UKJ wrote:

Satiated Parrot wrote:

UKJ wrote:I usually admire American patriotism, but I think it's stretching it to think that the Indians were done a favour, were ecstatic about it, or automatically assuming they wanted green cards. Maybe in the past, but many Indians are choosing to stay in India, and many have headed back since things started booming. I don't like the looking down on them like they should be grateful. But thankfully, the law in America agrees that they were exploited.

Anyone would be greatful for some work experience in the States, no matter which country they're from. It'd look great on the resume.

That is an astonishing claim. And obviously very wrong.

Satiated Parrot wrote: And yes, maybe we can't assume every single one wanted a green card, but given the amount they were being paid, I doubt they had great options in India?

Indians are very family orientated. Many won't give up their family ties, to live under the poverty line in California, the most superficial place on the planet. As Steve Martin said in a movie " some of the buildings are 20 years old" !!!

Satiated Parrot wrote:

UKJ wrote:

Satiated Parrot wrote:

UKJ wrote:I usually admire American patriotism, but I think it's stretching it to think that the Indians were done a favour, were ecstatic about it, or automatically assuming they wanted green cards. Maybe in the past, but many Indians are choosing to stay in India, and many have headed back since things started booming. I don't like the looking down on them like they should be grateful. But thankfully, the law in America agrees that they were exploited.

Anyone would be greatful for some work experience in the States, no matter which country they're from. It'd look great on the resume.

That is an astonishing claim. And obviously very wrong.

Satiated Parrot wrote: And yes, maybe we can't assume every single one wanted a green card, but given the amount they were being paid, I doubt they had great options in India?

Indians are very family orientated. Many won't give up their family ties, to live under the poverty line in California, the most superficial place on the planet. As Steve Martin said in a movie " some of the buildings are 20 years old" !!!

Oh please. Many Indians wouldn't want to move to the US; they're the few very rich ones. Most, however, would jump at the chance.

Applying your logic that Indians don't want to be separate from their families, and will give up income to stay with their families, then how do you explain the hundreds of thousands of Indian men working in Singapore and the Middle East?

OrangeDragon wrote:

UKJ wrote:

OrangeDragon wrote:Here's a Duke study on the subject if it's one that interests you:
http://www.soc.duke.edu/GlobalEngineeri ... killed.pdf

And ANYONE from ANYWHERE being given a free 3 months of living expenses on top of their regular salary is being done a favor... it's not patriotism, it's common sense. Hell, when my company gives me a business trip with expenses covered i get giddy about it. A bonus as well!? F-ya!

Interesting article. S.Parrot should definitely read it.

I disagree that a room and regular salary is a favour. What would your conscience let you pay a Khmer maid, to come and clean for you in America? A Cambodian wage? Or the American going rate? Personally, my conscience wouldn't let me pay Indian/ Khmer wages, especially if I was posting $200 million profits a quarter/ £800 million a year.

If i've covered their room and meals as well? Likely.

You're downplaying what housing goes for here... and how much of a "regular US salary" would be heavily eaten by it. lets say they were on a $40,000 a year salary... probably close to average for immigrant tech workers just arriving on a temporary work visa. That's about $3300/m before taxes... and about $2500/m after taxes.

California, especially areas like silicon valley, they'd be paying about $800 a month in rent for a small place. I just had some Vietnamese noodles in a slightly shady part of town (so cheap) and it hit me for $15 with a bottle of beer. Indian food here (which I imagine they'd want) is "exotic" so "expensive" in most places where it's not complete shit. Even a trip to the grocery store and cooking yourself hits the wallet pretty hard. Lets average a generously small total for food at around $100 a week.

We haven't touched on transportation to/from work... but given the wages and the cost of such things here i imagine it's included. Otherwise we're at another $100/m for the bus or shelling out cash to get a car/etc.

Utilities... mine run about $150/m.

Ok... so now were up to a pay they were just given of $1450/month. Minimum wage supposedly is intended to make sure a person's wages can cover all of these things, if these things ARE already covered then it should be considered that minimum wage has actually been met at that point. Their regular salary on top of that, well... that's just gravy. As is the bonus they were receiving.

We're never seeing how much the salaries in India were... only this dramatic quote of "While assigned to the project, some of the Indian workers logged as many as 122 hours in a week without being paid overtime. As result, they received as little as $1.21 per hour."

Well, if someone logs 122 hours in a week at 1.21/hr, that's 147.62 a week. $590/m. Bringing our total to $2040/m... a number well above US minimum wage and only $500/m under that "Regular US Wages" amount.

Add to that the bonus we don't have a solid number for... and we could easily hit the "US Wages" number. Doesn't sound like exploitation to me... and depending on that bonus (on top of the free trip, and the fact that the company paid for meals were probably much nicer than they'd get on that $100 a week allowance I gave) it may have actually been an increase.

[EDIT: Just to verify I went and had a look at rent prices around Silicon Valley (I was basing it on my recent searches here in LA) and apparently I was greatly mistaken on how much they are. The cheapest studio apt I could find was $1500/month... so adjust in another $700/m and they are clearly receiving more in total compensation than the "Regular US Wage".]

UKJ wrote: You made up a bunch of stuff, from eating Vietnamese food

You would need around 8,497.16S$ (6,667.06$) in Singapore to maintain the same standard of life that you can have with 4,400.00$ in Los Angeles, CA

frank lee bent wrote:now in Australia many more teachers complete degrees than there are jobs for. about half will not be employed as teachers.
this is because there was a critical skill shortage a few years back.
so they let a lot of teachers in from overseas.
and there are no jobs now . LOL