Ya know who really pisses me off?

[El_Kabong]

2 legit...2 legit 2 quit...

[charvelguy]

I'll say this.. Kayne West & Raw Soul somewhat tees me off more than Bono does... but one does with their own money and their own time is their own business.. at least Bono is trying to promote awareness for a cause in need. Kayne West will probably just get into guinness book for most expensive takeout. Good publicity stint tho.

I see that American Idol is going to make donations to Africa as well as US areas needing assistance, which is a great idea.

[hippietim]

You got that right... 6 prime years of my life wasted at Lockheed Martin building the Aegis Radar. And all for what, to be thrown out on the street?

I worked on some of the test servicing stuff for AEGIS. I had to travel to Port Hueneme a lot - that was a nice perk of that job.

I haven't done that stuff for over 10 years now but when the last time I was in DC some friends said that there is a lot of DoD work right now.

[eakinj]

You got that right... 6 prime years of my life wasted at Lockheed Martin building the Aegis Radar. And all for what, to be thrown out on the street? Thanks! Now Im struggling to make ends meet, cant support my family (g/f and her daughter), can barely pay for my house and cant find a job that pays near as much. Any Im supposed to be worrying about Africa? Fucking AFRICA? FUCK YOU BONO. Take your views and your gay assed fruity fucked songs and shove them up your opinionated ass.

I feel your pain on this, when the bubble popped in the bay area, from 2001 - 2005 I was basically unemployeed (I took survival jobs, Dollar tree, etc) I'm just now getting back on my feet and I'm taking care of a cancer patient (Parent)

I'm not really anti-Bono making people aware of what's going on, there are a lot of people dying over there and it is tragic. I just get tired of rich rock stars and movie stars babbling on tv about other countries when for a long time I could barely afford the medication to keep my mom alive.

But in all honesty, if Bono got on TV and started to try to bring awarness to another states issues, I'd probably care just as little but I'm still recovering from several hard years.

And Bono doesn't really impress me, there was some story about him flying his hat to himself in first class because he wanted to wear it on stage. I'd have been more impressed if he had spent that money on one of his causes instead.

[hippietim]

And you are right, there is no answer. I am literally at a point where I am being told to scrap all my experience and education and start over. Go back to school (as if 8 yrs. of college means nothing) and literally START OVER. That's the great answer you will hear from people like HT...

LOL - you couldn't be further from the truth. I don't even have a 4-year degree. I studied music for a few years and eventually took an interest in computers and got a 2-year degree in Information Systems.

And you say I have this narrow view of things. You know nothing about me.

[hippietim]

I find it amazing that some here show more compassion for an illegal alien (who is breaking the law just being here) than they do for an educated law abiding US citizen who is being screwed by our own governments policies on immigration and work visas.

+1

But hey, a guest worker program should fix it right?

[hippietim]

Ok, so now I can't read/watch the news either, funny how you always know better than everyone else. You really should get into politics, you remind me alot of GW. You never hear or care to understand anything but your view of the world and arrogantly demean anyone who offers a difference of opinion...

Speaking of arrogantly demean:

And scumbags like Bill Gates who want UNLIMITED numbers of immigrants to come and take our technical jobs here in the US because they work cheaper than a white guy with an MBA?

Ralph, I am nowhere near what you seem to think I am. You made an outrageous statement IMO and I called you on it.

I'll remember those words when you lose your job to the brother of the guy you buy your slurpees from...

Now you remind me of GW.

This is all about the rich getting richer. Remember the movie "Freejack"? That's where we're headed. Two classes of people. Uber-rich and super-poor. There will be no middle class in 100 years.

It's funny that you say that. I know I've made similar comments on this board and had people tell me I was full of shit. I'm glad we agree.

And you believe him?

Yes. I cannot speak for any other company but I can assure you based on my own experience over the last ten years of interviewing and hiring people that it is true. At least for the candidates involved in product development - I have no idea what the job pool is like in finance, business administration, marketing, etc.

You have no idea how hard we try to fill positions sometimes. We get folks interviewing for development positions demanding big $$$ that can't do basic software development such as manipulate a linked list. We get folks interviewing for QA that can't test an alarm clock. We get folks that want to do product design that can't formulate a plan of any kind. And it's the same for people in industry and coming straight out of college. You have no idea how thrilled we are when we get a good hire.

The thing that kills me is that if you type in Microsoft Interview Question in Google you will find the answers to a lot of the problems we pose in interviews. I'm pretty sure that in a matter of minutes I could find a half dozen solutions to almost all of the questions I personally ask in an interview. It is no secret what we expect!

As for what immigrants are paid, I am not privy to what everyone makes but what I've seen has been consistent with what we'd pay anyone that filled the position whether they were a lily white suburbian or not. And it's not just cheap Asian labor as someone said in this thread. I have seen no particular bias to any country at all - we have folks from England, Russia, Germany, India, China, Japan, Canada, Poland, you name it. I have never even heard of them being paid less.

We try and hire the best people we can. Should I hire some "white guy with an MBA" when I know he can't do the job? Fuck that. I'll end up having to do his job too. I have literally been in that position. There was a dude that did a bunch of bad work. He was stubborn, arrogant, and disruptive. We ended up shortchanging other parts of the product to cover him. Even after being told repeatedly that his job was in jeopardy he wouldn't turn it around. He'd come in at 9-9:30 and leave at 3:30-4. His manager and his manager's manager were rewriting his code. I would be mortified if anyone had to rewrite my code much less my management chain. This fucker simply thought he was just entitled to his job. The smug look and sense of entitlement he had is what I see in soooooo many people that I interview.

So what are we supposed to do? Hire people we know can't do the job?

I hate outsourcing. I hate it more than you could imagine. We've been doing in-country outsourcing forever. Who do you think picks your fruit, paves your roads, cleans your hotels, cleans the office building where you work?

Then there is the loss of whole industries. What happened to our steel industry? What about our clothing and textile industry? Where are your clothes made?

What about furniture? While I'm ranting here...growing up in VA it was well known that you drive down to NC to get great American made furniture direct from manufacturers. So when we moved to NC a few years ago we went to buy some Oak Mission style furniture thinking this was going to be a great opportunity to get some nice furniture for a good price. A few weeks later it arrived and the fucking stuff was made in China! We're in USA fucking furniture central buying Mission style furniture - WTF? It never even occurred to us that it wouldn't be made in NC. We were blown away.

And the technology industries are next. If we can't maintain businesses here, we're fucked. You won't have to worry about immigrant labor replacing you at your company, it will be another company altogether and it won't be an American company.

Unless there is something I did not hear about, Bill Gates was promoting the idea of bringing highly skilled workers here, to make them tax paying citizens, with the specific intent of salvaging the tech sector in the US. Personally, I'd be thrilled to see those jobs go to Americans. Obviously I can't speak for Bill but I am pretty sure he would too.

Please point me to the great software product developers that can't get jobs. Send me their resumes. I promise you I will get the resume to a recruiter.

In fact Ralph, send me your resume and what sort of position you seek. I would be more than happy to pass it along. I seriously mean that.

[emperor_black]

Well. I dont know about MB's but BMW has a plant in south carolina where the new 3 and 5 series r made. I think MB went down the drain cause they bought crysler and hence some plants got merged and stuff like that. so, maybe they ARE being made here. Thank god mine was made 100% in germany. But it is not as reliable as my other Honda and its reliability is falling fast.

[RacerX]

Oh yea.. and one more thing regarding this "Made in the USA" thing.
Mercedes Benz cars are made somewhere in the USA. They used to be made in Germany.
Many of Mercedes cars are made in the USA now. USA citizens build them.
Mercedes is now ranked the most unreliable car you can buy.

Er, John, which MB cars are made in USA, exactly?

MB *is* in the bottom 10 of reliability, but the cars are still made in Germany.

Were you the guy who claimed all GM trucks are made in Mexico now? Because I know for a fact all the full size trucks are made at the Arlington Texas plant. Where my Buick was made. There is a sticker on the door jamb of every vehicle coming out of Arlington. It says "Made in Texas by Texans!"

[RobRR]

You see, the American worker, now a days, is damned if they do, damned if they dont. Either they work fast, and run themselves out of a job faster. OR, they slow down, and eventually lose their job to cheaper foreign labor. Its really a tough situation to be in, especially speaking from manufacturing experience.

This country has MANY problems... it seems that every day were losing more and more freedoms, the government is taking more and more of our money, and the average joe is losing their jobs to foreign labor and unable to support his family.

So yes, we DO have many problems of our own right here... just because you may not be personally experiencing them, doesent mean they dont exist.

[Ralph E.]

This a great thread. Let it run.

Yes it is, and it will run as long as no one comes along and ruins it...

It's amazing to see the vast differences of views people have based on whether or not they are doing well in today's job market. I find it amazing that some here show more compassion for an illegal alien (who is breaking the law just being here) than they do for an educated law abiding US citizen who is being screwed by our own governments policies on immigration and work visas.

[fett]

We became smug decades ago and then we became complacent because no one could touch us. We did the right thing rebuilding Germany and Japan after WWII. They did what we did it spades. They made industrial giants of themselves after we "Beat" them. Legacy costs can date back 60 years for us. They started at 1 when we were already -3. India, China and all the rest can beat us now because they are starting at 1. It's history and we did it and now we are paying the price.

[emperor_black]

Great points there jgcable! The quality of american made products (with respect to this forum, I mean guitars) has gone down the drain. There are many threads popping up about how bad gibson and jackson MIA guitars. When I bought my first Made in USA fender, I was like "why, oh why did I waste my money?"

Its Darwin's theory of evolution... 'survival of the fittest'. There's just too many talented people outside of the US and corporate america is just tapping out the potential. Of course, the same manager who hires indian workers and fires his american employees, might get fired sooner or later. But the only way to fight that is to work your ass off. Indian workers dont go to work at 10 and come home at 5. They dont take off at 3 PM on fridays. They work their ass off from 8 to 6 and during weekends. My VP is always at work! No wonder he's gonna survive in my company long after everyone's gone!

[fett]

Double Yikes. This a great thread. Let it run.

[jgcable]

Oh yea.. and one more thing regarding this "Made in the USA" thing.
Mercedes Benz cars are made somewhere in the USA. They used to be made in Germany.
Now.. I am not the biggest fan of Germany because of that whole Nazi/Jew extermination thing... but I will admit that they make a great car.
Many of Mercedes cars are made in the USA now. USA citizens build them.
Mercedes is now ranked the most unreliable car you can buy.
Go figure... Made in the USA doesn't necessarily mean its better.
And another thing. The USA auto worker makes more than any other auto worker on the planet. They will also strike at the drop of a hat. GM and Ford can cut 30,000 jobs in middle management and it wouldn't affect crap. Many of those 30K jobs are held by people who lead departments that don't even exist anymore. These guys make $100K a year and they don't even do anything. I read an article stating that many of them didn't even have to show up at the plant. They just got paid. Thats a sure fire indication that a company has gotten too big and nobody is watching the ship. They watch as foreign companies clean their clocks with an efficient workforce.

What about the farm workers and factory workers who are illegal aliens. Why is this?? Its because most Americans won't do those jobs. They would rather sit on their lazy asses and collect welfare and complain that they aren't getting their fare share. The problem with the USA is that there are 2 different factions in the USA. There are the right wingers who believe in an capitolistic society. The problem with them is that most of them have already made it in corporate america or they are living off of old money.
Then.. there are the left wingers who believe in big government and think that the average joe is too stupid to make his own decisions and that the government should handle everything. They want a national healthcare system. They don't care that the Canadian system is a disaster. They want to control everything. They feel that the guy who busted his ass for 30 years and lived the american dream should give his money to the lazy corner standing crackhead who is down and out. They believe that winning is bad. Everybody should be neutral. Problem with them is that they don't care if we are paying $3.00 a gallon for gas as long as the spotted speckled ass birds natural habitat isn't disturbed.
You know why we don't use more natural gas in the US?? Its because of the left wing extremist environmentalists!! They would rather save the blue waddling fucktoad rather than building new natural gass processing terminals.
I love the USA but sometimes thinking about this stuff turns my stomach.

Bottom line.. Made in the USA isn't what it used to be because most of the stuff in the Made in the USA product was outsourced overseas.