FEDERAL VOTING .COM

Washington, Feb 1 (IANS) Vikram Pandit, the Indian American CEO of Citigroup, says President Barack Obama’s plans to regulate and limit the size of banks is the “right direction”.

As the ailing banking giant has already been weeding out companies that didn’t fit into the company, “We are quite aligned with the principals he set out,” he told CNBC from Davos, where we was attending the World Economic Forum.

“We think it’s generally the right direct. It shouldn’t be a surprise given what we’ve been doing at Citi for the past few years,” he was quoted as saying by the news channel.

“We’re 20 percent smaller in size as a bank,” Pandit said. “We’ve asked ourselves are we in client business or not – which we are- do these businesses belong with us or not, and if they don’t we’ve sold them.”

Echoing the concerns of other bank CEOs, like Deutsche Bank’s Josef Ackermann, that if rules are set in place in the US they should be global, too, he said “It is an international industry. Level playing fields are really important around the world.”

“Ultimately the G20 has to come together and call us around some set of rules. And if this is the direction they want to go in, I think that direction is generally fine with us,” said Pandit.

Pandit also said that he expects the government would sell their 27 percent stake in Citi at some point over the next year. “They’re inclined to sell the stock over time, and we’re going to do everything we can to help them,” he was quoted as saying.

Washington, Feb 1 (IANS) In announcing a $6 billion arms package for Taiwan, the Obama administration has drawn the line beyond which it would not let China push them.

The announcement made last Friday is by far the most provocative position that President Barack Obama has taken in his hitherto soft China policy. Since his first state visit to China last November, which came after he studiedly postponed his meeting with the Dalai Lama, to be followed by a virtual hectoring he received from Beijing during the Copenhagen climate summit, there was a growing feeling that he was too deferential towards the Chinese leadership.

As if to prove that the arms package to Taiwan is not a one-off move, the same day Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s subjected Beijing to some rough treatment on its equivocal approach towards Iran’s nuclear programme. Her Iran comments followed a seemingly less important but equally crucial issue of the stand-off between Beijing and Google which she used to make a rare official statement on a private corporation’s troubles.

“We look to the Chinese government for an explanation. The ability to operate with confidence in cyberspace is critical in a modern society and economy,” she said on Jan 14.

On Saturday she weighed in on the Taiwan sales saying, “such sales contribute to maintaining security and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”

It is not an accident that on three unrelated issues the Obama administration has sharpened not just its language but even backed it up with tangible action as evidenced by the arms package to Taiwan. Considering that Taiwan has lately positioned itself for a more conciliatory relationship with China, the US sale is tantamount to subverting the bilateral thaw.

It is anybody’s guess whether the US is now signaling a radical shift in its China policy, but it is certain that it no longer believes in letting its domestic pressures overwhelm the way it deals with the Asian giant. Last year there were clear signs that the deep fractures in the US economy had forced Washington to be particularly careful while dealing with their biggest global creditor. In fact, Clinton had officially requested Beijing to continue to invest in US treasury bonds even as the Chinese leadership publicly expressed scepticism about the soundness of its economy.

One immediate consequence of this new approach will be that President Obama will schedule a meeting with the Dalai Lama fairly soon. The meeting was postponed late last year as Obama embarked on his first visit to China. While no one is officially linking the revival of talks between the Dalai Lama’s special envoys and the Chinese government after 18 months to the new belligerence in Washington, it is conceivable that Beijing had an inkling about the impending arms package for Taiwan and chose to revive the Tibetan dialogue as a possible goodwill gesture.

In any case, the Obama administration has determined that the soft approach from an administration besieged by domestic and global challenges is being interpreted as a sign of weakness by China. The US dependence of China buying its debt notwithstanding, it is equally clear that Beijing cannot afford to upset its huge market share inside this country. It is an equal relationship where the US still remains first among equals.

(Mayank Chhaya is the editor of South Asia Daily in the US. He can be contacted at m@literateworld.com)

New York, Feb 1 (IANS) After finding that seven previous US presidents, including George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, are his distant kin, President Barack Obama has now discovered that the nation’s newest senator Scott Brown is also his distant cousin.

The New England Historical Geological Society (NEHGS), which has since 1845 traced the ancestry of Americans of English descent, says Obama is a long-lost cousin of Scott Brown.

A Republican, Brown created ripples in US politics Jan 19 by winning the Massachusetts senate seat long held by the late Edward Kennedy of the Democratic Party. His win has upset the President’s health reform agenda as Obama’s Democratic Party has lost the 60-mark filibuster majority in the 100-member Senate.

In a statement, the Boston-based New England Historic Genealogical Society says it has “uncovered family lines that link President Barack Obama with Scott Brown, the newly elected Republican senator from Massachusetts.’

The society says Obama’s mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, and Brown’s mother, Judith Ann Rugg, both are descendants of Richard Singletary of Haverhill, Massachusetts, who died in 1687 at the age of 102.

“President Obama descends from Richard’s eldest son, Jonathan Singletary, who later changed his surname to Dunham. Scott Brown descends from Jonathan’s brother, Nathaniel Singletary. This kinship makes Obama and Brown 10th cousins,’ the society statement says.

Like his illustrious descendants (Obama and Brown), Singletary too held public office during his time, serving as town selectman in both Salisbury and Haverhill, Massachusetts, in the 1650s, the statement says.

In 2008, the society made the startling discovery that Obama is related to seven former presidents, including George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson, Harry S. Truman, and James Madison, as well as actor Brad Pitt.

Reacting to his family links to Obama, Brown has been quoted in the media as saying that he is happy about his family ties “such distinguished company.’

The society has also discovered that Brown too is related to six other presidents, including George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Richard Nixon, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, and Rutherford Hayes.

With their common ancestry, will Brown make common cause with cousin Obama on health reforms? Unlikely, say political experts.

Los Angeles, Feb 1 (DPA) Pop diva Beyonce won Song of the Year and four other Grammy Awards Sunday, justifying her position as frontrunner for the top popular music prize in the US.

The 28-year-old singer-actress had 10 nominations coming into the awards show, including album of the year for “I Am … Sasha Fierce”, song of the year for “Single Ladies” and record of the year for “Halo”.

“Single Ladies” won song of the year and best R&B song. Beyonce also won best contemporary R&B album, best R&B female vocal for “Single Ladies” and best traditional R&B performance for “At Last”, which she performed at President Barack Obama’s inauguration.

The televised show started with Lady Gaga singing her hit “Poker Face”, which won the award for best dance recording, while her album “The Fame” was named best electronic/dance album.

The Kings of Leon won best rock song and best rock group performance for “Use Somebody”, beating out the likes of Bruce Springsteen, U2, Pearl Jam and Green Day.

Hong Kong, Jan 31 (DPA) China issued 62 media blackouts in 2009, banning media from reporting on issues ranging from public protests to photos of a topless actress in the Caribbean, according to a report Sunday.

The report by the International Federation of Journalists listed the bans newspapers and magazines in China were subjected to and said journalists in China face a “range of impediments”.

Released in Hong Kong Sunday, it also detailed what it called “intensifying efforts of authorities since early 2009 to control online content and commentary”.

Bans in 2009 included a blackout on topless photos of actress Zhang Ziyi taken on a Caribbean beach in January, and one in May against reporting on former premier Zhao Ziyang’s memoirs.

In April, media were instructed not to report the complaints of parents of children killed in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. In July, they were told to use only official Xinhua news agency reports on the Xinjiang ethnic riots.

In November, they were told to not report elections in Hong Kong and they were told to use only Xinhua’s coverage of US President Barack Obama’s visit to China.

The federation’s general secretary Aidan White said it supported US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s call on US companies to take a stand against censorship in China following the Google row.

He criticised what he called “the steady stream of official bans as well as new rules in 2009 which make it virtually impossible for local journalists… to receive the accreditation they need in order to conduct their profession.”

“(The list) indicates that much as China’s censors are maintaining a vigilant eye, they are also struggling to maintain a grip on information dissemination,” White said.

Politics, like fashion, is all about the “here” and the “now”. In Washington, the current spotlight is on American jobs or the lack thereof and rightfully so. But what will be its impact — on Indian companies and US multinationals?

During the recent State of the Union address, President Barack Obama fired a few shots across the bows of American companies that he felt were hiring people overseas to the detriment of job-seekers in the US.

In early 2009, the president had promised to remove the so-called tax breaks that led businesses to favour Bangalore over Buffalo. Never mind the two places are as disparate as they come but the catchy headline did generate plenty of questions and debate in both geographies when the remarks first surfaced.

Now that the issue is on the front burner again, let’s try to separate the economic realities from the politics. Is President Obama targeting Indian businesses or US companies?

Based on what we know today, the tax proposals are generally aimed at US multinational corporations operating overseas. These changes will have minimal impact on India-based corporations or, for that matter, other non-US headquartered businesses.

The issue, then, is: what about US multinationals with Indian operations? Will they stop hiring in India because of the tax law changes? A key executive of a US company with a large workforce in India had the following comment to make, which one can assume will be similar to those of other US chief executives.

Here goes: “Whenever we decide to invest overseas, we look at overall economics of the opportunity, including market potential, availability of a skilled and preferably lower-cost workforce and the ability to leverage time zone differences. Sure, taxes are important but they are only one of several factors.”

Enough said!

So, what is the connection between US tax rules and offshore jobs? Current US tax rules allow US multinationals to defer paying US tax on foreign profits until they are repatriated home.

The Obama administration feels the deferral has become “permanent” resulting in offshore profits being recycled to make further investments offshore, whether they are in plants or people. The proposed changes to the tax rules will take away some of the benefits of this deferral through tweaks to the US expense allocation, foreign tax credit and entity classification rules.

But will the rules do what the Obama administration wants them to do? Tax policy is all about behaviour modification. While more US tax revenues will be collected, the proposed rules may generate unanticipated outcomes.

Here are two:

- First, the changes to the US expense allocation rules may actually prompt some businesses to consider shifting certain US overhead costs overseas in order to prevent those expenses from being deferred on their US tax returns.

- Second, just when US businesses need to find additional growth opportunities elsewhere to lower their reliance on a fatigued US customer, these rules will increase the cost of doing business overseas.

Clearly, this will make US firms less nimble against competitors based in countries with more favourable tax regimes.

(31.01.2010- The author is a US international tax partner with Deloitte currently on secondment in India. His comments are personal. He can be reached at barajaraman@deloitte.com)

New York, Jan 31 (IANS) After his predecessor Eliot Spitzer quit when his $1,000-an-hour romps with call girl Ashley Dupre became public two years ago, current New York Governor David Paterson too is facing rumours of sexacapades.

The state’s first African-American governor, who is also legally blind, said to have been found in close encounter with many pretty women, including one in the closet of his mansion, the New York Post reported.

So will the governor join the recent list of American politicians brought down by their sexploits – from President Bill Clinton who barely managed to survive impeachment, to New York Governor Eliot Spitzer to South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford to former vice presidential candidate John Edwards?

The paper says the governor is on the prowl for women other than his attractive wife Michelle Paterson. Interestingly, just a day after his inauguration in March 2008, both the governor and his wife had admitted to extramarital affairs.

After reporting recently that the governor was caught nuzzling the neck of a family friend at a New Jersey steakhouse, the New York Post now says Paterson has again been spotted in what it calls “one Close Encounters of the Closet kind.”

The governor was found with an unidentified woman in a utility closet of his mansion in capital Albany by his security guards, the newspaper said.

Revealing details of the encounter, the newspaper said a trooper of the governor’s security was startled while making a routine round of the utility closet which normally remains closed.

“The trooper opened the door and the first thing he saw was the governor and a woman inside and the two of them snuggling together, embracing. There was nothing more than that, snuggling, and they had their clothes on.

“The trooper was startled and he later said that the governor was startled too, and so he quickly left. He then reported the incident to his superior,’ the newspaper quoted a source as saying.

After the alleged incident, the newspaper said the governor got police patrolling of his mansion changed to limit the time troopers spend inside it at night. He also got the rules changed to reduce records of the names of his visitors.

However, the governor’s spokesperson Marissa Shorenstein has denied the incident.

“There is absolutely zero truth to these rumuors. There was no incident. The policy was changed roughly a year ago to protect the privacy of the Paterson family,’ the New York Post quoted the spokesperson as saying.

Recently, Obama’s budget director Peter Orzag became an embarrassment for the president for fathering a daughter with Greek shipping heiress Claire Milonas even as he announced his engagement to an ABC journalist.

London, Jan 30 (ANI): Michelle Obama kicked off an official drive against childhood obesity when she opened up about a warning from the First Family’s doctor that her own daughters were gaining extra pounds.

“In my eyes I thought my children were perfect…I didn’t see the changes,” Times Online quoted Mrs Obama, as saying at an event organised by the US health officials to check the epidemic of childhood obesity.

Mrs Obama came to the campaign launch outside Washington with Regina Benjamin, the US Surgeon General, who introduced the First Lady as “everyone’s favourite vegetable gardener” after her White House vegetable garden.

Mrs Obama, said the family paediatrician “cautioned me that I had to look at my children’s BMI”, or body mass index. “He was concerned that something was getting off balance.”

This is not the first time that the President and his wife have made a statement about their children’s weight in public.

In November 2008 Barack Obama had said that the habits of their children had to change because Malia, 11, was growing “a little chubby”.

Mrs Obama had claimed that modest changes to the lifestyle of Malia and her sister, Sasha, 8, had produced results.

It is believed the girls were banned from watching TV on weekdays. They were given low-fat milk and had to cut back on burgers. Portion sizes were also reduced. Water replaced sugary drinks in their lunch boxes. Grapes found place on the breakfast table, and apple slices were sent to school, with colourful vegetables being served at dinner.

Mrs Obama said: “It was very minor stuff but these small changes resulted in some really significant improvements, and I didn’t know it would.”

She added: “It was so significant that the next time we visited our paediatrician he was amazed. He looked over the girls’ charts and he said: ‘What on earth are you doing’?”

Kathleen Sebelius, US Health and Human Services Secretary, revealed at yesterday’s launch that the US shells out nearly 150 billion dollars annually to fight obesity.

Sebelius, said 650 million dollars of economic stimulus money was being spent on programmes aimed at stopping obesity and smoking and added: “The unhealthier we are the more our healthcare costs will rise and the less competitive we will be globally. We not only have a moral obligation but I would say an economic imperative to make a change.”

Benjamin, who unveiled a report listing recommendations for preventing obesity, including eating more fruit and vegetables, said: “The number of Americans, like me, who are struggling with their weight and health conditions related to their weight remains much too high.” (ANI)

Washington, Jan. 30 (ANI): As if losing his US Senate super majority to a Republican was not bad enough, American genealogists have prepared another shocker for President Barack Obama: that Scott Brown, the newly elected senator from Massachusetts, is Obama’s cousin.

The New England Historic Genealogical Society has revealed that Obama and Brown are 10th cousins.

Obama’s mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, and Brown’s mother, Judith Ann Rugg, both descend from Richard Singletary of Haverhill of Massachusetts, who died in 1687 aged102.

“I think it’s a really interesting thing, where you have the separation between a Democrat and a Republican, but you have one link,’ The Sun quoted David Allen Lambert of the society, as saying.

Lambert said the work would not have been possible without Brown’s cooperation with the society when researchers first contacted him in December.

“I’m glad to be in such distinguished company,” Brown said of the findings.

In 2008, the society discovered that Obama is related to seven prior presidents, including George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson, Harry S. Truman and James Madison. They also learned he was related to Hollywood actor Brad Pitt.

Brown, once a little-known state senator, came into the political spotlight after winning the Senate seat held for nearly a half-century by the late Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy. (ANI)