What is FWD.US, and what does it signify for the U.S. economy?

Nothing good, according to The Daily Beast's article: America's New Oligarchs—FWD.US and Silicon Valley's Shady 1 Percenters.  FWD.US is a group of powerful tech executives who are lobbying for preferential treatment of their industry.  The article details a staggering divergence between middle-class workers and the secluded world of tech elites, who push to affect immigration legislation that will lower their labor costs, all while dodging corporate taxes.

But according to TechCrunch, "Zuckerberg and a Team of Tech All-Stars Launch Political Advocacy Group FWD.US," they are advocating for a better economy and more scientific research.  They want to make it easier to import H1B guest workers – "to solve the talent crisis facing Silicon Valley."  They want better math and science education.  And they want more money put into research, "to foster innovation and technological breakthroughs."

The Daily Beast frames FWD.US as a self-serving group of tech elites out for their own profits.

TechCrunch portrays the group as courageous visionaries, working to benefit the whole.

So who’s right?

Well, the FWD.US website says it’s campaigning for immigration reform.  What kind?  More H1B guest workers brought in from overseas for U.S. STEM jobs.  Jobs in their corporations.

Even though we already have STEM talent in the U.S., half of whom must look for work in non-STEM industries each year due to lack of jobs!

If FWD.US does indeed want education reform, that could solve their "talent crisis" AND bolster the U.S. economy.  Yet it's not their primary focus.

The Daily Beast article makes light of Silicon Valley's long list of innovations – and skips the fact that not all tech companies are behind the FWD.US immigration push.  But their portrayal is the more accurate of the two.

FWD.US is another Washington lobbying group.  Tech execs wanting H1B reforms favorable to themselves.