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100 Years Ago, Teddy Roosevelt made a speech for us

Tuesday, 31 August 2010 12:50 |

New Nationalism was Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive political philosophy during the 1912 election. He made the case for what he called the New Nationalism in a speech in Osawatomie, Kansas, in August 1910. The central issue he argued was human welfare versus property rights. He insisted that only a powerful federal government could regulate the economy and guarantee social justice. Roosevelt believed that the concentration in industry was not necessarily bad, if the industry behaved responsibly. He wanted executive agencies (not the courts) to regulate business. The federal government should be used to protect the laboring men, women and children from what he believed to be exploitation. In terms of policy, the New Nationalism supported child labor laws and minimum wage laws for women. Roosevelt supported graduated income and inheritance taxes, workers' compensation for industrial accidents, regulation of the labor of women and children, tariff revision, and firmer regulation of corporations.

Read Teddy Roosevelt's profound speech.

Last Updated ( Tuesday, 31 August 2010 13:42 )

Chamber, ACIP Say Foreign Workers Needed, Slam AFL-CIO Immigration Commission Plan

Thursday, 19 August 2010 12:50 |

by Stan Sorscher

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Council on International Personnel issued a report Aug. 11 highlighting the importance of highly skilled foreign workers and blasting arguments made by the AFL-CIO in favor of a commission to determine the future flow of guestworkers.

According to the report, titled Regaining America's Competitive Advantage: Making Our Immigration System Work, the “admission of high skilled foreign nationals provides significant benefits to the U.S. economy and much of the criticism levied at such foreign nationals and their employers is misplaced.”

Part of the chamber's report focuses on rebutting a study released in Dec. 2009 by AFL-CIO's Department for Professional Employees that found that employers who use the H-1B program often abuse the system, by claiming false labor shortages to justify importing workers who then are intimidated and forced to work for low pay.

“Closing the door to highly educated individuals who allow U.S. companies to remain successful and competitive will weaken, not strengthen, our country's economy,” said Randel K. Johnson, senior vice president of labor, immigration, and employee benefits for the chamber. “The best policy for the United States is one that sides with freedom and innovation, not restriction,” he added.

Last Updated ( Thursday, 19 August 2010 13:03 )

This Time It's Armenia: USAID Funds IT In Eurasia

Thursday, 05 August 2010 14:06 |

After pledging millions to bolster outsourcing in South Asia, federal agency extends largesse to a new recipient.

Even as controversy mounts over its funding of IT outsourcers in South Asia, the U.S. Agency for International Development has announced a program under which it will partner with the government of Armenia—a nation anxious to lure computer work from American shores--to promote the development of the country's information technology industry.

Follow this link for the rest of the story

Last Updated ( Thursday, 05 August 2010 14:23 )

The Best Job Training Is a Job

Friday, 13 August 2010 12:40 |

Stan Sorscher

Stan Sorscher is Legislative Director at the Society for Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), a union representing over 20,000 scientists, engineers, technical and professional employees in the aerospace industry. He has been with SPEEA since 2000.

Stan has a BS in Physics from the University of Michigan, and a PhD in physics from UC Berkeley. He worked on X-ray imaging, image reconstruction and image processing, ultrasonic imaging, optics, and noise analysis. Many years ago, he worked did research in statistical physics and biophysics.

Stan is an activist in Seattle Washington, working on trade, economic development, health care, immigration, workforce development and education in science technology engineering and math.

He manages a co-ed softball team, where he imagines he is the 6th best shortstop on the team, depending on who shows up.

As the economy struggles, we are told that education will be the key to renewed prosperity. So, I was quite surprised to read in the New York Times about a mother who was accused of over-investing in her daughter's college education, by borrowing to send her to NYU. After graduation, they realized the daughter's employment prospects fell well short of the income she would need to pay off her loans.

The article left the impression that the family's resources would have been better spent on some other investment, perhaps real estate, or T-bills.

Follw this link for the rest of the story.

Last Updated ( Friday, 13 August 2010 13:04 )

U.S. To Train 3,000 Offshore IT Workers

Wednesday, 04 August 2010 11:44 |

A $22 million, federally-backed program aims to help outsourcers in South Asia become more fluent in areas like Java programming—and the English language.

In an article posted today on its website, Information Week discusses the intention of a Federal Agency to train foreign workers to compete with US IT workers using tax dollars.

Despite President Obama's pledge to retain more hi-tech jobs in the U.S., a federal agency run by a hand-picked Obama appointee has launched a $22 million program to train workers, including 3,000 specialists in IT and related functions, in South Asia.

Following their training, the tech workers will be placed with outsourcing vendors in the region that provide offshore IT and business services to American companies looking to take advantage of the Asian subcontinent's low labor costs.

Follow this link to read more.

Last Updated ( Thursday, 05 August 2010 11:42 )

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