llinois becomes the fourth and most populous U.S. state to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

[Ben Kenobi]

We actually don't need more skilled workers.

Depends on what skillset you're referring to.

[Al B. Sure!]

A lot of folks in the CS department here ought to be working for minimum wage with the social skills and grooming that they have. Is it really too much to ask that you shave regularly, or, if you do have a beard, keep it well groomed and clean?

I'm a CS minor so I deal with those folks all the time. In my Computer Organization class there was this tremendous douche who gave a constant running commentary of the class and constantly interrupted with Paulbot political commentary, it was so annoying. He was also ridiculously fat had a neckbeard and he smelled. Really he was the complete package. And there are multiple people like that in the CS program.

Asher said he wouldn't hire a clean-cut, well-dressed and groomed CS applicant. Said something about it being suspicious (ie- he's an idiot) if he looks like an investment banker.

[Ben Kenobi]

It would probably instantly solve the housing problem, for one. Oh, and the whole right of people to freely move thing. And the fact that people moving here who are not only willing but ecstatic to do **** jobs for low pay is great for the economy.

I don't disagree with this - but here's the problem. Even if instant amnesty were granted, it wouldn't solve the housing problem in America. Not long term anyways. The problem has to do with the general deflation trends worldwide - not just in America. America is actually better off than most places (europe f'rinstance), but 11 million won't make up the gap in terms of the aging population.

Give the upcoming crunch in worldwide population - I don't think there's going to be *enough* young people willing to come to America to look for jobs to make up the shortfall.

The other problem is that these immigrants are all too old, older than the average American. This is actually going to lead to an increase in the dependency ratio in 20 years time, not a decrease.

[regexcellent]

Asher said he wouldn't hire a clean-cut, well-dressed and groomed CS applicant. Said something about it being suspicious (ie- he's an idiot) if he looks like an investment banker.

Most of the CS people here, and all the smart ones I know, are well-groomed. The department just has an outsized proportion of losers.

[Dinner]

If we have enough skilled workers, as some people in this thread have claimed, then why are companies begging for ever more H1-B visas? Is it just the foreign workers have the same skills but will work cheaper? Are they more easily exploitable since if they lose their job they get kicked out of the country? Or is it that we really do need more skilled workers to meet demand? My personal guess is the more the supply the lower the price and thus the more competitive companies can be (which eventually creates more demand requiring ever more workers).

[Aeson]

If we have enough skilled workers, as some people in this thread have claimed, then why are companies begging for ever more H1-B visas? Is it just the foreign workers have the same skills but will work cheaper? Are they more easily exploitable since if they lose their job they get kicked out of the country? Or is it that we really do need more skilled workers to meet demand? My personal guess is the more the supply the lower the price and thus the more competitive companies can be (which eventually creates more demand requiring ever more workers).

The average American can now no longer fit in their cubicle.

[MichaeltheGreat]

It would probably instantly solve the housing problem, for one. Oh, and the whole right of people to freely move thing. And the fact that people moving here who are not only willing but ecstatic to do **** jobs for low pay is great for the economy.

Yeah, I can see hordes of unskilled immigrants scraping up the money to rent crap apartments in poor neighborhoods as really having a ripple effect elsewhere in the housing market. If you don't have a controlled immigration policy, you will get an excess of unsilled immigrants chasing too few unskilled **** jobs, then we get a 21st century version of Five Points.