Workers > Greed
The American Boulevard of Stolen Dreams: Part II: 1990s-2012
By Hedrick Smith
The Globalist
December 20, 2012
How has the American middle class fared under Presidents Bush I, Clinton, Bush II and Obama?
1990
Congress passes the H-1B visa program, permitting U.S. businesses to import college-educated foreign workers for high-tech and knowledge economy jobs.
By the early 2000s, close to a million Americans have been replaced by foreigners, even though studies by the Rand Corporation and others assert that there is no shortage of Americans to fill such jobs.
1993
For the first time since World War II, a major piece of legislation — President Clinton’s budget — passes Congress without a single yes vote from the opposition party. In a virtually unprecedented party-line vote, not a single Republican supports Clinton’s tax increases.
1993-1994
Hampered by partisan gridlock, the 1993-94 Congress becomes one of the two least productive legislative sessions in a half-century, with the second lowest percentage of major legislation passed.