The Houses of Corporate Interests

The U.S. federal government's legislature is comprised of two chambers, the Senate and the House of Representatives- the latter of which is also known as “The People's House” because it is supposed to be closest to the citizens of our nation.  This is a wonderful concept but tragically, it is no longer accurate.  Collectively our Congress is sometimes referred to as the “Two Houses of Congress.”  The time has come to change the name of the legislative branch to one that is more representative of the truth- I would suggest that henceforth it be referred to as “The Houses of Corporate Interests.”

Here's why…

Time and again call for importing foreign workers and foreign students to help to make American companies more competitive.  One idea that has been floated by some politicians, including most of the GOP candidates for the Presidency, has been to “staple a green onto advanced degrees awarded to foreign students.”  According to some this should especially be done when the foreign students graduate with advanced degrees in the STEM curricula (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) so that companies will gain the benefit of these newly-minted graduates.

It is astonishing that while we hear much about the need to help American companies to be as competitive as possible, not one candidate has talked about the need to enable American workers to be as competitive as possible!  Certainly there is nothing wrong with companies being successful and profitable- but not when that success and increased profits come at the expense of beleaguered American workers!

Advocates for open borders, the immigration anarchists, demand that illegal aliens be granted in-state tuition while tuition for American students climbs through the stratosphere.  How are Americans supposed to pay for their extremely costly educations when the costs of their educations continue to rise and prospects for employment after graduation continue to plummet?

Because of our nation's economic crisis, jobs are increasingly scarce.  Unemployment benefits have been extended a number of times and today, an unemployed American can collect unemployment benefits for 99 weeks- nearly.  Yet no one is discussing the idea of subsidizing tuition for American students or unemployed Americans to help them to become more competitive and making certain that investigations into the fraud that permeates the various categories of work visas for foreign workers be aggressively pursued.  However nearly every Presidential candidate has voiced concerns about making American companies more competitive.

What these politicians are not discussing is how most major American companies are not really American companies at all, but are, in reality, multinational corporations whose profitability has nothing to do with how well the United States and its citizen are faring.  Multinational companies can hire foreign nationals by moving their factories and offices overseas where labor is cheaper and various regulations concerning the environment, worker safety and a host of other such issues do not apply.  These companies don't say a “Pledge of Allegiance to the United States” but to the bottom line!

We have been told that the recession ended in 2009, yet more Americans continue to lose their jobs and their homes to foreclosure- if the recession ended, how do we define the current economic situation?

On April 30, 2009 Alan Greenspan, the former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank testified at hearing that was conducted by the United States Senate Immigration Subcommittee on the topic of Comprehensive Immigration Reform that was chaired by New York's Senator Charles Schumer who undoubtedly invited Greenspan to testify.  Keep in mind that Greenspan was arguably one of the architects of the economic meltdown of the United States who had advocated for providing subprime mortgages to many people who could not afford those mortgages including illegal aliens.

On January 27, 2011 Fox News posted a report about the economic meltdown worth reviewing.

Among the remarks made by Greenspan in his prepared testimony at the immigration hearing, were these outrageous statements:

The quantity of temporary H-1B visas issued each year is far too small to meet the need, especially in the near future as the economy copes with the forthcoming retirement wave of skilled baby boomers. As Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft, succinctly testified before Congress in March 2007, "America will find it infinitely more difficult to maintain its technological leadership if it shuts out the very people who are most able to help us compete." He added that we are "driving away the world's best and brightest precisely when we need them most."

Our skill shortage, I trust, will ultimately be resolved through reform of our primary and secondary education systems. But, at best, that will take many years. An accelerated influx of highly skilled immigrants would bridge that gap and, moreover, carry with it two significant bonuses.

First, skilled workers and their families form new households. They will, of necessity, move into vacant housing units, the current glut of which is depressing prices of American homes. And, of course, house price declines are a major factor in mortgage foreclosures and the plunge in value of the vast quantity of U.S. mortgage-backed securities that has contributed substantially to the disabling of our banking system. The second bonus would address the increasing concentration of income in this country. Greatly expanding our quotas for the highly skilled would lower wage premiums of skilled over lesser skilled. Skill shortages in America exist because we are shielding our skilled labor force from world competition. Quotas have been substituted for the wage pricing mechanism. In the process, we have created a privileged elite whose incomes are being supported at noncompetitively high levels by immigration quotas on skilled professionals. Eliminating such restrictions would reduce at least some of our income inequality.

In point of fact, investigations have shown that many aliens who are granted H-1B visas often are less qualified than their American counterparts.  Fraud permeates the entire visa process.

Greenspan notes that if more foreign workers were admitted into the United States that they would buy the now vacant homes- homes vacated by Americans who could no longer afford the mortgage payments!

Next you must consider that Greenspan lamented that skilled American workers were earning too much money He complains bitterly about the increasing concentration of income in this county by working Americans he refers to as “the privileged elite” and then has the unmitigated chutzpah to say that by not permitting more foreign workers to enter the United States.

To think that the man who had a huge impact on setting economic policies for the United States could stand before a Senate immigration hearing and refer to middle class, hard working Americans, as the “privileged elite” demonstrates a level of contempt for the citizens of this nation that is utterly incomprehensible!  Furthermore, to call for an expansion of quotas for foreign workers to reduce the income inequality between Americans with skills and Americans who have no special skills or educations flies in face of what has come to be known as the “American Dream!”

The underlying concept of the American Dream is that as people acquire more advanced educations or acquire specific trades or skills that their earning potential increases, thereby spurring Americans on to greater success that also buoys our nation.

This is what the profit motive is supposed to be about! This was what created the motivation that created our nation’s middle class that made America the envy of the world!

Finally, Greenspan claimed that:

Our skill shortage, I trust, will ultimately be resolved through reform of our primary and secondary education systems. But, at best, that will take many years. An accelerated influx of highly skilled immigrants would bridge that gap and, moreover, carry with it two significant bonuses.

Once wages are driven down, as Greenspan clearly stated was one of his goals, why on earth would anyone invest the time, money and effort to acquire an advanced education if in so doing he (she) would not realize a substantial increase in earning power but would have to delay, by a number of years, entering the workforce while studying for that degree and paying astronomical tuition fees?

The Democratic Party used to be the party of blue collar Americans while the Republican Party was seen as the party of the business owners.

Senator Schumer, chairs the Senate Immigration Subcommittee and has to know that under our nation's immigration laws, it is illegal to provide visas for foreign workers to compete with American workers for jobs if, in so doing, wages and working conditions of American workers will be adversely affected.

It is clear that the leaders of both major parties are far more concerned with advocating for the interests of major corporations than the average American.  They are failing to live up to their oaths of office and making certain that our government is, in the eloquent description of President Abraham Lincoln, a government “Of the people, by the people and for the people!"