Reading List

http://www.ijis.org/EDblog
http://www.ansi.org/internet_resources/overview/overview.aspx
http://www.ijis.org/_publications/successes.html
http://www.ijis.org/_programs/fusion_center.html
http://www.ijis.org/_programs/sar.html
http://www.ijis.org/committees_advisory/ET.html
http://www.kms.ijis.org/traction/permalink/Public4043
http://esrisilverlight.codeplex.com/documentation
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=ie7&q=bpos+cloud+sharepoint
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms733083(VS.90).aspx


http://www.amazon.com/Lets-Get-Real-Play-Dysfunctional/dp/1883219507

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/mahan-khalsa/4/81a/b11



http://www.franklincovey.com/tc/solutions/sales-performance-solutions/lets-get-real-or-lets-not-play-transforming-the-buyerseller-relationship



http://www.worldcat.org/title/lets-get-real-or-lets-not-play-transforming-the-buyerseller-relationship/oclc/213308889&referer=brief_results

Yellowstone Earthquakes

See http://tinyurl.com/yellocano for the latest news stories about some minor earthquakes that have been happening at Yellowstone. Now see http://www.solcomhouse.com/yellowstone.htm for some background information on this supervolcano. See http://www.quake.utah.edu/helicorder/heli/yellowstone/index.html for the latest seismic activity charts and pay special attention to the charts from 6-7 days ago compared to today and yesterday.

H-1B Program Abusers

Many companies in the USA are knowingly abusing the H-1B Visa program. I've identified a list of 27 institutions that obviously fit this criteria. In the year 2007 they sponsored at least 100 employees and paid them average salaries under 50K per year. Before today I always suspected that this program was being abused. Now I'm very confident that this is the case. I'm quite familiar with the technology industry market and know very well that there are plenty of highly-skilled American workers looking for jobs. The prevailing wages for anyone with hard-to-find skills is generally over 100K. Any company that is really looking for American workers can find them. The idea that any company could hire over 100 workers in a single year on a H-1B visa for less than half that salary level and say they are doing so at prevailing wages because American workers aren't available is absurd.

Here's the list of companies:

http://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Sponsor/Indus-Valley-Consultants/261028.htm
http://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Sponsor/Axiom-Sources/56045.htm
http://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Sponsor/Materials-Software-System/342768.htm
http://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Sponsor/DivIHN-Integration/156802.htm
http://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Sponsor/Diverse-Lynx/156584.htm

http://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Sponsor/Yash-Technologies/607231.htm
http://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Sponsor/Engineering-Technology-Associates/179491.htm
http://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Sponsor/Hidef-Technologies/243989.htm
http://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Sponsor/Genex-Technologies/215023.htm
http://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Sponsor/Camo-Technologies/91791.htm

http://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Sponsor/Cyberthink/139002.htm
http://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Sponsor/Coolsoft/129158.htm
http://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Sponsor/Real-Soft/449967.htm
http://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Sponsor/Virtue-Group/585690.htm
http://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Sponsor/Maxisit/343995.htm

http://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Sponsor/Vensoft/581110.htm
http://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Sponsor/Epower/613339.htm
http://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Sponsor/Dibon-Solutions/153922.htm
http://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Sponsor/GTRR/230815.htm
http://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Sponsor/Harmony-Science-Academy/131451.htm


http://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Sponsor/Genome-International/213717.htm
http://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Sponsor/Viraj/585163.htm
http://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Sponsor/Advent-Global-Solutions/16603.htm
http://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Sponsor/Terasoft-International/533774.htm
http://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Sponsor/Allied-Informatics/26234.htm

http://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Sponsor/Infodat-International/262157.htm
http://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Sponsor/Cambridge-Resource-Group/91436.htm

Note: I apologize in advance if any of the data is inaccurate. I will do everything I possibly can to make sure this list is accurate.

H-1B Visa Program Abuse

In reading http://www.myvisajobs.com/Top_Visa_Sponsors.aspx its obvious that several companies are abusing the laws that have created and sustained the H-1B Visa Program currently administered by the US Department of Homeland Security. Satyam, Patni, Multivision and Enterprise Business Solutions appear to be the ones most abusing the program. The salaries they are paying are significantly lower than prevailing wages for workers with hard to find skills.

The purpose of the H-1B visa is to give U.S. employers the opportunity to hire foreign professionals if a U.S. citizen or resident is not available. The intent is to make it possible for US companies to be able to hire people with hard to find skills. The truth is that for almost ANY technical skill in the IT industry there are plenty of American workers available who can be brought in to do the job. The problem for these businesses is that any IT professional with hard-to-find skills and sufficient experience can easily make 6-figures. Anyone on a H-1B visa getting paid fair market for "hard-to-find skills" should be getting 6-figures too.

What the abusing companies are doing is finding creative ways to BREAK THE LAW. The data doesn't lie. Read it yourself. Any company not averaging 100K+ for their H-1B workers is obviously playing games. The ones who are the furthest below 100K in their averages IMHO are playing the biggest games.

Funny Thoughts on Jobs Leaving America

Tom Smith started the day early having set his
alarm clock




(MADE IN JAPAN ) for 6am.


While his coffeepot



(MADE IN CHINA )



was perking, he shaved with his



electric razor



(MADE IN HONG KONG ).




He put on a



dress shirt



(MADE IN SRI LANKA ),




designer jeans



(MADE IN SINGAPORE )



and



tennis shoes



(MADE IN KOREA )



After cooking his breakfast in his new



electric skillet



(MADE IN INDIA )




he sat down with his



calculator



(MADE IN MEXICO )



to see how much he could spend today. After setting his



watch



(MADE IN TAIWAN )




to the radio



(MADE IN INDIA )



he got in his car



(MADE IN GERMANY )



filled it with GAS



(from Saudi Arabia )



and continued his search



for a good paying AMERICAN JOB.



At the end



of yet another discouraging



and fruitless day




checking his

Computer

(Made In Malaysia ),



Joe decided to relax for a while.



He put on his



sandals

(MADE IN BRAZIL )




poured himself a glass of



wine

(MADE IN FRANCE )



and turned on his



TV



(MADE IN INDONESIA ),


and then wondered



why he can't find



a good paying job



in AMERICA

Karl Denninger on the Economy - Dec 7, 2008

In 1996 when I first moved to Chicago I was advised by several people that the best Internet Service Provider (ISP) in Chicago was MCSNet. Their CEO Karl Denninger had put together quite a well-run business. I'm guessing that Denninger would've stayed on in the IT industry if it hadn't been for the dotCOM bubble pushing him into cashing out. Now he's independently wealthy and spends most of his days/nights monitoring the global financial markets. I've been reading his BLOG for nearly 20 months now since the stresses felt during the last half of 2006 in the subprime mortgage market caused a lot of firms entrenched in this market to blow up in early 2007. Denninger definitely saw the recession coming and he tried hard to warn the politicians early on about what was coming.

President-Elect Barak Obama at http://change.gov/page/s/yourstory is now requesting that Americans share their experience and ideas on what they'd like the Obama administration to do and where they'd like the country to go. Karl Denninger has put together his ideas at http://market-ticker.org/archives/676-To-Obamas-Transition-Team.html to address this. The image I borrowed from Denninger showing the relationship between debt levels, year and recessions/depressions tell a lot. A recession/depression will continue to get worse as long as debt levels keep rising. Recoveries begin when bad debt gets wiped off the books with clean new starts through bankruptcy.

However the current policies of the Congress/President are likely just worsening the problem as they are encouraging/promoting greater debt burdens. We've all see what a failure the stimulus packages done this year have been. Instead of promoting cleanup/recovery they've been throwing more debt at the problem. As a result the debt levels are still rising. We already have proven programs in place that clean up bad debts. Its called foreclosure, repossession and bankruptcy. Its the way of turning over control of assets/operations under sick management to the management of the creditors and in turn allowing the sick companies to stop spreading their cancer and for sick consumers to get a fresh start. Families and corporations with clean balance sheets are vibrant/progressive and thus help the economy grow.

The only ones who really win through bailouts are special interests that figure out how to fleece/milk the system. That's what has been happening with the 800 billion earmark for Fannie/Freddie and the 700 billion dollar bailout the past few months. And that's what will probably happen with the auto industry bailout, Citigroup bailout and others that are either in progress or being decided upon. The best chance for recovery are to see debt disappear. I hope someday that Congress will decide to start serving the American people instead of the special interests who are lining their pockets.

25 million surplus cars in America

The real reason why Detroit is in BIG trouble.
There are simply too many cars in America.
We either need to get rid of some old cars, or
we can increase the number of drivers.