H-1B visa ban for bailed-out US firms irrational: Montek

[OhioChick]

18 Feb 2009, 1754 hrs IST, PTI

NEW DELHI: The government has termed as "economically irrational" the provisions that debar US companies from hiring people holding H-1B visas if they take help under $787 billion economic bail out package, which President Barack Obama has signed into law.

"I think it is an indication of protectionism and interestingly it is an extremely bad decision," Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia told reporters on Tuesday night even as several MPs demanded that the government take up the matter with Washington.

"The decision says that if you have a company that needs assistance it must not hire H-1B visa workers, which really means if you have a company that is weak and you want to assist it you are going to deny it the opportunity to hire cheaper labour. To my mind it is economically irrational," Ahluwalia said.

"This is the beginning of what could be an irreversible slide into protectionism which happened in 1930," he added.

Meanwhile, several parliamentarians led by MP and chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on industry V Hanumantha Rao wrote to external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee requesting that the government intervene to protect the interest of Indian non-immigrant workers in the US who go there on H-1B visas.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Business/Montek-hits-out-at-new-H-1B-policy/articleshow/4150753.cms

Meanwhile.....

India firing foreign workers to give jobs to locals

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Jobs/Expatriate_executives_making_way_for_local_hires/articleshow/4039529.cms

[antigop]

1. Ok, we need to own the debate here-- say it loud and clear -- YES, IT'S PROTECTIONISM

We are PROTECTING JOBS FOR U.S. CITIZENS.

Repeat it over and over.

[OhioChick]

2. You got it! n/t

[ihavenobias]

6. Unfortunately it's been made a dirty word.

The question is, is it better to reclaim it OR to reframe it entirely?

[ChromeFoundry]

9. This seems to be a growing trend...

Protectionism is bad because it's the US taxpayers duty to lift up the world.
Fair Trade is bad because 'Free Trade' yields short term profits...and it's just another word for protectionism, of course.
Buy American is now Un-American because it hurts the economies of growing nations.

A large portion of the people on here believe that "Patriot" is some kind of freakin' code-word reserved for Republican use only.

Soon we'll have to invent a whole new subset of words just to be able to get a point across without being stoned in the streets.

[wroberts189]

3. oh god what an idiot: Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia

"The decision says that if you have a company that needs assistance it must not hire H-1B visa workers, which really means if you have a company that is weak and you want to assist it you are going to deny it the opportunity to hire cheaper labor. To my mind it is economically irrational," Ahluwalia said.
-----

The money is not to assist companies it is to create American jobs. Somebody please send this fool the memo.

[1776Forever]

4. Both some Dems and Repubs need to get the memo - It is time to save our middle class! Get over it!

Damn it this is the only hope we have now! We need to stand up for our country and its true base of hard working middle class people that keep it going!

YES - It is damn time! Whoopee!:kick:

[blue97keet]

5. the key is "cheaper labour."

and the source is an Indian government official. So let's see any U.S. politician argue that H-1B is about anything but cheap labor.

[OhioChick]

7. That's why I put it in bold....

The pro-outsourcers here (the few) have disputed the facts and studies that have suggested it's about the "cheap labor."

Now it's said....straight from the mouth of an Indian government official.

[Vincardog]

8. Bingo it is "cheaper labor." Killing American jobs is what got us into this mess.