Reply to post: Re: Elephant in the room?

Trump H-1B visa crackdown hit with legal double whammy: Tech giants, Chamber of Commerce challenge rules

martinusher Silver badge

Re: Elephant in the room?

Back when I were a young 'un (1984) I had the opportunity to take up a job in the US. Althugh the company was distinctly fly by night and the pay was, by local standards, laughable I moved from a dampworld where "If it wasn't nailed down it was nicked" with few employment opportunities to an upscale part of Southern California where the sun always shone and there was always something interesting happening. My first reaction was "its a crock" and was anxious to get back to sanity. Unfortunatley I was married to a Latent Californian -- the missus proved to be a Californian who just had the misfortune to be born in Birmingham. So we stuck it out and thiry odd years later we're now 'merkans stuck in the xenophobic world of The Donald (because thank's to Brexit the only alternative is the xenophobic world of The Donaldlet) but being relatively well off, retired and so on we're OK, Living The American Dream. (This isn't the world for many, though -- I've been working the polls recently, rubbing shoulders with fellow Americans who are for glad to get that $17.50 an hour and some of the tales you hear are hearbreaking -- they're not sob stories becuase most Americans are stoic and hardworking people who are resilient in the face of adversity but its still painful to hear the stories of carreers and lifestyles truncated and the lengths people are having to go to in order to try to keep things togeter.) Anyway, given that the opportunity and optimism that did characterize the place 30 odd years ago has largely evaporated, there is no -- repeat, No, Zilch, Nada -- job security, the health system makes even a dysfunctional NHS look marvellous, there's no social safety net to speak of -- you'd have to be either crazy or desperate to work here. The streets may be paved with gold in the Bay Area but its a transient situation, it won't last (I've been through three cycles so far). Normal salaries are a lot lower and now companies have figured out that they really can function without a prestige office in an expensive location expect rapid and permanent change. Remeber, the Bean Counters always win in the end.

If you are recruited to an interesting job that requires serious skills then you also need to beware of another trap. In the old days you'd work, contribute, learn and maybe see an oportunity to do something for yourself. This enreprenturial activirty spawned generations of companies, it was like a family tree with some branches successful, many not, and its what made us what we are. Unfortunately these days this sort of thing is now regarded by the FBI as espioage. As a result, if you sail a bit close to the wind with that new enterprise you may find yourself in jail rather than just being sued.

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