🚀 go-pugleaf

On Sun, 18 Oct 1998 07:11:58 GMT, ElocutusOfBorg@hotmail.com
(Elocutus, Unseelie Borg) wrote:
>>Let's see, first it was "anecdotal evidence" that the downtown
>>financials had implemented hiring freezes.  Then it was the
>>sensational mainstream press misreporting lay-offs in the financial
>>industry.  Then you disputed the lay-off numbers reported on both
>>CNN-FN and the Walk Street Journal (5% worldwide, 3400 in NYC).  Now
>>in the midst of lay-offs started just a week ago, they're hiring
>>again, eh?

>You have misrepresented and exaggerated my position from the beginning
>of this thread.  You obviously have an axe to grind.

No axe to grind here.  I've got a good tech job, thankfully not in the
financial sector.

>I have never known a time when one or more investment banks haven't
>had hiring freezes.  Merrill Lynch was particularly badly hurt by the
>collapse of the Russian good-faith debt market.  The condition of
>Merrill Lynch is not indicative of the state of NYC investment banks.

Do you have a clue about how the international investment market
works?   They're _all_ in the same bed because they all have
significant financial investments in foreign countries, especially in
countries like Russia where buy-in was cheap and the promises of
profits were huge.

>"Merrill Lynch is laying off 5% of its workforce" is only anecdotally
>related to the argument that native-born programmers are getting
>pushed out of jobs because of special-need visas and even less related
>to the idea that "IBM Is Importing Low Wage Employes To Avoid Paying
>American A Decent Wage!"

And if you'll read back in this thread you'll see that this point had
nothing to do with foreign vs. "native born" programmers.  On that
point, if you remember, we agreed.

>I would consider compelling a documentable citation that demonstrates
>either that the current market downturn has caused a dramatic shift in
>the number of technical jobs available in New York

You're back-pedaling again.  I said that the current market situation
has caused a dramatic reduction in the number of technical jobs in
NYC's financial market.  That's a fact supported by every financial
trade publication and every head hunter I've spoken with since August.
You're pissing upwind with this contention.

>or that a previous
>increase in the number of special-need visas caused a reduction in the
>compensation of programmers already in this country.

Irrelevant.

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Steve Manes        smanes [at] magpie.com       N'Yawk, N'Yawk