While a few states in the U.S. are debating mandatory labels for genetically modified foods, some African nations are considering a bigger question: Should farmers be allowed to plant genetically modified crops at all?
The question carries extra weight in countries like Uganda, where most people are farmers who depend on their own crops for food.
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Lawmakers continue to wrangle over a bill that would overhaul the nation's immigration system. One provision in this bill would allow companies to import a lot more skilled workers. The tech industry has lobbied hard for this, despite fears among some American workers about the extra competition.
Illinois Senator Dick Durbin says the bill has American workers covered. "Employers will be given a chance to hire a temporary foreign worker when truly needed. But first, they'll be required to recruit Americans. No exceptions, no excuses," he said.
Still, making companies recruit Americans isn't the same as making them hire them.
If you talk to disgruntled tech workers much, sooner or later one of them is going to send you this video. It shows a Pittsburgh immigration lawyer at what looks like a seminar for clients in 2007. In the video, he's telling clients what to do when they want to sponsor one of their foreign workers for a permanent visa — a green card. The government requires employers to prove they looked for American workers first. So the companies have to advertise the job. But the lawyer tells them they don't have to advertise it too conspicuously.
"Our goal is, clearly, not to find a qualified and interested U.S. worker," the lawyer in the video says. He later adds, "We're going to find a place where ... we're complying with the law and hoping — and likely — not to find qualified and interested worker applicants."
Immigration law firms do this all the time: They show employers how to recruit Americans without actually having to hire them. This lawyer didn't want to talk to NPR, maybe because anti-visa activists have been sending this video around for years. It's Exhibit A in their argument that recruiting rules are a sham.
In the parts of the country where tech companies are prevalent, this kind of "faux recruiting" is common knowledge. But people in the industry quickly learn not to waste their time on certain job listings, says Orion Hughes, a software tester.
"A lot of us are aware of that ruse," he says.
Hughes and others avoid the listings with overly specific requirements, such as the number of years in "the job offered." That often means the employer just wants to make permanent a temporary foreign worker who's already in the job. And if you're stubborn enough to apply anyway, Hughes says that interview is going to be awkward.
"If you want to put yourself in that manager's shoes, it's an uncomfortable situation for them," he says. "They will [have a] kind of a sour facial expression, and they'll go from one question to the next. They are finding some reason to exclude you."
Employers usually go through these motions only when they're sponsoring a foreigner for a permanent visa. But now the Senate immigration bill would extend a similar requirement to temp workers: the foreigners on the H-1B visas which have become so common, and controversial, in lower-end tech jobs. It's a move that seems to ignore all the ill will that's been created by hopeless job interviews.
"No one is ever hired," says Bruce Morrison, a former Democratic congressman from Connecticut.
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The economy "is unlikely to slow in the short-term, and may even moderately pick up," economist Lynn Franco predicted Tuesday as the Conference Board released its latest survey on consumer confidence.
The business research group, where Franco is director of economic indicators, said its index rose to a five-year high of 81.4 in June — up from May's 74.3. The index is based on surveys of Americans.
According to Franco, the index rose in large part because "consumers are considerably more positive about current business and labor market conditions than they were at the beginning of the year."
If consumers are feeling better about how things are going, that's good news for the economy because it suggests that in coming months Americans will be more willing to spend. That spending, in turn, could help spur job growth — and, potentially, create a "virtuous circle" in which stronger confidence boosts spending, which boosts hiring, which boosts confidence ... and so on.
There were other positive economic indicators released Tuesday, including:
— Word from the Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development that sales of new homes rose 2.1 percent in May from April, and were up 29 percent from May 2012.
— Another report from the Census Bureau said orders for so-called durable goods (appliances, equipment and other long-lasting products) rose 3.6 percent in May from April.
Stocks are trading higher in New York following this news. As of 11 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones industrial average was up about 112 points (0.75 percent) from Monday's close.
A quick update for the many who seemed fascinated by Israeli inventor Izhar Gafni's cardboard bicycle and his bid to bring it to the world:
The online fundraiser we posted about earlier this month was launched Tuesday. Click here if you're interested in seeing what Gafni's Cardboard Technologies has going and what's promised — depending on how much you contribute ($1 to join; $50 for a miniature model of a bike; $290 for a limited edition, early production model of the bike itself).
Delivery depends, of course, on how well the fundraising effort goes. The goal is $2 million. As of early afternoon Tuesday, a little more than $10,000 had been collected. If all goes well and the company takes off, Gafni has said he hopes the bikes can be sold for about $20 each and that they will bring cheap, reliable transportation to some of the world's poorest nations.
If the bikes are eventually produced and delivered, you also might want to consider a cardboard helmet.