Government, Politics and the Economy Climate Bill Helps Utilities, Factories and Farms More Than Oil Companies While the global warming bill passed by the US House sets up a cap-and-trade market for greenhouse gases, it also cushions the cost for power producers, manufacturers and farmers and limits aid to oil companies. Bloomberg.com Obama: Hints at Amnesty for Illegal Aliens President Obama shied away from any hot-button words in remarks last week on immigration reform, but he did hint at some kind of “amnesty” or “legal path” for illegal immigrants already in the US. BizJournals.com Manage... [Read Full Article]

The issue of guest worker visas came to the fore again when Microsoft, one of the most vocal proponents of the H-1B visa, announced that they would lay-off 5,000 workers. That led Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, to worry over how many Americans would lose their jobs as opposed to how many foreign guest workers would, which led him to publicly call on Microsoft to prioritize American workers over foreign guest workers as the company downsizes. That, of course, has led to questions about the legality of firing H-1B workers first, but it has also led to a trio of more important questions: Does a guest worker program that allows for the import of foreign workers make any sense when companies large and small are shedding employees? Don’t American workers face enough competition with the addition of foreign workers? Should the US Government, which should be in the business of supporting American workers, be permitting foreign workers to come in and take American jobs? The Latest... [Read Full Article]