The well-worn stereotype of Democrats being more cautious about India than Republicans are raised its head again this week, as both U.S. President Barack Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden slammed election rival Mitt Romney for outsourcing American jobs to India.
In campaign speeches in Miami, Florida, and Waterloo, Iowa, the President and Vice-President respectively tore into the former Massachusetts Governor’s alleged record of job destruction during the latter’s tenure as head of private equity firm Bain Capital.
In both instances, they named India as one of the top destinations for the jobs that Mr. Romney was said to have taken away from the U.S.
“Last week it was reported Governor Romney’s old firm owned companies that ... were pioneers in the business of outsourcing American jobs to places like China and India. And yesterday his advisors were asked about this, and they tried to clear it up by explaining that there’s actually a difference between outsourcing and off-shoring,” Mr. Obama quipped.
Similarly, in his speech, Mr. Biden said Bain Capital made a lot of money facilitating the outsourcing and off-shoring of American jobs, “but in the process, they devastated American communities.”
He struck a sarcastic note, adding, “So give Mitt Romney credit: He is a job creator — in Singapore and China and India.”
With unemployment hovering at above eight per cent, job creation is at the very top of the election campaign agenda, and the run-up to the race for the White House in November is likely to see an intensifying war of words around this issue.
While Republicans have generally trained their guns on the Obama administration’s failure to create jobs at home and linked it to over-regulation choking out the private sector, Democrats have tended to shift blame to industry practices such as outsourcing.
As a reader of your newspaper for 30+ years, I have to respectfully
disagree. The headline says India is being "slammed" in the US
elections. I know this piece of news makes great copy, a great topic
for discussion, but there are certain elements of the article, that I
must disagree with. I live here in the US, watch news several times a
day on CNN, HLN (Headline News)and MSNBC. I also visit popular
websites that are apolitical. Yes - the Obama campaign has released a
30 second advertisement that speaks of how Mitt Romney outsourced jobs
to China and India,and that is true. Now where is the question of
India being "slammed"? I know that Indians love it when they find new jobs being created. However this not news for the average american to
celebrate, with a 8% unemployment.
That Bain Capital outsourced jobs to China & India is true. That India
is being "slammed" is not correct. That being said, we sure don't need Romney, outsourcer in chief as our president.
India will be slammed in American elections.It is for not moving fast
enough as China.They cant have the cake and eat it as well.They seem
to think China is great even though Chinese greatness comes from
Communist created orderly behavior.Democratic Socialism of the Indira
Variety requires strong doses of the same periodically.In open
investment method it is not in the interest of the West to advice and
assist a Gigantic Democracy to compete with them.It is in their
interest to block Indias Population entry into their country and to
achieve that it is in their interest to give India High speed
development NOW!
Isn't it true?
Business will go where it gets the best with least price. So Presidential candidates stop this name calling but get to business
Although there is genuine concern about outsourcing in America, and a lot of rhetoric during political debates, this stereotype that the author mentions in the beginning of this article is a figment of his or her imagination. Every election season, there are a lot of pundits based in India or Indian correspondents based abroad, who try to inflate the importance that India plays in the U.S presidential election. This is done purely for the sound byte, India is too important of an economic partner for any political party to ignore. The U.S president is a puppet of the politics of money, and there is too much money invested in India, to impair bilateral relations. Most American don't pay attention to the rest of the world unless there is a war that involves American troops. Pakistan, on the other hand would probably bring up a whole array of emotions amongst the average U.S voter.It would be far more interesting to see what these candidates say about our neighbor and the war on terror.
It is true that Romney's company Bain Capital has sent lots of
American jobs to other countries including India. Only investors of
those companies benefited and job losses for US residents were
enormous. There was no benefit to the US economy since low cost labor
did not transfer any benefit to the prices of the products sold in
USA. The consumer price indexes went down only because there were few
employed Americans to buy those products and then economy suffered. It
has always has been true that world economy largely depended on
success of American economy. Therefore, now we have recession in USA
and hence also in other countries. Europe is also suffering due to
recession in USA. It is very important to keep middle class rich for
any country. Slow down in US economy is also bad for India. Only
solution is more jobs for the middle class.
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