Rep. John Yarmuth (D - KY): Republicans are "Party of Screw You"

By GottaLaff

Today's Quickie:

While listening to the Stephanie Miller Show a few minutes ago, I jotted down this Graysonesque quote from Representative John Yarmuth (D - KY):

"Republicans have gone from "just saying no" to "just saying screw you."

That was today's Quickie. Was it good for you?

AP Investigation: Banks sought 21,800 high-paid foreign workers during meltdown

By GottaLaff

The more we learn, the worse they get:

Major U.S. banks sought government permission to bring thousands of foreign workers into the country for high-paying jobs even as the system was melting down last year and Americans were getting laid off, according to an Associated Press review of visa applications.

The dozen banks now receiving the biggest rescue packages, totaling more than $150 billion, requested visas for more than 21,800 foreign workers over the past six years for positions that included senior vice presidents, corporate lawyers, junior investment analysts and human resources specialists. The average annual salary for those jobs was $90,721, nearly twice the median income for all American households. [...]

It is unclear how many foreign workers the banks actually hired; the government does not release those details. The actual number is likely a fraction of the 21,800 foreign workers the banks sought to hire because the government only grants 85,000 such visas each year among all U.S. employers. [...]

Foreigners are attractive hires because companies have found ways to pay them less than American workers. [...]

David Huber of Chicago is a computer networking engineer who has testified to Congress about losing out on a 2002 job with the former Bank One Corp. He learned later the bank applied to hire dozens of foreign visa holders for work he said he was qualified to do.

"American citizenship is being undermined working in our own country," Huber said in an AP interview. [...]

Grassley, with Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., is pushing for legislation to make employers recruit American workers first, along with other changes to the visa program. [...]

Jennifer Scott of Yreka, Calif., a retired technical systems manager at Bank of America in Concord, Calif., said in 2004 she oversaw foreign employees from a contractor firm that also sent overnight work to employees in India.

"It had nothing to do with a shortage, but they didn't want to pay the U.S. rate," she said, adding that the quality of the work was weak. "It's all about numbers crunching."

Numbers crunching? It's safe to say there very well may be some head-crunching in these banks' future.