Crazy statements by Gates and Cresanti

Date: Monday, November 20, 2006 11:02 PM

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1593 -- 11/20/2006 >>>>>

Bill Gates has said some crazy things before, but this one is really over
the edge:

Lobbying for an increase in the number of H-1B visas, Microsoft
chief Bill Gates has called high-skilled immigration the "number
one thing" that the software giant needs.

Most of us think that the number one thing Microsoft needs is software
without bugs and security leaks, but that's not what Bill Gates thinks is
important. His #1 priority is cheap labor so that Microsoft can prosper no
matter what kind of junkware they sell.

Don't think for a second that Bill Gates is the only idiot that is on the
campaign trail for more H-1B visas. Robert Cresanti, undersecretary of
commerce for technology, and sometimes called the Technology Czar, insulted
American programmers to such a degree it should have raised at least the
same amount of ire as the brouhaha over the Michael Richards rant. Somebody
in the Bush administration needs to explain why they have such disdain for
American IT workers.

"The IT work force is not skilled enough and almost never can be
skilled enough."

"Without H-1B visas, we would have economic dislocation."

So far you probably don't think any of the quotes I provided are funny, so
I decided the close the commentary section with a Cresanti quote that
almost made me fall off my chair. My sides are still hurting after reading
this one! This is what Cresanti concluded after taking a junket in China:

"They [the Chinese] are ramping up in the most profound way. Math
and science are ingrained. We're a country of laws and men.
They're a country of engineers."

I visited China for two weeks, and I never saw math and science gurus,
although they all seemed good at counting American dollars and giving you
instantaneous conversions of dollars for Chinese Yuan. Most of the China I
saw was like this video (click link below). If China has such great
engineers what numbskull designed this intersection, and if they are such
good mathematicians, why are the bicyclists so willing to bet their lives
on the probability of being run over by something when they run red
stoplights?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4018635214160372527&q=chinese+OR+china+bicyclist&hl=en

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http://workpermit.com/news/2006_03_20/us/gates_lobbies_h1b_visas.htm

20 March 2006

Lobbying for an increase in the number of H-1B visas, Microsoft chief Bill
Gates has called high-skilled immigration the "number one thing" that the
software giant needs. He called it "ironic" that Indians have to return to
their homeland due to US visa shortages, despite graduating from American
computer science institutions.

"Its kind of ironic to have somebody graduate from Stanford Computer
Science Department and there is not enough H1B visas, so they have to go
back to India. And I have people who have been hired who are just sitting
on the border waiting," Gates, who was in Washington last week to lobby the
US Senate on a proposal to increase H1B visas, told The Washington Post.

"The high skilled immigration issue is by far the number one thing" on the
Washington agenda of Microsoft and for the electronics industry generally
and "this is gigantic for us," Gates said.

His comments came ahead of discussion in the Senate on a proposal to have
the number of H-1B visas increased from the current 65,000 to 115,000, with
a 20 per cent increase built in annually. The Bill will be considered when
Congress gets back from recess on March 28.

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http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2060613,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03119TX1K0000594

U. S. Technology Czar Says More IT Workers Needed
November 17, 2006

By Stan Gibson

Following a time of mass avoidance in the aftermath of the dot-com bust,
the U.S. IT work force is facing a shortage of people, according to the
Commerce Department's technology czar.
"The IT work force is not skilled enough and almost never can be skilled
enough," said Robert Cresanti, undersecretary of commerce for technology,
in an exclusive interview with eWEEK editors. "There are not enough
engineers with the appropriate skill sets."

Cresanti said U.S. colleges and universities are not enrolling enough
engineering students, resulting in a dearth of information technology
professionals. In addition to boosting engineering enrollment, he urged
opening the gates to more foreign workers, including H-1B holders. "Without
H-1B visas, we would have economic dislocation," Cresanti said.

The third quarter exhibits a sharp drop in IT worker confidence. Click here
to read more.

Speeding up processing of student visas is also needed, he said. Many
foreign students are unable to study in the United States because tight
visa policies in the wake of 9/11 are preventing them from doing so. "It's
not just India, but other countries like Russia and Israel," he said.

On the question of software patents, an issue that is vexing many software
vendors, particularly smaller ones, Cresanti said he supports the issuance
of tightly defined patents on software. He said the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office has made its practices more rigorous in recent years, a
significant improvement over the previous era in which patent examiners
were rewarded for filling patent quotas.

Even so, he said the patent office itself estimates that it grants as many
as 10,000 questionable patents annually. Some improvements to the patent
system could come from bills that are currently pending in the House and
Senate.

Having returned from a recent trip to China, Cresanti said he was "blown
away" by the amount of investment in research facilities and schools.
"Virtually every senior government official I met was an engineer," he
said. "They are ramping up in the most profound way. Math and science are
ingrained. We're a country of laws and men. They're a country of
engineers."

One obstacle to technology trade with China -- intellectual property -- is
always the No. 1 topic of discussion whenever federal trade officials meet
with the Chinese, he said.

As far as future technologies are concerned, Cresanti said nanotechnology
is the most important. Although he said health concerns about
nanotechnology need to be addressed, "We cannot afford not to be leaders in
nanotechnology. It's the way everything will be made," he said.

Check out eWEEK.com's IT Management Center for the latest news, reviews and
analysis on IT management from CIOInsight.com.

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