Obama Tells Governors US Must Build Skilled Workforce

[Bardley]

Source: Bloomberg-BusinessWeek

Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama told the nation’s governors that the budget debate in Washington will be critical to the nation’s economic future because the U.S. must keep building a skilled workforce and a strong infrastructure.



Read more: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-02-28/obama-tells-governors-u-s-must-build-skilled-workforce.html

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Why?

He's just going to replace them with H-1bs anyway

Is he concerned that citizens aren't giving the H-1bs good enough training before the citizen is fired and replaced?

[Steerpike]

1. Skilled at what?

greeting people at WalMart? Or learning to operate those funky icon themed cash registers at McDonalds?

[boppers]

34. Programming, engineering science, chemistry, robotics...

It's sad that we live in a culture where people consider simple tasks as a "skill", and are easily replaced by the lowest bidder, but it's what the information age brought us... leaving us with non-skilled, menial, work, and a lack of new jobs.

[AndyTiedye]

2. Obama isn't Bringing in the H1b's, Republicans Are

The flow of H1b's started long before Obama was even a Senator.
The Republicans have stymied every effort to stem the flow of jobs overseas.

Why are you blaming Obama for this?

[OhioChick]

3. Geithner is Obama's man...

US Secy (Geithner) wants H-1B visa programme expanded

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=4736980

[ramapo]

17. Hillary was big on H1s too

This policy just infuriates me. Unbelievable how Americans put up with it. The Clinton-Bush years were awful for technology workers and it isn't getting any better.

[OhioChick]

18. I do remember HRC's stance on H-1B's as well....

and you're right, it's not getting any better.

[musette_sf]

26. + 1

[Steerpike]

4. The President

Should support and speak out on policies and laws that curb this practice. Mr. Obama should be obtrusive and loud in his condemnation of outsourcing and the use of the federal tax codes that encourages loss of high paying jobs or the importation of low wage workers in order to undercut US workers.
The President gives the impression and appearance of being weak and powerless as an advocate for the Americasn worker...at a time when we need a champion the most.

[Bardley]

8. how can you be so obtuse?

(if i may steal a line from a movie?)

US Secy (Geithner) wants H-1B visa programme expanded


and the 2 largest H-1b increases in history were signed by clinton (the latter co-sponsored by john edwards)

[AndyTiedye]

24. There Really Was a Shortage of Tech Workers When Clinton Increased H1b's

Trying to use that to paper the Democrats as being as bad or worse than the Republicans is disingenuous.

There is a surplus of skilled labor now, so the H1b program should be suspended.

Geithner isn't someone I would have picked for Cabinet post,
but I suppose Obama figured he needed a Republican in there
to reassure the markets.

He is Secretary of the Treasury, so immigration policy is a bit outside his portfolio.
Seems to me he was speaking more as a Republican than as a member of Obama's cabinet.

He also seemed to be expressing some frustration that the administration did not seem to agree with him.

[Bardley]

29. Clinton increased H-1b from 65k to 195k per year (plus exemptions), a raw labor busting tactic

and Hillary Clinton has been for expanding H-1b as late as 2007

sorry, no sale

[OhioChick]

5. This is rich....

Quote: "“we can’t sacrifice our future” by cutting money that goes to education"

:wtf:

After this?

Graduate Students May Face Higher Debt Under Obama's Budget Plan

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=4732142

[somone]

6. We already have a skilled workforce. The problem is they don't have JOBS.

[Demeter]

7. BINGO!!! You Get the Bullseye!

Obama is less and less convincing as a real person with a brain....or a good grasp on reality.

[Bardley]

9. his brain works just fine

the problem, is who it works for

(hint - it isnt you)

[AnneD]

46. So you have to take out loans to pay for college...

cause your parents can't help and you can't find a part-time job. Then you graduate with a degree in your hand and a shit load of debt....AND THERE ARE NO JOBS.

Can you spell..R.E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N

[jacquelope]

10. Because of offshoring!

When are we going to march against that?

WSJ's September 28 2010 poll says 86% of Americans oppose offshoring.

With those numbers all we need to do is light a match and even the US Chamber of Commerce can't stop us!

[Bardley]

12. that means that as many as 16 percent do

the 16 percent who count

[jacquelope]

31. Wait I didn't get that

does that mean the 16% who support offshoring should in fact override the rest of us who oppose it?

[Bardley]

32. in a plutocracy (which is what we are), yes, if they are the ones that have the money

but i never said we should be a plutocracy

i'm just saying we are one, the best democracy money can buy

(I'm in the majority, I rabidly oppose offshoring)

[jacquelope]

33. Plutocracies only exist if we let them

Liberals need more... cojones.

If we stand by and let them steamroll us like we did during the health care townhalls then the plutocracies win.

But if we all do what they're doing in Wisconsin? Coast to coast? We could at least slow the plutocracy down. We did, after all, defeat the Feudal Lords of the Gilded Age.

[Bardley]

36. how can we convince others in the town halls, when we cant even convince our own party leaders?

this party, supports outsourcing, no ifs ands or buts

the link between h-1b and outsourcing is proven, and geithner supported raising it within the last 10 days. Hillary has ALWAYS supported sending our jobs to India. John Edwards cosponsored the largest H-1b increase, ever. Gephardt always supported raising H-1b

*ALL* of them in the top ring support this!!!!

I'm not saying it's hopeless - I'm saying we cant change it while turning a blind eye to our own

[Jmaxfie1]

28. Amen!!! n/t

[defendandprotect]

40. Exactly ... but Obama is making it sound otherwise -- quite clearly -- !!!

Blame the victims, as well -- i.e., people are unemployed cause they can't do the jobs!!!


:nuke:

[MrTriumph]

11. Again, Obama is totally off base.

Chinese and Indian employment gains are not accomplished because China and India are turning out a disproportionally large population of skilled workers.

In fact, the US has an overabundance of unemployed skilled people.

Maybe if Obama would abandon the "free-trade at all cost" mentality and challenge 3rd world nations that keep their currencies artificially low, we in the US would see an improvement in employment.

Is anyone else tired of Obama constant lecturing American worker? It is not their fault that are under employed or unemployed.

[Bardley]

14. 'Is anyone else tired of Obama constant lecturing American worker? '

dont be so hard on him, only he can fully understand his greatness

[madrchsod]

20. ya...i`m doing my part..no ss raise in two going on three years...

[pampango]

13. If he told the governors that training and education weren't important,

they (particularly the repub ones, of course) would go after funding for that even harder than they already are. I don't blame him for trying to emphasize the importance of training and education (since other Western countries do a better job at them than we do), but I don't think that is going to help much in this era of state and local budget cuts.

[Bardley]

15. training and education have never been a problem

that's why all the high tech stuff was here in the first place

there's never been a shortage of skilled workers in this country, ever

only a shortage of same willing to live on table scraps in exchange for the highest education, the heaviest responsibility and the longest hours

[ChromeFoundry]

16. We HAVE a skilled workforce n/t

[madrchsod]

19. he listens to his master`s voices.

he could care less about the working class in this country.

[Bardley]

22. someone should photoshop the RCA Victor dog

with obama listening to the corporate voice

[Bragi]

21. And no (democratic) assembly required /nt

[w4rma]

23. Judging from this statement, Obama is either an idiot or corrupt. We *have* a skilled workforce.(nt)

[HughBeaumont]

25. The problem is that we don't have a skilled workforce that will work for peanuts.

We demand that pesky living wage thing and them there durn benefits.

Kind of tends to muddy the oligarch's plans a bit. That's when they turn to their slave states.

[musette_sf]

27. I remember reading here a few weeks ago

that some local city or state university was ELIMINATING the major in computer science.

So, if you want to major in a field that will allow you to make more than $10/hour, you are going to bloody well take out a massive amount of student loan debt, because your local state or city college just ain't gonna offer it at a more reasonable cost.

[newspeak]

30. yes, I'm sure he hasn't noticed, but we have a skilled workforce

engineers, computer programmers, etc... Of course, they do expect more than minimum wage since some still have to pay off those school loans. Presently, we have many "skilled workers" who are out of work, so what the hell is he talking about?

[boppers]

35. Do you read a lot of resumes? I do.

Specifically, for computer programmers.

Our colleges are churning out kids who think they are "skilled", and yet, they only speak one or two programming languages, can't hold more than 1,000 lines of code in their head, and are career-limited to jobs that are Java/Ruby/Python, with almost no training in networking, lower languages, databases, distributed systems, etc.

Their jobs start at $10-12 an hour, because they got a degree that lacks any serious qualifications. If they spend the next 20 years of their life dedicated to their field, they can build up a decent skill set, but for the most part, their starting credentials are *AWFUL*.

Further along the line, there are a lot of people who worked their way up the ladder, but did so in such a way as to totally limit their careers.... they may have 15 years as a DBA, but they only ever worked on one kind of system, or they may program for 15 years, but never on a team with more than 1,000 programmers, or they may have have jumped from fad to fad, and thus lack depth in any one language (which means they lack depth in all languages).

[Bardley]

38. 'If they spend the next 20 years of their life dedicated to their field'

"If they spend the next 20 years of their life dedicated to their field, they can build up a decent skill set"

which they will train the H-1b that replaces them with

clearly, with your 'Everyone chill the f-k out' attitude, you're someone who reads resumes, rather than one of the people busting their butt to build one

[boppers]

42. No, I still bust my butt.

The ones who think they can slack are the ones who get out-paced, out-learned, out-skilled.

[PACmenDotOrg]

37. truth is

What we need is to start teaching engineering, math, and science at a younger age. We need to identify students who are advanced in these fields and do a better job of nurturing their learning in those subjects.


www.whatthefuckhaveunionsdonesofar.com

[timtom]

44. I almost balked at your statement, "start teaching engineering, math, and science at a younger age"

until, as many should do, I read the complete post.
I heartily agree!
I would also point out that there is a huge reading and writing deficit among today's college students. There are many adult and evening students who are totally unprepared for college work.

[defendandprotect]

39. Right -- PLUS corporations want schools to turn out robots for them ... no liberal educations ....

and certainly no corporate-training of employees!!!

Wow !!

[Scout]

41. ... and then where are they going to work? n/t

[Vinee]

43. We'll have the most skilled, most highly educated, and best trained unemployed people in the world.

We'll be the envy of the world.

[nc4bo]

45. Nc4bo was here.

Was going to post a smart-arse remark but I see many of beaten me to the punch so I'll spare you guys.

What a complete mess we find ourselves in these days....