American Jobs Coalition

"American Jobs" is a documentary film that explores the loss of American jobs to foreign competition. The result of a six-month personal investigation by first-time filmmaker Greg Spotts, this nonpartisan, self-funded film is being offered in a Limited Number (8) FREE - email contact@americanreformation.org

It is growing ever more apparent that it is the “economy” and corporate America that are kicking the legs out from under serious immigration (and economic) reform.

"Anybody who's got good computer science training, they are not out there unemployed. We're just not seeing an available labor pool." Bill Gates on Skilled American IT workers and the need for the H-1B program

Let free market economist Milton Friedman answer Mr. Gates. Said Friedman: "The H-1B program is a benefit to employers, enabling them to get workers at a lower wage, and to that extent, it is a subsidy."

Bring back the Cricket! And a conscience for Corporate America. - Once upon a time in America our nation’s business leaders were all about creation and innovation, and not just glitz and marketing. Once upon a time in America our nation’s business leaders would shine the light of a community-centered conscience through their business affairs, and carry around them an enthusiasm for this nation’s citizens. Once upon a time in America Walt Disney was such a leader, and in America the Cricket reigned and not the Locust. Archives

The Economic Populist

Speak Your Mind One Dime at a Time
Friday Movie Night - The Great Crash of 1929 plus 1930's FDR

hot buttered popcorn It's Friday Night! Party Time! Time to relax, put your feet up on the couch, lay back, and watch some detailed videos on economic policy!

Tonight's theme is looking at some footage from the 1930's. Whenever there is economic turmoil I personally like to go back to the mother of all economic crises, The Great Depression.

The first film is an hour long documentary which has exceptional analysis, interviews and original film clips from 1929.

The Great Crash of 1929

Stewardship’s Betrayal - Can We Still Save the American Dream? - by Glenn R. Jackson - Stewardship, the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care, is more moral imperative than a managerial role. Stewardship depends on rejecting the immoral mine of the here and now and embracing an entrustment for the future. Stewardship defines the temporal nature of things and foresees the future needs of others. Stewardship applies as well to nations and generations as it does to individuals.

DVD: "American Jobs" is a documentary film that explores the loss of American jobs to foreign competition. The result of a six-month personal investigation by first-time filmmaker Greg Spotts, this nonpartisan, self-funded film is available on DVD for $14.95.

BOOK: "CAFTA and Free Trade: What Every American Should Know " applies a critical lens to the recently-signed Central American Free Trade Agreement. The book explores our country's perilous position in the globalized economy and makes a passionate case for fundamental change. The book is available for $7.95.

At a time when an estimated one million American citizens in the computer industry have lost their jobs, and mass-layoffs due to new off-shoring projects are announced daily, one must question the sense in continuing to import temporary foreign high-tech workers under the H-1B and L-1 visa programs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 9 million American citizens are unemployed. At least 17 million skilled and educated Americans are "underemployed" in low-wage jobs outside of their chosen profession. Many are working part-time without benefits.

The H-1B and L-1 visa programs have caused significant losses in wealth and prosperity to middle-class American citizens who have struggled to remain employed in high-tech fields. The glut of high-tech workers these visa programs have “dumped” into the United States has resulted in career changes for hundreds of thousands of American citizens who have permanently lost their jobs in the high-tech industry. These visa programs are best described as government sponsored American worker replacement programs. They are cleverly designed to create a large expendable pool of cheaper foreign labor in the United States. The ultimate goal for sponsors of the H-1B and L-1 visa programs is to eliminate the preponderance of American high-tech workers expecting to earn an American wage. These non-immigrant guest worker visa programs circumvent the natural market forces of supply and demand, and create an artificial and unfair wage competition against American workers. Companies use H-1B and L-1 visas to systematically replace American citizens with cheaper labor. Not only do these visa programs displace American workers on our own soil, but employers depend upon these visas to send jobs offshore. On the typical offshored project, as many as 40% of the workers are L-1 or H-1B visa holders.

Our government’s mismanagement of the H-1B quotas allowed almost one million additional foreign high-tech workers to be admitted to the U.S. in past three years alone (2000-2002). In 2001, 9 out of every 10 new job openings for computer/IT were taken by H-1Bs, and despite record unemployment, the INS issued 382,200 H-1B visas in 2002. Records obtained from the Department of Labor under the Freedom of Information Act show that at least 4 million H-1B visas were certified by the INS between 1998 and 2001.

Studies on the H-1B program have found serious problems that make it one of the most fraudulent government programs ever. Many H-1B workers were found to not have the technical skills their sponsor claimed of them. No employer could be trusted to pay prevailing wage. The rules for calculating prevailing wage make it easy for employers to pay H-1B workers 30-50% less than the American citizens they are replacing. Companies openly ignore H-1B laws and freely replace American citizens with cheaper foreign labor without fear of penalty. American workers do not have protection against this government sponsored American worker replacement program. Any company, once they acquire an H-1B worker, can let an American worker go.

Companies are still importing foreign computer programmers at the same time that American computer programmers are out of work, and thousands more lose their jobs each day. Companies imported H-1Bs and L-1s at historic levels, even as these same companies fired American citizens by the hundreds of thousands. Just last year, high tech companies announced over 605,000 job cuts. Most job cuts are not even announced, so the actual number is much higher. At the same time, high tech companies imported 382,200 new H-1B workers (Congress excluded many employers from the quota, making the quota meaningless). In October of this year, the H-1B quota was allowed to drop from 195,000 to 65,000 per year. There will be fewer H-1B workers imported this year than last. However, employers are now abusing the L-1 visa at historic levels. There is no quota for L-1 visas, no protection for American workers, and companies can legally pay L-1 workers even less than H-1B workers.

Temporary non-immigrant guest workers are not needed. There is not a shortage of American high-tech workers in the computer industry. There never has been. Studies sponsored by the American government have never found a shortage of American workers as the computer industry lobbyists claimed. There is not a shortage of American workers, but instead a shortage of companies willing to pay an American wage. The H-1B and L-1 visa laws are seriously flawed and have not only displaced American workers during a weak economy, but also put national security at risk. Reliance upon foreign sources of labor to build and maintain our country’s high-tech infrastructure creates an insecure and unsafe environment, and ultimately creates a weaker economy by eliminating the churn of disposable income back into the economy from Americans earning an American wage.

We must protect the futures of our American high-tech workers, and the futures of our American students seeking advanced technical degrees. We must take away the tools that employers use to replace American workers on our own soil, and the tools employers use to offshore jobs. We must get Americans back to work and our economy once again funded by working Americans. We must eliminate the H-1B and L-1 visa programs.

Coalition Members:

Wages and Benefits: Real Wages (1964-2004)

REAL WAGES 1964-2004 Average Weekly Earnings (in 1982 constant dollars) For all private nonfarm workers
Year	Real $	Change
1964	302.52
1965	310.46	2.62%
1966	312.83	0.76%
1967	311.30	-0.49%
1968	315.37	1.31%
1969	316.93	0.49%
1970	312.94	-1.26%
1971	318.05	1.63%
1972	331.59	4.26%
1973	331.39	-0.06%
1974	314.94	-4.96%
1975	305.16	-3.11%
1976	309.61	1.46%
1977	310.99	0.45%
1978	310.41	-0.19%
1979	298.87	-3.72%
1980	281.27	-5.89%
1981	277.35	-1.39%
1982	272.74	-1.66%
1983	277.50	1.75%
1984	279.22	0.62%
1985	276.23	-1.07%
1986	276.11	-0.04%
1987	272.88	-1.17%
1988	270.32	-0.94%
1989	267.27	-1.13%
1990	262.43	-1.81%
1991	258.34	-1.56%
1992	257.95	-0.15%
1993	258.12	0.07%
1994	259.97	0.72%
1995	258.43	-0.59%
1996	259.58	0.44%
1997	265.22	2.17%
1998	271.87	2.51%
1999	274.64	1.02%
2000	275.62	0.36%
2001	275.38	-0.09%
2002	278.91	1.28%
2003	279.94	0.37%
2004	277.57	-0.84%

"Lost Opportunities NEVER Return" - by Toni L. Chester - Guest workers and offshore outsourcing reduce the costs associated with products and services. Although the statement implies that the trend encourages economic strength, it addresses only one side of a highly disputed and explosive argument.

One if by Land, Two if by Sea - by Roger Simmermaker -There are many different reasons one could list for the current downturn in America’s prosperity. Suggested culprits include an economic climate that encourages foreign production at the expense of domestic production, the low savings rate, a weak dollar, and a lack of adequate tariffs to level the playing field. The list goes on. Archives

In Defense of General Motors - by Roger Simmermaker - Defense, defense, defense. That’s all that General Motors, and Detroit in general, can play these days. Many American car and truck buyers, and many of those in the media who write about their buying habits, should know better than to spew their venom at GM for their recent financial troubles. It might be different if the reasons that GM continues to lose market share weren’t largely beyond their control, but they are. As an increasing number of Americans spend their money on and drive around in Toyotas and Hondas, the answer to the question “Why doesn’t GM have the money to build a car more to my liking?” seems to evade them. Archives

Immigrant Displacement Of American Workers Hit New High In May

National Data, By Edwin S. Rubenstein - From January 2001 through this May Hispanic employment rose by 15.1 percent and non-Hispanic employment rose by 1.0 percent. The VDAWDI index reflects the relative difference between these two employment trends, i.e., the displacement effect.

More Jobs—But Only New Immigrant Groups Need Apply - So you thought there was good news on the job front—finally? According to Friday’s announcement, slightly more than 300,000 jobs were created in March. That’s the biggest monthly rise in four years. But look again: The job gains are stunningly skewed - http://www.vdare.com/rubenstein/march_employment_report.htm and http://www.vdare.com/rubenstein/march_employment_report_table.htm

Nurses: Have you been replaced with your cheaper foreign replacement yet?

Is there really a nursing shortage? - The first sign that a company or an industry is planning to replace American citizens with cheaper foreign labor always begins with a fabricated claim of a worker shortage. To learn the real truth, informed citizens must always ask a deeper question. Is it a shortage of employers willing to pay the prevailing wage for American workers, or is it really a shortage of available American workers?

Sacrificing a nation - The opportunity cost of America’s Transnationals - by Glenn R. Jackson - The true cost of anything is what you are prepared to give up to get it. This not only means the monetary price, but also includes the “shadow price,” i.e. the opportunity cost of doing something. Everything we do will have an opportunity cost built in; the trick is in determining what that opportunity will really cost you. Archives

We Need Jobs: What Is The Problem With America Today? - Cole Gunther, PhD -What's the problem with our large corporations these days? Why are all of the large corporations destroying American jobs when so many of us need jobs so desperately now? Why are American corporations sending our jobs offshore, and, why are corporations bringing "cheap labor" to the U.S. to take our jobs from us?

Revenge of the unemployed - "Tax dollars should not be going outside the country," Glenn Jackson said. "We will be protesting and lobbying at the state level."

CBS News
Imported Workers Filling U.S. Jobs
Some two million U.S. jobs have gone by the wayside over the last two years. And at the same time, the number of foreigners granted special visas to work in the U.S. has risen. -- Employers defend the practice. But pink-slipped Americans who've lost jobs to lower-paid replacements are calling it visa abuse.

Enron and the H-1B American Worker Replacement Program: The Corporate Scandal You Are Not Hearing About - by Glenn R. Jackson - What do Enron, WorldCom, Qwest, and Tyco have in common? If you answered, “putting one over on their employees and shareholders with dishonest accounting practices,” you are only partially right. Accounting irregularities are only the tip of the iceberg that the American worker should find objectionable in the brave new corporate world of Enron and beyond. While the media has reported extensively on the guilt of these companies in their inflated accounting and corporate valuations, they have ignored another more long term and destructive practice engaged in by these and other American corporations.