Washblog

What is it with the super wealthy in this country?  They make their billions in this country and instead of just retiring and disappearing, they keep pushing economic policies that continue to run the middle class into the ground?  And they continue to do this even though the economy is going into the tank.

Bill was up in Canada spreading the "technology worker shortage myth" claiming that poor Microsoft, the alleged victim of the "strict government H-1B policy" cannot hire enough technology workers in the U.S.  This is his big lie that he continually repeats.

If hiring talent was a problem for Microsoft, I would probably be working there right now, instead of working temporary contract jobs with weak benefits and no hope of being able to save for retirement.  If Microsoft has a problem hiring talent, it is due to the age discrimination that they practice, along with all the other big corporations based here in Washington State (and across the country).  Also, they need to fix the way that they deal with contractors.  They hire thousands of contractors, which make up most of their workforce now days.  The contractors also have a limit of 1 year on the job, after which they are forced to leave Microsoft and seek employment elsewhere.  If Microsoft was really having trouble hiring, they would put a stop to this practice as well.

Also, if the talent is abroad and not here, why doesn't Microsoft just move its headquarters out of this country?  I'll tell you why.  The United States has become a tax haven for big business.  Don't let the advertised corporate tax rate fool you.  With all the loop holes that have been systematically worked into the tax laws, and the neutering of the IRS where it can no longer enforce these laws, corporations can limit their tax to a negligible amount, or to nothing.  On top of that, they get tax breaks/payoffs from the U.S. government at the taxpayers expense (because the government is still under control of the "trickle down voodoo economics" crowd).

What it boils down to is this: Microsoft stays in the U.S. for the huge tax incentives, and yet still wants the cheep labor from abroad, all because the name of the game today is to get nothing short of record profits and more money for the super wealthy.  It's that simple.