Fire the foreigner, it is the moral thing to do!

Okay, protecting the American's job is the moral thing to do is what the senator said. Of course, to accomplish that favor firing the foreigner!

[Via a friend's shared item on Google Reader]:

"'Hiring American workers for limited available jobs should be a top priority for businesses taking taxpayer money through the TARP bailout program,' Sen. Grassley said.

'With the unemployment rate at 7.6 percent, there is no need for companies to hire foreign guest workers through the H1-B program when there are plenty of qualified Americans looking for jobs,' Sen. Grassley said.

Sen. Grassley and Sen. Sanders both argue that U.S. firms have a moral obligation to protect U.S. workers' jobs."

It is not clear to me why would companies go through the pains of hiring foreign workers if there are enough qualified Americans around who are looking for the same jobs.

Have American companies been hiring foreign workers because they are altruistic? How is it moral to spend the tax payer's money in an inefficient way? Of course, the tax payers can choose to do so and may want the companies getting the bail out to do so as it is their money. That reminds me that H1-B workers pay taxes too and given that they are highly qualified workers the tax each one of them pays, I am guessing and could be wrong, must be more than an average American pays. Anyway, H1-B workers don't have the right to vote and so have no way of controlling how their money is spent.

More wisdom from Grassley on how Microsoft should handle its planned layoffs:

"These work visa programs were never intended to allow a company to retain foreign guest workers rather than similarly qualified American workers, when that company cuts jobs during an economic downturn,"

"It is imperative that in implementing its layoff plan, Microsoft ensures that American workers have priority in keeping their jobs over foreign workers on visa programs,"

Okay, now we should layoff based on nationality. I would toss a coin if there were two equally valuable employees and I had to fire one but nationality seems like a morally correct option. Senator Grassley, as an American senator must now renounce all stuff he has other than that which is Made in the USA. Having renounced all that isn't made in the USA he should start buying Made in the USA. That will add to the stimulus that the economy needs and is the moral thing to do.