Here's 2 of those quickie opinion polls that I saw on the Electronic Design
magazine web site that caught my attention recently:

  6/19/06

  The Immigration Bill sent to the Senate proposed raising the cap on H-1B
  visas from 65,000 to 115,000, and 20% per year thereafter.  Will this
  influx of workers help or hurt the U.S. high-tech industries?

     Hurt: it would force down wages and discourage future engineers 
     ############################### 61%
 
     Help: it would boost creativity and productivity and drive innovation 
     ####### 15%
 
     Neither: high-tech firms already utilize foreign engineering talent 
     ######## 16%
 
     Don't know 
     #### 8%

And their earlier:

  5/23/06

  Would you recommend engineering as a career path to a young person
  looking to choose a profession?

     Yes 
     ############################ 56%
 
     No
     ###################### 44%

Yea, they're not scientific polls (both had only 175 to 200 respondants)
yada, yada, yada ... but in my gut these are still bad indicators for the
future of American chip design.  If enough people doing the engineering
today start feeling this way in significant numbers, this attitude can
become one of those self-fulfilling prophecies which quickly spreads to
the kids in the U.S. high schools & colleges to not study engineering.  :(