Ya know who really pisses me off?

[jgcable]

I dont agree with you sir. Africa and many other countries need help. America has what problems? Let me see... where will anna nicole smith's body be buried, who is going to be the next president, will gas prices go up? There are 200 kids dying every day in Africa. Rich people like Bono and Gates just draw attention to the problem. Let them do their thing. If one does not want to contribute to the cause, dont stop in the way of people trying to do some good is my stand on the subject. America is spending $370 million per day ... or some huge amount like that for the war in Iraq. Just imagine how many kids can get food with that money.

I agree with the above statement 100%.
Give an American kid an Ipod and he will tell you its the wrong color. Many African kids walk miles in warzone neighborhoods with a 5 gallon bucket of water on their heads just for the chance to go to a school to learn something. We have way too many ungrateful lazy ass people in the USA who are only looking for hand outs and for some reason they think that the country OWES them something.
We are the richest lazyest country in the world. Most people in the USA don't appreciate shit. They just expect it and complain when they don't get it.
I say bravo to Bono, Oprah and anybody else who wants to help people who really appreciate it and have absolutely no fucking chance of getting it on their own.
Anybody with the will and desire to succeed in the USA can make it. This is the land of opportunity.
That is not the way it is in Africa. Not even close.

You know.. Bono is a zillionaire and he doesn't have to do shit for anybody and he certainly doesn't need to draw attention to himself. Neither does Oprah. They both do what they do because they are amazing people.
I wish I could be as giving and as caring to people as they are who they will never actually meet.
You may not like U2's music. You may not like Oprah's talk show but my feeling is that they are both like living saints.

[Ralph E.]

Ralph, just so there is no confusionthe second part of my post wasnt directed at you personally, I know nothing about you. The only comment directed at you was the bitterness

No problem Shawn, I appreciate it...

I was a bit fired up this afternoon with HT's "I know everything, you know nothing" attitude, and probably took yours out of context.

[Shawn Lutz]

So now i'm lazy? Thanks for that without knowing anything about me...

I worked/owned a small software distribution company for 18 years. I have done everything from programming, design, training, setup/installation, accounting, consulting... you get the point.

I have been told numerous times that there is no way any big company will touch an entrepreneur. I'm too much of an "independent thinker", they want "team" players. At 40, about to lose my house, no kids (and we did want them) I cannot (and will not) start over @ $30k. Not gonna happen.

So Shawn, bitter yes, lazy no.

Ralph, just so there is no confusionthe second part of my post wasnt directed at you personally, I know nothing about you. The only comment directed at you was the bitterness

[fett]

It does for me. Because I buy vintage stuff. I try as hard as hell to buy the "Real Made in USA" items. I know that it doesn't help the current people that are getting screwed, but it is my personal statement. Now, that doesn't apply to the guitars I buy. So, there may be a little conflict.

[Ralph E.]

This is no help to you. But I try to buy all my used clothes or whatever with the "Made in USA" tag. That way I know they were well made. I can't turn back the clock, but I know the stuff I buy is quality. It trully is a sad time for a whole lot of people.

Unfortunately, another effect of what is going on is that "Made In The USA" doesn't mean what it used to anymore.

In an effort to compete with the foreign product, the quality of everything involved in the process has been lowered. From raw materials to workers skills.

[RobRR]

Ah, yes. The independent contractor/consultant. That's the only option left to a very talented group of people that got wasted by the Tech meltdown and the influx. At least they have a shot. The industrial worker that has lost his or her job to "those guys" has a snowball's chance in hell of ever making anywhere near as much money in a "New" job as they did. There is a meltdown in the incomes of just the "Average Joe" that has a family.

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.

[fett]

This is no help to you. But I try to buy all my used clothes or whatever with the "Made in USA" tag. That way I know they were well made. I can't turn back the clock, but I know the stuff I buy is quality. It trully is a sad time for a whole lot of people.

[Ralph E.]

My brother and I also have a clothing business that we tried to ressurect from the early 90's called Gorilla Wear (A company who prided itself on being MADE IN THE USA).

What we have learned in the last five years trying (and failing) to rebuild this business is that all the textile mills and sewing houses that existed in the U.S. throughout the 90's are gone. Literally, they are ALL gone.

The open trade with China in particular has destroyed all of them. There is NO WAY to compete with workers that accept the salary that Chinese employees do.

We have tried to continue the "Made In The USA" tradition, and frankly, it's become an impossibility in today's world. And for us to order from overseas, we need to place such a large order, that we cannot do it. You literally need millions today to launch a clothing company, once again taking away opportunity from the average american.

It has become a truly disgusting world.

[fett]

Ah, yes. The independent contractor/consultant. That's the only option left to a very talented group of people that got wasted by the Tech meltdown and the influx. At least they have a shot. The industrial worker that has lost his or her job to "those guys" has a snowball's chance in hell of ever making anywhere near as much money in a "New" job as they did. There is a meltdown in the incomes of just the "Average Joe" that has a family.

[charvelguy]

Thats what my sister did.. she was a programmer/analyst for the county with a degree in computer science. Now she's completing a double masters in a field where she can independently contract herself to counsel. Essentially being self employed and paid by others medical benefits.

Fett, not trying to bust your nuts, you're ok!

Just trying to respond to "some others" on here who would have you believe that the world is perfect according to Bill, and everything that lefty and righty (these days there's no difference, they're all elitists) tells you is 100% accurate and true.

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...

It's really sad, but I joke about moving to India and having a better chance of getting a job. In reality these days, i'm probably right.

[fett]

The world is "Perfectly Fucked Up". Global this. EU that. Open your borders. Find the cheapest producer or worker and let the consumer buy it cheap. Does it matter that all of our textiles, shoes, funiture, cars and just about everything else have left the house? I guess not. I have a 23 year old son. He should become a plumber. Because you can't import shit. But for a plumber, "The shit stops here". Now, that was profound.:ROTF: :ROTF: :ROTF:

[Ralph E.]

Fett, not trying to bust your nuts, you're ok!

Just trying to respond to "some others" on here who would have you believe that the world is perfect according to Bill, and everything that lefty and righty (these days there's no difference, they're all elitists) tells you is 100% accurate and true.

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...

It's really sad, but I joke about moving to India and having a better chance of getting a job. In reality these days, i'm probably right.

[fett]

I know all about that stuff. I used to live in the Bay Area. So stop breaking my balls. If a high-tech company can import the "Brains", they will. If the US Govt. allows it, a corporation will be all over it. Is it right to import people to take away jobs from the natives? No. This international network of workers going everywhere is fucking up domestic job markets everywhere. I really feel for you and I'm not sure there is an answer.

[Ralph E.]

This is ALL ABOUT THE MONEY folks, as explained below...


Foreigners filling U.S. tech jobs
Visa law allows pay rates at less than U.S. levels

By Rachel Konrad
The Associated Press

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Scott Kirwin clung to his job at a large investment bank through several rounds of layoffs last year.

But it was tough for Kirwin, 36, to relish his final assignment: training a group of programmers from India who would replace him.

"They called it knowledge acquisition,"' the Wilmington, Del., resident said. "We got paid our normal salaries to train people to do our jobs. The market was so bad we couldn't really do anything about it, so we taught our replacements."

Finally laid off in April, Kirwin sent out 225 resumes before landing a temporary position without benefits at a smaller bank - and swallowing a 20 percent pay cut.

Kirwin is among what appears to be a growing number of American technology workers training their foreign replacements - a humiliating assignment many say they assume unwittingly or reluctantly, simply to stay on the job longer or secure a meager severance package.

Their plight can be seen as an unintended consequence of the nation's non-immigrant visa program - particularly the L-1 classification. The L-1 allows companies to transfer workers from overseas offices to the United States for up to seven years - ostensibly to familiarize them with corporate culture or to import workers with "specialized knowledge."

It also lets companies continue paying workers their home country wage. Indian workers receive roughly one-sixth the hourly wage of the average American programmer, who makes about $60 per hour in wages and benefits.

A loophole in the law allows employers to transfer L-1 workers to the United States and then outsource those workers to other companies, says LeEarl Bryant, immediate past president of IEEE-USA, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. When that happens, American workers are often displaced because L-1 visa holders do not have to be paid wages in line with their U.S. counterparts.

"It's manipulating the system to avoid paying those people prevailing U.S. wages," Bryant said.

Tech bellwethers including IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco Systems, Oracle and Microsoft use L-1 workers but won't disclose how many they import. Many bring in workers through consulting firms, usually Indian companies.

[fett]

And you believe him?

Yep. I do. Why not send your resume? You are in GA and he is in WA. He has a big hard-on about the fact we are not educating our kids in math and science. He may be the richest man in the world and he can throw billions of bucks all over the world, but the bottom-line for him is to make Softy even bigger. Boy, are you on a downer. And, quite frankly, you have a right to be. I guess it's a matter of going where the jobs are.