I guess, H1-B visa is an example of artificial scarcity; the government could just give your deserving friend a visa without taking one away from a software job

I guess, H1-B visa is an example of artificial scarcity; the government could just give your deserving friend a visa without taking one away from a software job shop. There's not really a finite supply of them, other than what the government chooses. If an administration is cracking down on software shops, that doesn't necessarily mean it's because they want to make those visas easier to get for anyone else.