More on H-1B Visa Restrictions

The Detroit News editorial got quite a response. The comments on the DetNews site were amusing ("Kennedy is an idiot," or ""you wouldn't feel that way if Professor jobs were offshored.") The comments were undoubtedly heartfelt, but basically emotive primal screams.

Much more amusing were the emails that came to the WDI site. Apparently I'm a "traitor," a "corporate shill," an "elitist," and an "ivory tower idiot." Good to see that my correspondent's thesauri are getting a workout.

Back to the issue at hand, The Kauffman Foundation (which focuses on promoting entrepreneurhip) issued a report that agrees with the position outlined in the DetNews Op-Ed-- Genius Need Not Apply; We'll Take the American Guy Instead.

The money graphs:

Immigrants have contributed disproportionately in the most dynamic part of the US economy - the high-tech sector - co-founding firms such as Google, Intel, eBay and Yahoo. In addition, immigrant inventors contributed to more than a quarter of US global patent applications. Immigrant-founded US-based companies employed 450,000 workers and generated $52 billion in revenue in 2006.

"Losing these skilled immigrants is an economic catastrophe that will hurt US competitiveness for decades to come," said [Vivek] Wadwha.

It's worth a read. A worthy counterpoint to the furtive emoting that passes for policy discussion these days.