Tuesday, May 02, 2017

From what I can tell from the GOP health care bill, many people will be faced with large bills and bankruptcies will return to record highs again.

Health Care Savings Accounts are to help with deductibles and out of network costs. It is suppose to be an account that is tax free ahead of any tax filing. Such an account increase health care dollars by providing tax relief. These accounts were never intended to pay for everything. This opens up abuse by guesstimating a years expenses. That is not possible even with a. crystal ball.

They want to set up a special fund for the chronically ill to remove them from general pools. That probably needs to be done but it needs specifics. Who is this special pool? What qualifies a person to be included and who pays the premiums and what do those premiums amt  like? The bill is very sketchy.

Has the GAO scored this bill yet? People are going to lose insurance. It would be nice to pinpoint who they are and pinpoint how they will get care.

I also want a clear understanding of savings on premiums. It is only fair.

The more I think about it, the chronically ill will be a Medicare policy. Seniors already pay from $104.00 to $150.00 per month. It seems reasonable to have those with chronic problems to plan on the monthly premium everyone else pays.


"Death by a thousand cuts."

This is what has become a culture in the USA media. Lingchi methods are most often seen on "Game of Thrones" and "The Walking Dead." (click here) Then there were the moralizing Lingchi shows like CSI. I never watched them. They aren't good for a healthy mind.

This is what happened to Secretary Clinton's political career. She was brutalized in the media, the DNC emails hacked with Russia passing them on to Wikileaks and the last and final death blow came from "What's his name?" Oh, yeah, Comey. 

Secretary Clinton's candidacy was brutalized. Another woman candidate should expect the same thing.

Take a good look because this is one of the reasons there is a President Donald Trump. Oddly, the abuses are also on the Democratic agenda.

April 3, 2017
By Julia Edwards Ainsley

Washington (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (click here) announced steps on Monday to prevent the fraudulent use of H1B visas, used by employers to bring in specialized foreign workers temporarily, which appeared to fall short of President Donald Trump's campaign promises to overhaul the program.
A White House official said Trump may still do more on the program.
Trump had promised to end the lottery system for H1B visas, which gives each applicant an equal chance at 65,000 positions each year....

The American people are not in the mood to have elected officials state, "But, this does not effect American jobs."


August 24, 2014
By Nazuk Jain

H1B lottery process (click here) nothing but a random selection of H1B petitions for a fiscal year via a systemic algorithm. United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) started this lottery system back in 2008 when they received approximately 163,000 petitions for a cap subject number of 85,000 applications i.e. 65,000 regular quota  + 20,000 ADE Cap (Advanced Degree Exemption i.e. is available to those that graduate from a US universty/college with an Masters level or higher level degree)....

This programs do effect American jobs and it is a corrupt system that pays off election debt to companies that provide election monies. 

Say it after me, "The H1B Visa Program is corrupt."

One more time.

"The H1B Visa Program is corrupt."

Because it is very corrupt and panders to Wall Street companies that want to undermine the wages in the USA. Every time an H1B Visa recipient receives a job that pays less than expected by an American employee for the same job, it hurts more than one person; it hurts the country's working class.

CEOs across the spectrum of government corruption are not good CEOs. If the CEOs are relying on government programs to pad their bonus checks then they don't have the country's best interest at the center of their decision making. H1B Visas do not encourage long term stability with a company, it encourages dependency of both the worker and the company. Rather than working on a strong financial basis for any company, the Wall Street cronies count on government welfare to turn a profit. This is one of the ways they CHEAT the government, the people and their stockholders. 

The government is cheated because the taxes collected from employees with an H1B Visa is based on a lower wage. The income tax collected is lower, the company is making ends meet with such Visas and cheating their bottom line in a way that pays fair and equal taxes. These companies do not pay their normal tax rate, they pay a subsidized tax rate in addition to paying far less for labor.

The people are cheated because they have prepared for good paying jobs, have student loans in most instances and now they can't find a job. Not because the USA isn't producing more jobs, but, because of the fact the jobs are unavailable to Americans. That also hurts our economy. H1B Visa holders can also be working for a company in their homeland in addition to one in the USA. No one ever sees that money because they are paid in their homeland into a bank account there. So, their second job is performed in the USA, but, the income is never registered for income tax purposes.

October 2016

I don’t see why not. (click here) The US can control what goes on in the US. Your facts sound like none of it has to do with anything in the US. The US does not get to say what happens in other countries. If you are on your own time outside the H-1B job and the money comes from a foreign entity and the money does not even come into the US (not sure that would be essential either) it is none of US business. Maybe check the US tax code to see if the US tries to make some claim to tax revenue on it.

Interesting to think about. It would seem as though even H1B Visa holders can't make it on their salary either.


Oh, there is more than enforced poverty through the absence of work available to Americans in the USA. 

January 16, 2016

Currently, (click here) I am working in USA on H1B visa. I came to US in JAN 2015. So for income tax purpose, I am Non-Resident Indian for financial year 2015-16.

I have query regarding lottery winnings outside India. After reading income tax rules on web, I understood that if NRI wins lottery in USA, the lottery winnings can be transferred to Indian Bank account legally.

If I win lottery in April 2016 and permanently come back to India in Jun 2016, I think I will be considered Resident Indian for financial year 2016-17. In this case, will I be able to transfer lottery won in April 2016 to my Indian bank account? Will it be considered illegal?

If yes, that means, I will have to stay in US at least till Oct 1, 2016 so that my India stay will get reduced to less than 182 days and hence I will be considered NRI for FY 2016-17. The lottery won in April 2016 will be legal in this case. Please advise. Thank You!

And to bring the correct monies into the US Treasury costs the government real money.

May 2, 2017
By Janet Novack

...Why is the Internal Revenue Service (click here) reaching into the pocket of our newest citizens and resident aliens the moment they reach American soil?  The reason: the aliens are being caught in a net designed to catch significant tax abuse by U.S. citizens sheltering money in overseas bank accounts. The aggressive programs put in place to ferret out these hidden accounts have been generating billions of dollars for the Treasury Department, so there's been little incentive to tinker with them.

A July 2012 report from the Tax Justice Network estimated there's $21-$31 trillion secreted in offshore tax havens, but that's just a guess.  So far, the IRS has collected about $6.5 billion of this stash (in the form of back taxes, interest and penalties) from the 43,000 folks who have participated in its Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP), IRS Commissioner John A. Koskinen told the Senate Appropriations Committee last month.

Nobody knows how much of the uncollected portion of the cash cow is from innocent new citizens who were not aware of their tax liabilities.  But if left unchecked, the little-known practice of going after the assets that they have built up over a lifetime of living outside the U.S. could cause a brain drain of some of the most talented people who are helping to fuel our economy.

In fact, right now, our newest Americans can be fined up to 50% of the money they have overseas, if, after becoming U.S. resident taxpayers, they fail to file the right form. Worse still, neither they nor many of their accountants seem to know they need to submit a declaration of their foreign assets to the IRS....

American employed police officers/investigators have to go after abuses of the system now. The American people has to pay to stop systemic abuse by H1B Visa holders.

H1B Visa holders want more power. Imagine that, outsourcing jobs from within sovereign borders. Is that truly a sovereign right?

The H1B Visa holder is not suppose to work as a free lancer (It is unclear if working for a company from the homeland is considered free lancing.)  and if they work for another employer they are suppose to have an H1B Visa for each job held.

February 11, 2016
By Sam Harnett

...“It’s modern-day slavery, more or less,” Conda says. (click here)

Conda concedes that’s a bit of an overstatement. But he says it should be easier for H1B workers to become permanent residents so that they have more power in the workplace. He is writing to legislators and organizing with other foreign workers who he says are overlooked by politicians.

“None of the H1Bs are voters,” Conda says. “We’re hardly heard because we don’t matter at this point.”

One of the biggest advocates in the Indian community for overhauling the H1B visa is not a worker, but a tech businessman — Neeraj Gupta.

Like Conda, Gupta was also on an H1B once. He says worker abuse is the result of a bigger problem: The visa is no longer being used just to get top talent, but instead to outsource jobs....

The H1B Visa holder may or may not come from a democracy where people vote. For the majority, they seem to think they have a right to vote in the USA. They believe they have as much on the line as anyone else so they should be allowed to vote in the USA to improve their circumstances.

The prevalence of such outsourcing allows fraud to exist in what is coined "body shop." This foreign worker who is working under fraudulent practices states he is trapped and has to keep filing for new jobs that belong to Visa workers. Trapped. There is something called jail and deportation so he no longer is "trapped."

October 24, 2014
By Stephen Stock, Julie Putnam, Scott Pham and Jeremy Carroll

...Consulting firms recruit (click here) and then subcontract out skilled foreigners to major tech firms throughout the country and many in Silicon Valley.

Those who work for these third party firms that skirt the law often call them “body shops” and sometimes they get caught.

For example in August, 2014, a Cupertino man involved with one body shop pleaded guilty and was sentenced in US District Court to 19 felony counts of visa fraud where he admitted he knowingly applied for work visas for foreigners who had no job offers, filling out applications for fake jobs for a Silicon Valley tech firm.

However, some local workers say many don’t get caught. And the workers are the ones who suffer....

H1B Visa holders can apply for an H4B Visa for his spouse and children. There is nothing preventing spouses from working in the USA either. So there goes more jobs out of reach for Americans. Then while working lawfully in the USA the H1B Visa holder and his dependents can apply for permanent status. Oddly, the H1B Visa holder has to maintain a residence in his homeland even if his family is in the USA.

The practice is so lucrative universities are using H1B workers. PUBLIC universities are now employing foreign workers. They keep this up and there won't be Americans that can afford to go to the college.

But, it is also a strategy to destroy unions as well. Ya have to love this. Workers need a decent income to live in this country, be a member of the Middle Class and reach for the American dream. Wall Street and now universities it would seem are given all kinds of crony favors that allow them better profit margins or in the case of a public university, monies to spend differently.

Unions are there to protect Americans, yet they become an undesireable entity because Wall Street and now public entities want more money for bonuses and stockholders. THIS IS AN ARTIFICIAL WAY OF RENDERING PROFITS and budgets.

These practices, while legal, effect the entire economy because workers on unemployment are looking at impoverishment as their future. This is ridiculous. 

Unions are important organizations, especially when supporting AMERICANS in keeping their jobs. Ask the employees paying dues at a reduced rate because they are not members, but, simply employees how they feel about the unions when facing a mess like this. Those non-members are happy there is a power structure to push back because they can't. Yet, Governors and Congress continue to hack away at the strength of unions to end their existence in the USA.

UNIONS ARE VITAL TO A HEALTHY AMERICAN ECONOMY!

March 2, 2017
By Joe Millin

At the University of California's San Francisco campus, (click here) 79 IT employees lost their jobs this week, some of them after explaining to their replacements at Indian outsourcing firm HCL how to do their jobs.
The union representing the employees, University Professional and Technical Employees CWA Local 9119, says it's the first time a public university has offshored American IT jobs.

In a statement sent yesterday, UPTE-CWA says the layoffs could spread, since the HCL contract can be utilized by any of the 10 campuses in the University of California system, the nation's largest public university. "US taxes should be used to create jobs in the US, not in other countries," said Kurt Ho, a systems administrator who was quoted in the union's press release. Ho was required to train his replacement as a condition of getting his severance pay.
In its statement on the matter, UCSF says that it was pushed to hire outside contractors due to "increased demand for information technology and escalating costs for these services." The university says it will save more than $30 million by hiring HCL, after seeing IT costs nearly triple between 2011 and 2016, "driven by the introduction of the electronic medical record and increased digital connectivity."
The university says 49 UCSF employees were laid off, and it will eliminate another 48 jobs that are currently vacant or filled by contractors. "UCSF will not replace UCSF IT employees with H-1B visa holders, nor will HCL," the university wrote in a statement e-mailed to Ars....
These 79 workers WERE ALREADY QUALIFIED AND WORKING, yet a university can lay them off and destroy their jobs for the sole purpose of lowering costs.

This program is just "W"rong in that there is incentive for companies to use employees this way, while NEVER seeking to correct the shortage in the USA or advocating to government for the benefit of Americans to be educated to fill these jobs. It is permanent corruption in the USA.