help it save future manufacturing costs.
Some HP employees who have met with Hurd when he visited their divisions said the no-nonsense CEO talked about which HP operations were ``off benchmark,'' meaning their profits were weaker than competitors or their costs were higher.
``He said, this is where everybody else is, there is where we are at,'' said one HP employee who asked not to be named for fear of retribution for speaking to the media.
Wall Street analysts have been predicting for the past few weeks that Hurd would cut anywhere between 10,000 to 15,000 jobs, across a wide range of HP businesses.
Since November, HP has cut 3,000 jobs.
But analysts believe Hurd needs to cut more for the company to be competitive.
HP sells both low-profit-margin products such as personal computers, as well as high-profit corporate servers. Most PC makers, such as Dell, do not spend much on R&D, and instead let Intel and Microsoft do most of the innovating on chips and software. When it comes to big network computer servers, however, companies like HP, IBM and Sun Microsystems spend tens of millions on research to develop their own designs of faster performing systems to differentiate themselves.
``HP's challenge . . . is to apply one model to both competitive fronts, which are very, very different,'' said Shaw of Moors & Cabot.
HP is expected to announce its fiscal third quarter earnings Aug. 16. Some analysts have predicted Hurd would wait until earnings to unveil a big restructuring plan, but that seems increasingly unlikely.

Contact Therese Poletti at tpoletti@mercurynews.com or at (415) 477-2510.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/12141057.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

Economic Treason in the USA, Particularly for High-tech & Manufacturing Jobs

What Kind of Country Destroys the Job Market for Its Own Citizens? CounterPunch.org Paul Craig Roberts: Economic Treason: Mike Corbeil, lundi, 18/07/2005 - 04:08

A question some people might have after reading the above article could be, say, "But how can individual Canadian citizens and residents help out Americans in this kind of (treachorous) context?", and the answer is very simple, albeit not easy for many or all to accept, for many people are self-centered, selfish, greedy, .... "The how" is, by not seeking jobs in the US that require work visas issued by governments; leaving that Canadians should not seek jobs in the US on either TN or H-1B visas, for example.

And, yes, or at least it used to be true, Canadians can also apply for H-1B instead of TN; it's just that they're usually required to go the TN route, and I believe it's most likely because (if the rule hasn't changed over the past several years anyway) TN visas are valid for only one year at a time, needing to be renewed yearly, while H-1B visas (again, if the rule hasn't changed ...) are valid for three years at a time, provide cheaper "bargains", and Canadians, citizens anyway, have access to the TN visas.

And if reality has not changed ..., then around half of all H-1B visas go to people of India; people, who certainly are no worse, certainly not in human terms, but who nevertheless are not only much less expensive than US citizens, but also much less, initially anyway, than Canadians, and not as much but nevertheless considerably less expensive than Mexicans.

Remember the news about how NAFTA led to jobs being shipped to Mexico from both Canada and the US, long known news, already, and then how, much more recently and due to globalisation, globalising imperialism and fascism, those jobs were then relocated from Mexico to India?/! It's important reality to carefully remember and pay attention to.Canadians need to cease seeking jobs in the US for which US citizens are being treasonously refused.

That applies to both citizen and non-citizen, resident Canadians, for the latter can't get jobs in the US on TN status, I believe to recall anyway, but certainly can on H-1B. Canadians not yet working in the US should refrain from applying, let alone getting to the point that rejecting actual job offers in the US can be in question. And Canadians already there on either of these visas should seek to exit and to return home as soon as possible; so that US citizens and residents can have a better chance of finding work; for Canadians to cease supporting those treasonous US citizens and residents who refuse to employ other US citizens and residents.

Mike CorbeilCantons de Hatley, QcP.S. It is very healthy to remember, and very carefully: Do for others that which you would want to be done for yourselves; and do not unto others that which you would not want done unto yourselves; Jesus of Nazareth and Confucious. Holistically, those are synonymous principles, but "appearances can be, often are, deceiving"; and based on all that is known of Jesus, it is thus arguably certain that He meant the principle in its full(est) sense. (It's just that I don't know anything about the actual life of Confucious, not having yet taken time to learn about it, and thus cannot say if he would have meant the principle he stated in its complete, holistically whole sense.)

If Canadians can come to sound, healthy understanding and acceptance of those two principles, then it should help in terms of not seeking jobs, capitalistic opportunities in the US, or anywhere for that matter; where the citizens of the country in question are being treasonously treated. Sometimes we need a little extra inspiration, and the above two principles are not an unhealthy commencement; the combined whole of them being very healthy.To be complicit with treason, well, the example from Jeanne d'Arc's, aka Joan of Arc, story provides a couple of examples.

It's about war, opposing imperialistic invasion, conquest and domination, which is very fitting for current world events, but also with respect to what's been happening for American workers; "tangentially" speaking. For that, people can simply go to TheFreeDictionary.com and search on "Joan of Arc". (Francophones wanting to read the text in French can go to the same page, scroll to the bottom and choose a link on Jeanne d'Arc from there.)

Check for the encyclopedia links near the top of the intial page, especially if it's only the dictionary entry on her story; the other pages having many links, including to French texts.Unfortunately, we're, today, seeing old history repeating itself; again, and again, .... "It's always, 'the same old story', over and over again."Many people who say to have good intentions are actually lying and know that they are; while many others who ignorantly cause harm only haven't a clue what real critical thinking means, or .... In the following article by Robert Fisk, a Lebanese friend of his and who has real real-world experience expresses his wonder, about whether we people in the West really live on planet earth, or not; and I venture to guess that likely most, i.e., Westerners, do not, but instead in stupid "disneyland" or "hollywood" nonsense; people caught up with nonsensical sensationalism rather than being focused on real reality.http://www.cmaq.net/fr/node.php?id=21706

Economic Treason
What Kind of Country Destroys the Job Market for Its Own Citizens?
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
The June payroll jobs report did not receive much attention due to the July 4 holiday, but the depressing 21st century job performance of the US economy continues unabated.
o Only 144,000 private sector jobs were created, each one of which was in domestic services.
o 56,000 jobs were created in professional and business services, about half of which are in administrative and waste services.
o 38,000 jobs were created in education and health services, almost all of which are in health care and social assistance.
o 19,000 jobs were created in leisure and hospitality, almost all of which are waitresses and bartenders.
o Membership associations and organizations created 10,000 jobs and repair and maintenance created 4,000 jobs.
o Financial activities created 16,000 jobs.
This most certainly is not the labor market profile of a first world country, much less a superpower.
Where are the jobs for this year's crop of engineering and science graduates?
US manufacturing lost another 24,000 jobs in June.
A country that doesn't manufacture doesn't need many engineers. And the few engineering jobs available go to foreigners.
Readers have sent me employment listings from US software development firms. The listings are discriminatory against American citizens. One ad from a company in New Jersey that is a developer for many companies, including Oracle, specifies that the applicant must have a TN visa.
A TN or Trade Nafta visa is what is given to Mexicans and Canadians, who are willing to work in the US at below prevailing wages.
Another ad from a software consulting company based in Omaha, Nebraska, specifies it wants software engineers who are H-1B transferees. What this means is that the firm is advertising for foreigners already in the US who have H-1B work visas.
The reason the US firms specify that they have employment opportunities only for foreigners who hold work visas is because the foreigners will work for less than the prevailing US salary.
Gentle reader, when you read allegations that there is a shortage of engineers in America, necessitating the importation of foreigners to do the work, you are reading a bald faced lie. If there were a shortage of American engineers, employers would not word their job listings to read that no American need apply and that they are offering jobs only to foreigners holding work visas.
What kind of country gives preference to foreigners over its own engineering graduates?
What kind of country destroys the job market for its own citizens?
How much longer will parents shell out $100,000 for a college education for a son or daughter who end up employed as a bartender, waitress, or temp?
Paul Craig Roberts has held a number of academic appointments and has contributed to numerous scholarly publications. He served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. His graduate economics education was at the University of Virginia, the University of California at Berkeley, and Oxford University. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions. He can be reached at: paulcraigroberts@yahoo.com
http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts07162005.html

Call it "America for Sale" - Foreigners buy up American real estate

By Ron Scherer, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor Fri Jul 15, 4:00 AM ET
Earlier this year, real estate marketer Melissa Rubin took some South American clients to a party to promote a new condo that developers hoped to sell before a shovel hit the ground.
Even by Miami standards, the party was exotic. There were tigers, chimps, human flamethrowers, jumbo TVs, and the usual red-carpet food and drink. There was also a bikini-clad woman covered in chocolate. "If we take them to a party, it helps them get excited about the project," says Ms. Rubin of Platinum Properties International.

Indeed, developers are going all-out to charm their clients, and more and more those clients include the world's wealthy elite from such countries as Argentina, Mexico, Australia, and Germany. These foreign buyers, in fact, are one of the important reasons the housing bubble continues to grow in hot markets like Miami, New York, and Las Vegas. In many cases, they're taking advantage of the strong euro or trying to get their money into a dollar-denominated hiding place.

The result: In Miami, for one, some condo buildings have as much as two-thirds of their units owned by foreigners. Call it America for Sale.
"No question, foreigners are part of the bubble," says Stephen Wayner, first vice president at Bayview Financial Exchange Services LLC in Miami.

Although there are no numbers indicating how much foreigners are pouring into the United States to buy condos, there are some eye-opening anecdotal signs:
• In Las Vegas, wealthy foreign buyers - mostly from Mexico - have snapped up 12 percent of the condos at Icon, twin 48-story towers that are now almost sold out even though they won't start construction until next month.
• New York City real estate brokers estimate that up to 33 percent of new condos sold in the city are going to non-Americans, especially Europeans, who one broker describes as "very aggressive."
• Asian buyers are jumping in, too. Real estate agents are flying to Shanghai, Beijing, Bangkok, and Kuala Lumpur to talk up the property market. Recently, a large group of Korean finance, construction, insurance, and engineering executives conducted a "study tour" of southeast Florida real estate. They plan to return next April.

A bargain purchase Part of the allure of American real estate is the cost. While some of the prices may seem high to Americans, to Europeans and others the real estate feels like a bargain, particularly when figured in euros or pounds sterling.

Miami has long had a history of attracting Latin American investment. The weather reminds Central and South Americans of home, and they've visited Miami's shops for years, lugging home everything from appliances to designer sneakers. In addition, Spanish may be the first language of south Florida instead of English.

And the South American elite have long viewed the city as a safe place to stockpile dollar-denominated assets, whether it be in cash or real estate.
"Every planeload comes in with potential buyers," says Ronald Shuffield, president of Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell Realtors in Coral Gables, which is also representing Met 3, a 74-story condo tower. "Almost every Latin American who buys a condominium here has in the back of their mind, 'That's my safe refuge. If I have to leave, that's where I can go.' "

What's also changed is the active selling of US real estate on foreign shores. Within the past month, Mr. Shuffield has sent brokers to Argentina and Spain for real estate trade shows. ("They are just like yacht trade shows," he says.) Recently, he had a broker in Mexico City meeting with people who might want to plunk down up to $2 million for a condo.

Recently, Rubin's partner rented a hotel suite in Caracas, Venezuela, to show floor plans to brokers and their clients. "He came back with lots of leads and sold a few," says Rubin, who tries to maintain a relationship with her foreign clients by sending birthday cards and calling them every six weeks to update them on the market.

The next wave of buyers might well be from Asia. Several new Miami condos have Asian names such as Mei, the mythical Chinese symbol for beauty.
This week, John Pinson, a real estate agent in Palm Beach and president of the International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI-USA), is traveling to China and Malaysia. He has also scheduled future trips to Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan, and India. "Some of the newest buyers are Vietnamese and Thais," he adds.

Marketing a 'buzz'Whoever the prospective foreign buyers, marketers say it is important to create a "buzz." One way to do this is a launch party where no money exchanges hands. In Las Vegas, the Icon tower party featured a chocolate fountain and South American, Asian, and Californian cuisine. And, says Sarah Prinsloo, president of Related Prinsloo Realty Services in Las Vegas, there were foreign real estate brokers who speak English. So far, 12 percent of the units have been sold to Mexicans. "They are coming for second homes and an investment," says Ms. Prinsloo.

Fortune International, exclusive brokers for Avenue, two new towers in Miami, are even more successful at attracting foreign buyers. In four months, Fortune has sold almost one-third of the units to South Americans and another third to Europeans. The company has a large network of foreign brokers who help to line up potential customers. They also do major events, says Lucrecia Lindemann, the sales director, such as hot-air balloon rides and special lunches.

"I'm just back from Paris, and sales to the Jewish community there are good," says Ms. Lindemann. "And the Italians are coming here for security and personal reasons."
For many of the foreigners, it's been a beneficial purchase. Lindemann says in less than a year, prices on condos along Brickell Avenue, where her buildings are rising, have soared almost 75 percent. "Everything here has been a good investment for them," she says.
Copyright © 2005 The Christian Science Monitor