well said

Only in America, can a poor oppressed downtrodden person get government housing, free food, clean running water with indoor plumbing, free electricity 24/7, while owning a late model car with thousands of dollars worth of rims and electronics, several color TVs, a high end stereo, a fridge, a microwave, a washer and dryer, a cell phone, thousands of dollars worth of jewelry, and a $100 a day drug habit.

In most countries, they would be considered wealthy.

TR

Throw in free public education, free health-care by using the emergency rooms at other individuals expense, free clothing from various sources, and all the pity they can handle from the liberal establishment.

Paste Eater,
America is the “land of opportunity” – but only if you make yourself available for the opportunity. Not to pick on you – nor lecture -- but
Our founding fathers established a Republic (not a democracy), with power given to the people thru their State Legislatures. They envisioned a nation where if you didn’t like your local government, taxes, job, or situation – YOU COULD MOVE and improve your lot in life.
My Family moved here from Scotland, then to Cleveland, then to Arizona. And I have moved my family six (6) times for a better life. We are Clannish also, but not blind --- if there ain’t no jobs in some place, and I have to work, I move !!!

SnT

So, if your core issue is employers short-changing H1Bs, then the solution is to stop all H1B immigration?

The website you linked to says the following:
What is the definition of a "new job" and how can one verify that those "new jobs" were specifically filled by H1Bs? Unless you can verify this, the above statement is a heavily biased opinion, not a fact.

I graduated in 2001 from college with my undergraduate degree. Almost all the kids I knew got jobs. I had three offers myself, which I didn't take and went to graduate school. Many of my friends were in CS/CE/EE. Heck, even the guy with the low 2.5 GPA got a job. 2002 is when shit hit the fan. That summer is when people I knew who'd recently graduated had a tough time finding a job or got laid off as whole divisions within companies got downsized. All eventually found a job though, including myself. Defense corporations and government have been hiring aggressively due to the war since 2001 and filling the pipeline for baby boomer retirements. One needs to look at the big picture and adapt.

Also from the website:
This is inaccurate as well as the above assumes had it not been for H1Bs, corporations would have automatically forked that job over to an American, which isn't true. While some corporations may, others that operate on quality before quantity won't bring just anyone in if they can't find the right person. I'd rather work harder shorthanded rather than bringing in an employee that doesn't meet the standards.

The National Science Foundation has statistics on recent college graduates in Science and Engineering. From the numbers, majority seem to find employment.

#

Some Facts about the Distribution of American Wealth
 

Sorry, I'm jumping in on this a little bit late, but I'd just like to set the record straight about the distribution of "wealth" in America.
SILKRIDER32, I believe the proper term for what you keep decrying in America is social stratification. Yes it is real, however it is a world wide phenomenon, not something that is unique to America. As far as the poor, well your beliefs on the distribtuition of wealth are somewhat more skewed.

According to Gilbert and Kahl, there are six contemporary American social classes. These classes are defined by the education, occupation and income of the individuals in them

The highest class is the Capitalists. They have achieved prestigious university educations, they are generally investors and top business executives although few if any really need to work and their incomes will be seven figures a year or higher. They comprise approximately 1% of the population. Some sociologists believe that they control 90% of the wealth and resources.
The next class is the upper middle class. This is where approximately 15% of Americans sit. These individuals usually have college educations, often with postgraduate studies. They will generally be employed in professional positions and upper level management. These individuals make six figure incomes.
The third class is the lower middle. Most American’s fall into this class at 34%. This class has college or skills training. They will work in semi-professional, managerial and skilled labor positions. They will mostly earn mid-range to high five figure incomes.
The fourth class is the working class. This is comprised of about 30% of Americans. These individuals have very little education above high school. This class is where one will find unskilled labor, craftspeople, salespeople and service industry workers. They earn low to mid-range five figure incomes.
The following class is the Working poor. These individuals have little in the way of formal education, save for high school. They will also be unskilled laborers and service industry workers. What separates them from the working class is their income which will be in the extremely low five figure range. About 16% of Americans belong to this class.
The final and lowest class according to Gilbert and Kahl is the underclass. This is where one will find the poor. These individuals may not even posses a basic high school education. They are usually unemployed or part time worker only. They may require state assistance in order to survive and they will have an income in the extremely low five figure range or less. Around 5% of Americans fall into this category.

So as you can see we are not quite as bad off in America as you believe we are.

The Advantage that we have in America
 

The major characteristic of our class system that sets it apart from others is social mobility. This is what allows for movement up and down the social ladder and it is the feature that most distinguishes the class system from other forms of stratification such as the caste system. There are three types of social mobility, intergenerational, structural and exchange.
Intergenerational mobility occurs when children end up on a different rung of the social ladder than their parents. There are several factors that contribute to this form of mobility and the movement can be either upwards or downwards on the social ladder. For instance, a child whose father is an unskilled construction laborer does well in school, attends college and becomes a doctor. This is a prime example of upwards intergenerational social mobility.
Structural mobility is the second form of social mobility. It refers to the natural changes a society goes through that cause large numbers of people to move up and down the social ladder. A good example of this is the automobile industry, particularly in Michigan. For years working in this industry paid well and was considered to be prestigious. Since the industry began experiencing troubles though, several thousands of workers have been laid off and forced to get lower paying and more menial jobs. Not only is this an example of structural mobility, it also illustrates a downward movement.
The final form of social mobility is exchange mobility. This occurs when large numbers of people move up and down on the social ladder but because it is a balanced movement the social classes and structure remains largely unchanged. An example of this would be the boom in the technology industry that allowed individuals with those skills to rapidly ascend the social ladder. Their newfound status afforded them a greater disposable income, which led to a boom in the services industries essentially redistributing the wealth among all the classes. This exchange leaves the distinctions between classes largely unchanged.

Anyone in America has the chance to become part of the super rich regardless of their starting point. They simply need to have the drive to achieve it.

Finally, the reason that I belive our economy is in the tubes.
 

Max Werber was an early Sociologist who believed that religion, not economics was the central force behind social change. He believed that Protestantism undermined an individual’s spiritual security and in so doing encouraged them to embrace change. He felt that being insecure in their salvation would lead people to look for signs that God was pleased with them, financial success being chief among these.
In order to achieve this people would begin to lead frugal, self-denying lives. They would work hard and save and invest their money in order to make more. Werber believed that this brought about the birth of Capitalism and dubbed it the Protestant ethic.

Shortly after WWII America (along with most of the world) adopted what has become know as the Keneysian Economic model. This was largely to pay off staggering war debt without crippling the worlds economy. John Maynard Keyens was an economist who advocated interventionist government policy, by which the government would use fiscal and monetary measures to mitigate the adverse effects of economic recessions, depressions and booms. He is one of the fathers of modern theoretical macroeconomics.
He belived that the total income in a society is defined by the sum of consumption and investment; and in a state of unemployment and unused production capacity, one can only enhance employment and total income by first increasing expenditures for either consumption or investment.
He belived that deficit spending would increase consumption, which would stimulate production, this would in turn increase investments which would build capitial, which would replace the money spent in deficit.
The problem is that this model was only supposed to be a short term soloution and it was based on the principle that a countries currency was based on gold. When we went off the gold standard in the 1970's we dealt the first fatal blow to our economy based on this model.
Many economist argue that Keynesian economics can result in stagflation, which is the combination of low growth and high inflation.

The problem is that we have so long been in this cycle that there is no effective way to pull out of it without a serious recession.

And, they have no problem complaining that "it's not enough" and "I need more"

Not surpisingly, the base of support of Hillary and Obama are these people. They don't want incentive based programs, they only want more welfare based on cost of living increases, to which they will cite a cost of living increase based on the highest income levels.

Maybe I am misunderstood??? As I stated before I just found it hard to believe that someone is worth that much money. "Hard to believe" not that they "weren't" by the market standard. Even in $100 bills how much a pile of money $150 million would be. Just hard to comprehend. I am not crying out for the poor, they are that way because they choose to be that way. If someone is disabled and cannot work that is one thing but if they are just lazy then they have no rights to aid. They should starve or get a job. If they don't like it get a job or get a better education. It is all available in this country for those who want it. I am not against capitalism it is what makes this country strong. We have it great in this country even with our problems it is the greatest country in the world. Much better than the other ones I have visited.

9 out of Every 10 Computer/IT Jobs Went to H-1Bs

"According to the American Electronics Association (AeA), a major industry lobbyist that pushed Congress for increasing the H-1B quota, new statistics show that 96,700 new jobs in computer IT were created in 2001. Since 163,000 H-1B visas were issued in 2001, and according to the INS 53% of those visas are computer/IT jobs, 86,390 of the jobs in 2001 were taken by H-1Bs."

The key phrase. According to a lobbyist, with no way of checking the data, or what that data entails.

I was actually directing that towards your statements on the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. That's not really true. While the rich are certainly staying rich, Americans are better off financially, class and status wise then they ever have been in history.

Having finished statistics I now know that the appropriate way to lie is to first gather all empirical data pertinent to the facts one is trying to distort so that one can then manipulate that data in a manner that suits their perogative.