How much of Clinton’s cash is from Indian Americans? Anyone have figures?

The 16th biennial conference of Telugu Association of North America (TANA) was addressed by former President Bill Clinton. Clinton’s presence at the conference was made possible by K. Krishna Prasad, a Detroit businessman, who presented a $1 million check to the Bill Clinton Foundation.

TANA held a separate fundraiser for presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton in the city on July 5. The final sum raised was not available but it was said to be more than the $1 million they had pledged.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/070709/43/6hu9g.html.

According to TANA’s (Telugu association of north America) spokesman ,Indian Americans can raise $ 10 million for this elections.

“On average, MNCs and outsourcing hubs in India have around 10-15 % expats in upper management. Sure, most of them are white” – I would say that nearly all of them are white. As far as non-DBD moving back to India I have not met or heard of a single OBD in a senior position (my experience of the corporate world in India is limited to Bangalore for the last decade). I do remember an ABD journalist moving to India (hindustan times i think). Accent specialists albeit important are small fry. The council officer may be referring to DBDs who are moving back – this is quite common.

Happy to be proven wrong wrt to the above statements.

Yes, and No.

On average, MNCs and outsourcing hubs in India have around 10-15 % expats in upper management. Sure, most of them are white.

This said, last year, tens of thousands of Brit Asians moved to India – be it doctor, management, accent specialist.

*** The figures I am quoting are from a NPR program 6 months ago. For Brit Asians moving to India, they interviewed an Indian council officer in London.

Most outsourcing desi firms will not hire a ABD in a senior position although they will glady hire a white american.This is standard policy across nearly all firms

Are you alluding to the infamous GUI* policy,for customer facing positions such as sales?

I think its not so true ( preference for white americans ) for Operations positions. *Gora User Interface

Lakshmi – I wholeheartedly agree with all of this.

I would only add that, ironically, to the extent that we conflate South Asian American interests with South Asian interests, we actually make it more likely that the “tenor of the national debate” will carry racist or xenophobic overtones (undertones?).

The burdens of offshoring are not distributed on the basis of ethnic identity, but rather on the basis of class and occupational status.

Indeed. This is the crux of the issue. There are no South Asian Americans living in emerging markets. And I think South Asian Americans (the only “voters” to whom Abhi could have been referring) who vote on the basis of what’s best for India ought to reconsider the nature of their participation in this democracy. At a minimum, they should hardly bristle when American politicians advocate for what’s in the best interests of the United States, and, frankly, they may forfeit the right to protest some of the prejudiced epithets slung at our community as to where its loyalties allegedly lie.

To be clear, as a purely descriptive matter, I am not denying that some people may, in fact, vote on the basis of what’s good for South Asia. To that extent (and only to that extent), perhaps Abhi’s points are reasonable. On the other hand, broad characterizations of the political sentiments of South Asian American voters such as the following seem to be both empirically unsubstantiated and logically flawed (for the reasons stated above):

This issue will continue to be the Democrats Achilles heal in the eyes of South Asian voters. The real question here is to see which democrat calls Clinton out on her hypocrisy. The irony is that calling her out (presumably in favor of big labor) would be foolish and will simply alienate the Indian American vote. On the flip-side I don’t think any candidate will have the courage to come out squarely in favor of outsourcing and the inevitability of a global economy.

Indeed, it’s just this kind of broad stereotype – that South Asian Americans support what is best for South Asians rather than what’s best for America – that makes things like the Obama campaign memo so pernicious.

And as a prescriptive matter, Abhi seems to be sanctioning this kind of voter behavior. But maybe I’ve overreading, divining something between the lines that isn’t there. Either way, my views on that are probably clear.

Of course, this is true, and it certainly was in the case of George Allen. I also think that South Asian Americans (maybe not you, RS) are more connected with and have more of an interest in economic development in South Asia – especially when they have relatives working in call centers or applying for H1-B visas. But, I disagree with the following things about this post: 1) to some extent it conflates anti-offshoring with anti-Indian, 2) it insinuates that American “Big Labor” and South Asian American interests are diametrically opposed, 3) it assumes that “Big Labor” is seeking out “xenophobic” or “protectionist” positions from candidates (e.g. this statement – “The slightest hint of xenophobic or protectionist speech in an attempt to assuage big labor (or xenophobes) pisses off the South Asian voter”), and 4) it presupposes that off-shoring is good.

i can see this being a heavy topic once the nominations are out (depending on who gets the nomination on either side). HRC is flip-flopping a lot these days – e.g. the issue about meeting with leaders of ‘rogue’ countries during the youtube debate – which, i guess is normal for any candidate who needs to align/deny their views from pre-candidate days with their campaign. i just hope she doesn’t go the kerry way and keep being equivocal until the near-end.

Most outsourcing desi firms will not hire a ABD in a senior position although they will glady hire a white american. This is standard policy across nearly all firms. So your Italian American friend will get hired by the outsourcer whereas you are likely to be looking for a job.

With two caveats:

i) As a SAA, you might be disproportionately employed in occupations that are outsourceable, making it more likely as an SAA that you might lose your job, vis-a-vis your IA friend.

ii) Xenophobic attitudes are less likely to otherize your IA friend in today’s outsourcing context than you. This ‘outsider-perception’ is going to have real effects – for example, all else being equal, it might increase the chance that you lose your job, compared to your IA friend – and this might apply regardless of your generational status – 1gen, 2gen etc.