Hi-tech companies prosper by investing in their people. There are two factors:  training and re-training the people you already have, and growing the company by hiring more of the best and brightest. And regarding the second factor, great companies don’t want to just hire the smartest people within a 10 mile radius; they want to hire the best people from all over the world.

That’s a model for the challenge faced by the United States and its messed up immigration policies. We need to be doing two things:  training our workers so they’re ready to be competitive in the world market for the best jobs, and absorbing the smartest people from the rest of the world. We’re currently not doing a good job of either.

These are problems for which our presidential candidates should be held accountable. A precious few of them have articulated believable strategies to this end.

If you’re a US citizen and you’re reading this, then you should get informed, and then when the time comes, vote.

Various relevant issue statements from the current leading candidates (alphabetical order):

Hillary Clinton
http://www.hillaryclinton.com/feature/innovation/
http://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/immigration/

John Edwards
http://www.johnedwards.com/issues/trade/
http://www.johnedwards.com/issues/tax-reform/

Mike Huckabee
http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_id=5

John McCain
http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/0B8E4DB8-5B0C-459F-97EA-D7B542A78235.htm (“Tax Cut Plan”)
http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/68db8157-d301-4e22-baf7-a70dd8416efa.htm (“Immigration”)

Barack Obama
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/technology/#improve-competitiveness
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/economy/#innovation

Mitt Romney
http://www.mittromney.com/Issues/global-economic-competition
http://www.mittromney.com/Issues/immigration

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