Live data from Hacker News

Trump sides with Musk on support for H-1B visas for foreign tech workers

theguardian.com

101–110 of 118 posts

Re: Trump sides with Musk on support for H-1B visas for foreign tech workers

#101
post #48

These visas are outdated mechanisms, since US companies can now hire senior developers working remotely, at discount prices, from anywhere in the world On one side we want to disagree with Trump, on the other we support remote work, though one for HN

True, but there is a moderate amount of hard to beancounter-quantify working with people many time zones away for whom their mother tongue is not English.

Communication is an underappreciated valuable engineering skill.

We are getting better at measuring environmental externalities, but not yet those.

Re: Trump sides with Musk on support for H-1B visas for foreign tech workers

#102
post #98
post #69

I used to travel for work, and one year covered companies in St Louis. St Louis is approximately 50% white and 50% black, and yet whenever I went into these companies, the demographics were 50% white and 50% Indian, with blacks only being found as security guards at the front desk. It felt like the H1B were used to fill the low level positions that could have been taken by aspiring black Americans. Steve Bannon made…

H1-B and other visas outside exceptional talent (Einstein level) shouldn't exist. Repeal them.

H-1B is also not the only issue.

Who are these companies that the F500 use for setting "pay bands" for positions, and are they an antitrust threat like that RealPage real-estate firm everyone uses? Inquiring minds want to know...

Re: Trump sides with Musk on support for H-1B visas for foreign tech workers

#103
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If H1B immigrants generates more tax revenue and contribute more on average than locals, largely because of gems like Sundar Pichai that couldn't make the bureaucratic credentialist hurdle of the O1, then what's the problem? It should be expanded and reformed, not contracted and reformed. If you're concerned about degree mills then reform that aspect while expanding the net intake.

Sundar Pichai a gem? What? Are we using the same Google?

He might be referring to his work on Google Chrome

Re: Trump sides with Musk on support for H-1B visas for foreign tech workers

#104
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For example, I've across some of them who think that the (sole) language of India is "Indian"! :) There is no language called Indian, dudes. India is both very diverse (regionally and subregionally and fractally), and a melting pot, like the US, and has been that way, for centuries before the US became like that. In both cases, it is due to both being huge, geographically, and due to the invasions in both countries.…

ha, you think they give a damn about that? If you speak spanish, you're a "mexican", regardless of whether you're from el salvador, ecuador, cuba, whatever. nevermind what they think about "indians"..... JFC indeed

ha, good point, hermano :) [1]

I bet they don't know, either, that cuba is pronounced koobaa, or that [1] hermano (brother) is pronounced ermaano, or that jesus is pronounced haysoos, or even that george (jorje) is pronounced horhay :)

I learned that about koobaa from a kooban :) friend in high school, and about horhay from my aunt who went to the US, did her PhD there, and became a univ prof and a US citizen, and about ermaano from google:

https://www.google.com/search?q=brother+in+Spanish

¡feliz año nuevo!

to all :)

wow, that upside down exclamation mark is cool! I wonder whether it has any particular significance, compared to the upside up one ;)

of course that is from an English speaker standpoint, Spanish speakers may well say that it is normal, and they would be right, of course. there are no rules that prescribe what is right or wrong when it comes to language or even culture.

which is part of my overall point.

I think I first saw it long back when I used to read western cowboy novels and comics as a kid.

Re: Trump sides with Musk on support for H-1B visas for foreign tech workers

#105
Elon wants this for the same reason he will inevitably use his role in the Trump administration to dismantle union protections; he prefers a cheap, easily cowed workforce that he can use and then throw away as needed. Trump shares this mindset and so do his donors. It is true that we get some very qualified people through this program, but that is mostly a happy accident that serves to provide cover for supporting it. The vast majority of the time the visa holders are no more qualified than native applicants, and instead are simply cheaper and easier to exploit labor.

Re: Trump sides with Musk on support for H-1B visas for foreign tech workers

#107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People say this has upset Trump supporters who are supposedly "anti-immigration" but most of the Trump supporters I know are immigrants and nobody has a major problem with this.

I voted for Trump and an immigrant and I'm mixed on immigration. I've been in the US for 29 years now and I'm a US citizen. I'm more American in attitude than most Americans I know. I consider myself a nationalist. Immigration has been both good and bad for America and both sides in this debate are being super dishonest. First and foremost, I strongly believe that elected representatives should represent the best int…

Best post I've read on the subject. As Teddy Roosevelt said, there should be no such thing as a fifty-fifty American - and thank you for holding this view and for defending American culture, it means a lot. I'm not a fan of straight up multiculturalism (I don't think it works, but some elements can be absorbed), but multiracial nationalism can absolutely work and that's what is missing IMO.

Re: Trump sides with Musk on support for H-1B visas for foreign tech workers

#108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Got it. Wish you the best. Wish you had had a better experience here like I have. Only thing I can surmise is that you ended up in some cities in your list that left a lot to be desired. Denver is the only place on that list I'd ever consider living in. I'm unfamiliar with Fayetteville, AR, so no thoughts there, but I'd never want to live in DC, Chicago or St Louis. What was your favorite city out of all those and wh…

What was your favorite city out of all those and what was your least favorite? Washington DC - by far. I have been everywhere in the US as well except for Alaska, for business and pleasure. Washington DC is the only place that has some form of a soul :) Are you and your wife from the same country? Did you meet in the US or came here together? I am from Serbia, my wife is from Croatia. We met in Washington DC. We came…

First of all, I want to say, I'm sorry for what our government did to your countries. Absolutely shameful. (This goes for pretty all the wars the US has been involved with in the 20th century, but especially those since Kennedy was assassinated).

I've always been curious about Washington DC. I've visited twice. Seems like it attracts a lot of the best people from all over the globe but the worst people from within the United States.

One of my biggest wishes for the US is to decentralize pretty much all the functions that Washington DC does today. In its current form, it doesn't exist to further the best interests of the United States. It only functions to further the best interest of itself. Classic case of the Shirky Principle applied to a city.

Curious to hear more about the soul you're talking about? My guess is it has more to do with the foreign presence in that city than the domestic presence.

Re: Trump sides with Musk on support for H-1B visas for foreign tech workers

#109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I voted for Trump and an immigrant and I'm mixed on immigration. I've been in the US for 29 years now and I'm a US citizen. I'm more American in attitude than most Americans I know. I consider myself a nationalist. Immigration has been both good and bad for America and both sides in this debate are being super dishonest. First and foremost, I strongly believe that elected representatives should represent the best int…

Best post I've read on the subject. As Teddy Roosevelt said, there should be no such thing as a fifty-fifty American - and thank you for holding this view and for defending American culture, it means a lot. I'm not a fan of straight up multiculturalism (I don't think it works, but some elements can be absorbed), but multiracial nationalism can absolutely work and that's what is missing IMO.

Glad to know other people feel this way. My experience has been that there are a lot more of us out there than it feels, but you only find that our when you start speaking up about it.

One of my biggest observations in life is that many discussions that seem dichotomous are not. Most everything exists on a spectrum.

One of the biggest one is pro-choice vs pro-life. My experience has been that there is a very very very tiny minority that is absolutely pro-life and an even tinier minority that is pro-choice. The vast majority are in the it depends on time and gestation. If you ask the right questions of someone, you find out that they are pro-choice but feel that abortion in the 8th month is wrong. Likewise, when you ask the right questions, may pro-life people are okay with abortion like the morning after pill to like up to a month or two. What I've learned is that we've been conditioned to think we all fall into one camp or another, but the truth is most are in the same camp but just disagree on when is okay within that very wide 9-month span.

Likewise, the same goes for the debate about immigration. There's this push to force everyone to fall into the camp of 100% for immigration no matter what or no immigration whatsoever.

The truth is that most folks are actually simultaneously pro-immigration and anti-immigration. Almost everyone feels like there is some common culture. You need to have it if you want any semblance of cooperation, but even the most ardent anti-immigration person agrees that there are folks work bringing into the tribe.

There is no magic dirt. Demographics are destiny and you really can't reverse the damage from an immigration policy that makes no attempt to discern between folks you should and should not allow in. It's possible to take a cautious approach and increase it later if proven to be too conservative. The reverse however is very very messy.

If you haven't seen it yet, you should check out Sam Hyde's ~45 minute video message to Elon Musk. Absolutely amazing summary of the state of things.

Re: Trump sides with Musk on support for H-1B visas for foreign tech workers

#110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Best post I've read on the subject. As Teddy Roosevelt said, there should be no such thing as a fifty-fifty American - and thank you for holding this view and for defending American culture, it means a lot. I'm not a fan of straight up multiculturalism (I don't think it works, but some elements can be absorbed), but multiracial nationalism can absolutely work and that's what is missing IMO.

Glad to know other people feel this way. My experience has been that there are a lot more of us out there than it feels, but you only find that our when you start speaking up about it. One of my biggest observations in life is that many discussions that seem dichotomous are not. Most everything exists on a spectrum. One of the biggest one is pro-choice vs pro-life. My experience has been that there is a very very ver…

Not commenting on any other part but a slight correction:

The morning after pill is not an abortifacient. While there are different types most (like Levonorgestrel) are antiovulatarory or anti fertilisation.

Post reply on HN