Yes, it is bad. It lowers the wages of Americans and makes finding an entry level tech position for Americans a lot harder. The purpose of the H-1B visa program was to bring highly specialized workers to the US, not cheap labor.
Please comment civilly and substantively or not at all on Hacker News. We're trying to have thoughtful and productive discussions, and this kind of one-liner takes us in the opposite direction.
In a time where company profits are higher than ever before and worker wages are remaining stagnant, I think it's a valid concern to raise. We do live in the richest country in the world, after all. Why shouldn't everyone living in it prosper?
America has an advanced economy, with a GDP per capita of over $50k. As such, the cost of living is much higher than many other countries. You need a vehicle to work almost everywhere, healthcare costs are the highest in the world, housing is becoming more and more expensive, and one must go tens of thousands of dollars in debt to get a degree. This was alright when incomes were more equal and rising, because these costs could be recognized as a cost of living in such a good country. Due to globalization, however, the lower class has been gutted due to corporations exploiting the fact that other places have lower costs of living and lower workplace standards. I could argue that this destabilization of the lower class is a large part of why Trump was elected. And now globalization is affecting the middle class(particularly among IT workers) enough to risk destabilizing the only few remaining good jobs left, all while the stock market is doing better than ever. This loss of good paying jobs with the cost of living remaining high means the quality of life for most of the country will go down while the rich get richer faster. When the overall economy is growing, why SHOULDN'T the country overall benefit?
The country is benefiting my taking in skilled labor from the rest of the world. Unless you're a Native American, you really don't have much grounds to criticize foreigners "taking your job".
If you are taking in the skilled labor at a rate lower than the average American or outsourcing to a country without as much worker protections, then I disagree. But if you are bringing them in at market rates and not exploiting them, then I agree. My problem with the H-1B visa system is that it's being exploited(by that, I mean it's not being used as intended) in a manner that brings the pay of the average American worker down, which hurts everyone but the businesses.
Also, I was born and raised in America, and I am not responsible for the transgressions of my ancestors. I also don't blame the foreigners that try to come here; I blame the government and corporations that are making a system that only works for the richest of Americans.
