Earlier quoted context omitted.
What would you prefer?
New science, engineering, medical graduates who have just finished a US degree/masters/PhD?
I would certainly prefer this.
Buy a home, get a US visa, Senators propose
91–100 of 128 posts
Re: Buy a home, get a US visa, Senators propose
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, not the ones planning to go home. But perhaps a more welcoming route to becoming a citizen would help keep some of the ones leaving upon completing their degree.
The only thing that bothers me about this proposal is that it might attract too many people doing PhDs for the wrong reason. And people doing PhDs for the wrong reason usually wind up doing bad research.
people doing PhDs usually wind up doing bad research
FTFY
Seriously though, limiting it to STEM majors would goose academia in the right direction.
Re: Buy a home, get a US visa, Senators propose
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem with housing is that it is too expensive for the common man. Propping up prices artificially is not a solution.
The prices now will be less artificial, since more people will be involved in setting them.
More artificial, since they are buying a visa with a free house attached.
Re: Buy a home, get a US visa, Senators propose
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a VISA - not Permanent Residence. When people invest in a residence for a VISA, they generally do so to settle down. So I am not sure how safe the potential home buyers are going to feel investing $500K in a house with the risk that their VISA renewal or entry to the US can be denied 3 years down the road. Current climate is just not very conducive to hope that something like this will fly.
They don't even have to change anything - a VISA isn't a guarranteed right of entry. You just need minimum wage guy at the airport desk to not like your face and you don't get in - no matter how many VISAs you have in your passport. You can of course try and correct the problem from the other country after you have been denied entry - if you can get an airline to carry you.
I've never heard of anyone being denied entry, in practice, because the minimum-wage guy (actually immigration officers earn a median salary of $46,0000) at the airport doesn't like their face.
It's true that they legally can deny entry to someone with a valid visa, but in practice it has to escalate a few levels up the chain of command before they can do that. A low-level flunky trying to deny someone entry for specious reasons would get into trouble.
Re: Buy a home, get a US visa, Senators propose
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
America is broke. If you want to tax the rich you need to let them into the country. And people buying a house aren't that rich anyway. Besides, this is very similar to the immigration policy of Canada or Singapore, which also give points if you buy property and start a business in the country. Their economies are vastly outperforming ours and it might be worth emulating them.
The Fed is broke. America is as rich as ever. We were taxing the rich progressively for decades and doing great as a country. The past decade has been great for the rich, but horrible for the country. The number one factor preventing investment today is not taxes, but lack of confidence brought about by a crippled economy brought about by haphazardly lowered taxes. How Congress managed to convince us this is a moral…
I think your analysis is half right: it explains why the rich are doing better, but not why the poor are doing worse. The latter is occurring because the shift of manufacturing to lower-cost countries has increasingly eliminated the possibility of middle class jobs for those without a college degree. Manufacturing jobs have been replaced with low-value-add service jobs, which naturally result in lower pay.
Even if we were to ratchet taxes on the wealthy back up, this wouldn't do anything to bring high-value-add manufacturing jobs back.
Re: Buy a home, get a US visa, Senators propose
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
Think of it this way: Schumer is (partially) owned by the finance industry.
This doesn't do that much for the finance industry since it has to be a cash purchase. Still, I guess it'd drive prices up somewhat. The effect couldn't be huge , though... there's not that many foreigners with half a million bucks cash who want to leave their home countries and reside in the US. On the other hand, given a choice of all possible immigrants, I don't think there's any problem with the US moving "those…
Well, the finance industry does seem to have a backlog of repoed houses, no?
Re: Buy a home, get a US visa, Senators propose
#97The only beneficiaries I can think of for this program would be rich capitalists from China and the Middle East who are exporting their gains and sinking them into foreign property already, and who would now get a fast-track for immigration as well. I guess Congress would like to get campaign contributions from these people (once you have a green card, you can legally make political contributions to U.S. politicians)…
You're forgetting people in with houses to offload and banks with foreclosed $1M homes that they might want to make 50% return on.
Re: Buy a home, get a US visa, Senators propose
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
The only thing that bothers me about this proposal is that it might attract too many people doing PhDs for the wrong reason. And people doing PhDs for the wrong reason usually wind up doing bad research.
people doing PhDs usually wind up doing bad research FTFY Seriously though, limiting it to STEM majors would goose academia in the right direction.
> Seriously though, limiting it to STEM majors would goose academia in the right direction.
What is this supposed to mean?!
If you don't know, humanities programs are being badly squeezed already. Some programs are being cut entirely. I have a friend who is earning her Ph.D. in comp lit, and she (with all of her colleagues) are seriously scared that her field will no longer exist in 20 years.
And all this, despite the fact that undergraduate courses in the humanities are, according to my friend, as popular as ever.
Re: Buy a home, get a US visa, Senators propose
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
Naah. Giving sweet-heart deals to people with a lot of money isn't out-of-the-box thinking - it's older than the hills. Out-of-box thinking would include enforcing consumer protection laws, strong oversight of large businesses, and progressive taxes. That sort of thinking hasn't been so common over the last few decades.
I think you've been caught up by the current mass hysteria, and forgotten to look for the reality: enforcing consumer protection laws See FTC's web site for news [1] like yesterday's "FTC Stops Nationwide Federal Jobs Scam". strong oversight of large businesses How about the DOJ suing to stop AT&T from acquiring T-Mobile? How about the absurd suit against Boeing for wanting to build a factory in a state where they do…
The tax rates vary from 10% up to 35%, as you go up the income scale [2]. So, there are your progressive taxes.
Income taxes vary from 10-35%. Payroll taxes vary from ~14% down to infinitesimal as you go up the income scale, they are not progressive, and for the people at the bottom end of that 'progressive' scale, they tend to cost more than income taxes.
It's frustrating that I even have to make this point. Everybody knows about this, and yet when these discussions happen, it's like payroll taxes don't exist, or don't count, or somehow or another are not part of the debate. For that matter, neither are capital gains.
Re: Buy a home, get a US visa, Senators propose
#100Instead, they should automatically offer work visas to college graduates. It is such a pain to have to get a work visa after you graduate if you were on an F1 before then. And most people that come all the way to the US to go to college are top notch professionals by the time they graduate.
I was on F1. I think offering work visa to all graduates could not be justified for the US economy. This would just increase the number of applicants for all the jobs. Even as of now, there's more supply than demand for jobs. Although, you're right it would make life so much easier for the international students. They could offer fast green card processing to those already working (H1B) in this country who buy a hous…
Thanks for the reply. Just to clarify, I am not an international student, and never was, but I had a number of friends in college that I think would literally be an asset to this country that went back to their respective countries of origin. Now, they had reasons other than the visa issues, but I do wonder how it would have turned out if they were offered the option to stay.
Yes, this flood the job market with more non-Americans who are competing for the same jobs. However, we are currently giving out green cards on the basis of a lottery and not really doing anything to prefer any category of job over another when making immigration decisions. Using a proven population to diversify America would be much better than blindly giving out green cards in a lottery. Another strategy would be to not just automatically hand everyone an H1B, but instead simply make the process much easier. Or prefer some industries over others. Or institute a quota and a lottery for just the pool of interested college grads. Possibilities are endless.