Strange Bail-out story breaking..

[sr71blackbird]

What the hell is this......

The dozen banks receiving the biggest rescue packages, totaling more than $150 billion, requested visas for more than 21,800 foreign workers over the past six years for positions that included senior vice presidents, corporate lawyers, junior investment analysts and human resources specialists. The average annual salary for those jobs was $90,721, nearly twice the median income for all American households.

Link to story (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090201/ap_on_bi_ge/bailout_foreign_workers)

So, the banks that we helped out have been trying to and have been arranging to have foreign workers brought here and they were going to pay these people more than existing workers are making. I wonder why?
This brings so many potential conspiracy speculations to my mind.

What are yours?

[Rwalkr]

Let me guess....mid eastern countries?

[sailor]

without reading the article and talking completely out of my ass, just because they make more than the median worker in the us, don't mean they make more than the median worker in their position in the us. huge difference. they may also be bringing people here to work and train and then shipping them back to their operations in their own country. i have friends who've had to go to india, china, chile, mexico (to name a few) for extended periods of time for these giant firms, so it works in both directions.

[EliSnow]

Without context, we can't tell if there is or isn't a story. For instance, for the jobs levels for which they sought these workers, what was the total number of American workers hired? 21K is a big number, but it may be miniscule next to the total number of American workers hired in the same job grades.

It's the problem with using statistics in a story. You need to have several surrounding an issue to know if there is a problem. Just one statistic could be misleading.

[lleeder]

This thread is useless without bad sports cliches and sleeping bags full of jizz.

[sailor]

This thread is useless without bad sports cliches and sleeping bags full of jizz.

these companies gotta dance with the ones that brought them.

[DonInNC]

Here's an important part of the story that was buried at the end:

"It is unclear how many foreign workers the banks actually hired; the government does not release those details. The actual number is likely a fraction of the 21,800 foreign workers the banks sought to hire because the government limits the number of visas it grants to 85,000 each year among all U.S. employers."

Pharma, Biotech, and other high tech companies hire a shitload of H-1B's. I can't imagine that many being left over for the banks.

[sr71blackbird]

It pisses me off to no end if this is the case. I think shere should be some stipulation in any bale out, considering the current economy and employment situation that any company that is given a bail out that is funded by US taxpayers that any jobs created as a result of this money go to pay only US workers. Don't you agree?

[sr71blackbird]

Almost no one I talked to about this today was aware of this. Weird.

[DonInNC]

It pisses me off to no end if this is the case. I think shere should be some stipulation in any bale out, considering the current economy and employment situation that any company that is given a bail out that is funded by US taxpayers that any jobs created as a result of this money go to pay only US workers. Don't you agree?

What pisses me off is that there isn't a real effort to retrain American workers in order to transition them from factory jobs to a more contemporary profession.

[sr71blackbird]

Shouldnt it be up to the former factory workers to retrain themselves? I did it. What I am talking about is the banks we gave money to are importing people from other countries to do this work and paying more than their American counterparts! How does that make sense??

[Bob Impact]

Shouldnt it be up to the former factory workers to retrain themselves? I did it. What I am talking about is the banks we gave money to are importing people from other countries to do this work and paying more than their American counterparts! How does that make sense??

I work for a very large company (not one that did or would ever be in the position to take bail out money), from my point of view it's this: it's so cheap to move someone these days that if they fit the job you'll move them in, regardless of where they are from. Global companies have zero reason to pay Americans anymore than anyone else working in American, anything else is racist. It's akin to paying a white worker more because they are white.

[DonInNC]

Shouldnt it be up to the former factory workers to retrain themselves? I did it. What I am talking about is the banks we gave money to are importing people from other countries to do this work and paying more than their American counterparts! How does that make sense??

You're right - that it is up to the workers, and I retrained myself as well. However, I would like to see more resources be put towards helping community and state colleges retrain workers.

And maybe the banks have the economies of scale to make bringing in H1B workers as a first option work, but I've spent a lot of time listening to customers complain about not being able to find qualified job candidates domestically, and later, complaining about what a pain in the ass the H1B process is. I think policing the H1B system is something we have to be diligent about, but I'm not alarmed at this point.

[DonInNC]

I work for a very large company (not one that did or would ever be in the position to take bail out money), from my point of view it's this: it's so cheap to move someone these days that if they fit the job you'll move them in, regardless of where they are from. Global companies have zero reason to pay Americans anymore than anyone else working in American, anything else is racist. It's akin to paying a white worker more because they are white.

From reading some of your previous posts, I've come to the conclusion that we work for the same company.

[Bob Impact]

From reading some of your previous posts, I've come to the conclusion that we work for the same company.

From your location I can guess that you would be incorrect.

[DonInNC]

you would be incorrect.

I get that a lot.

[epo]

Shouldnt it be up to the former factory workers to retrain themselves? I did it. What I am talking about is the banks we gave money to are importing people from other countries to do this work and paying more than their American counterparts! How does that make sense??

At a base root of "personal responsibility" I agree that its an individuals job to get retrained. However it is great public policy on multiple levels for our government to make sure that workers who are displaced are granted more opportunities for re-training.

In today's world economy, corporations can literally go anywhere to get "human capital" or labor. If we can supply an organization with highly-skilled labor, then the United States becomes a more desirable location for organizations to set up shop and create jobs.

At some point we'll figure out that a skilled work force is the way to success in the world economy.

[sr71blackbird]

My speculation is that these banks were in bed with real estate companies to over-inflate the cost of homes, and the banks would grant mortgages to people, regardless of their ability to repay off the loan. They were hoping people would foreclose on their mortgage (and have their credit ruined), so the banks could get the home again and sell it over and over again with the aid of the real estate companies. I also have a feeling that there was foreign investment in this scheme, and now the banks are bringing in these foreigners and paying them more money than necessary. This is my theory.