EoW March 2008

resident) for high-skilled foreigners already residing in the United States. But bottlenecks in the green card system (eg, per- country limits for countries such as India and China, long waiting periods, a costly and time-consuming application process) force many employed high-skilled workers to leave the US once their temporary visas expire. Meanwhile, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, France, and Germany have rapidly revamped their immigration systems, turning the US into only one of many destinations for high-skilled immigrants. And countries such as China and India, which traditionally have supplied high-skilled emigrants to the US, have actively begun to induce their nationals to return home. The Peterson Institute believes the Kirkegaard study verifies that concerns for the plight of American high-skilled workers in the face of significant inflows of foreign high-skilled workers are unfounded. Kirkegaard investigates empirically the labour-market situation faced by US software workers – the group that is usually depicted in American media as facing the greatest risks from globalisation – and reveals that these occupations enjoy full employment at record levels in the US economy of today. ❈

Telecommunications

First on the President’s last wish list: legislation protecting companies from lawsuits for aiding warrantless eavesdropping As President George W Bush began his eighth and final year in office, Dan Froomkin, who writes the ‘White HouseWatch’ column in the Washington Post , declared that Mr Bush is aiming for one last major domestic legislative triumph: permanent expansion of government spying powers, including retroactive immunity for telecom companies that assist in warrantless surveillance. In an impromptu briefing aboard Air Force One on New Year’s Day, as Mr Bush returned to Washington from his Texas vacation, White House counsellor Ed Gillespie told reporters that a bill to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is Mr Bush’s top priority. (‘Bush’s Final Year,’ 2 nd January).“FISA is front and centre,” Mr Gillespie said, according to a press pool report.“If it is allowed to lapse we will be less safe as a country.” Deferring (some would say caving in) to the President, Congress in August 2007 authorised continued warrantless eavesdropping, but only until 1 st February.

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EuroWire – March 2008