GE/NBC Jeffrey Immelt among Obama profiteers looking to make billions on India trip (which I guess is preferable to doing so in America)-Daily Mail

It isn't just the expense of the trappings in the midst of an American depression with no let up in sight, it's that the man who's spending US taxpayer dollars on this has gone out of his way to say despicable and untrue things about America, including bringing a list of our alleged faults to the criminal UN, placing us under the judgment of sick terrorists who think nothing of publicly stoning people to death. (I wonder if the UN knows about or will object to Obama allowing voters to be intimidated with a deadly weapon at a polling place?)

• 11/5, "Obama's security to go to extraordinary measures for his tour of the Ghandi museum," UK Daily Mail

"President Obama heads to India this weekend in the first stop of a ten-day trip to Asia and will, at least for a short while, leave his political problems behind him. The beleaguered U.S. President who received a self-confessed 'shellacking' in the mid-term elections on Tuesday will have extraordinary security detail around him when he arrives in Mumbai.

• It's reported that a bomb-proof tunnel will be erected for Mr Obama ahead of his visit to Mani Bhavan - the Gandhi museum - on Saturday. According to Daily News & Analysis, U.S. secret service agents visited the museum on Monday to plan Mr Obama's security during his tour.

They were accompanied by Mumbai Police officers and civic officials of the D ward where Mani Bhavan is located.While they were inspecting the route and the buildings lining the path to the museum, U.S. security officers noticed a nearby skyscraper in the highly populated area that could pose a threat.

• To the amazement of the Indians accompanying the U.S. agents, it was apparently decided to erect a bomb-proof over-ground tunnel, which will be installed by U.S. military engineers in just an hour. The kilometer long tunnel will measure 12ft by 12ft and will have air-conditioning, close-circuit television cameras, and will be heavily guarded at every point.

It's being built so it is large enough for Mr Obama's cavalcade to pass through and will be manned at its entry and exit points. The material that the tunnel would be made of has not been released but officials said that the structure would be dismantled immediately after Mr Obama and his party leaves the area.

• Meanwhile the furore over reports that his Asia trip is going to cost taxpayers $200 million a day has been dismissed by the Obama administration who called the figure 'wildly inflated'.

Last week an Indian government source told the NDTV channel: 'The huge amount of around $200 million would be spent on security, stay and other aspects of the Presidential visit.'...But the White House have refused to reveal the true cost of the three-day trip to Mumbai and Delhi.

• 'The numbers reported in this article have no basis in reality', White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said. He added: 'Due to security concerns, we are unable to outline details associated with security procedures and costs, but it's safe to say these numbers are wildly inflated'.
• They also said that reports claiming the U.S. was deploying 34 warships off the coast of Mumbai to protect the president during his trip were exaggerated.

Thousands of CIA agents have flooded the Indian capital, helicopters will patrol the skies and there are even reports that 34 US war ships will patrol Mumbai's sea approaches to deter terror attacks....Mr Obama and his wife will be staying at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel just under two years after Muslim fanatics attacked it.

In addition there will be tens of thousands of Indian police and members of the military protecting the US delegation.Secret Service agents travelled to India last week to address security concerns at locations the president is likely to visit.

• Mr Obama will visit India, Indonesia, South Korea, Japan and China as part of a 10-day state tour of Asia.

The trip has sparked some criticism in the U.S., which is battling high unemployment and stagnant economic growth.

• Mr Obama will spend three days in India, and will also visit New Delhi. It is the biggest visit by any U.S. President - involving a staggering 40 aircraft and six armoured cars.

The president will be driven around in a black Cadillac - dubbed 'Barack Mobile' - which has its own built-in communications centre allowing Mr Obama to be in touch with the White House, Vice President and the U.S. Strategic Command. But the White House will be hoping to secure more than $10 billion in new business for American firms in what is the biggest trade mission in US history.

• Mr. Obama is bringing 250 U.S. executives including GE chief Jeffrey Immelt and Honeywell's David Cote, which the U.S. India Business Council says is

• the largest such delegation to ever accompany a president on a foreign visit.

The presidents of six universities, including Georgetown and Duke, are also set to come. Last fiscal year, India's $11 billion worth of investments in the U.S. matched U.S. investments in India for the first time ever, according to the U.S. India Business Council.Bilateral trade, on track to hit $50 billion this fiscal year ending March, has more than doubled since 2004.

• But sentiment has frayed since the two countries signed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement in 2008.

Then-President George W. Bush pushed through that deal, which allowed nuclear trade with India despite its weapons programme and seemed to herald a new era of cross-continental commerce.

• It hasn't been that simple.

The job creating power of India's big, fast-growing market is hampered by its restrictions on foreign access to key sectors like retail, finance, education and insurance.

Multinationals are wary of the shape-shifting rules that seem to govern

• things like taxes and environmental permits in India.

And the large defence contracts that headline the wish list of deals for Obama's visit come

• burdened with offsets and foreign investment caps.

The Americans who accepted outsourcing of IT and back office functions in boom times as a way to free up capital for job creation at home seem less certain of the strategy's benefits during a bust.

With U.S. unemployment at 9.6 pe rcent, India's putative role as a driver of job insecurity has leaked into campaign rhetoric - Barbara Boxer's attacks on Carly Fiorina for sending Hewlett-Packard jobs to India and China helped her win the California Senate race - and popular culture alike. NBC's new sitcom, 'Outsourced', tells the story of a Kansas City company that sends most of its jobs to India.

• Indian companies keep insisting, quietly, that they're not really the problem: If you don't like jobs getting sent overseas, better to direct your anger at major U.S. corporations whose race for low cost competitiveness drives India's $50 billion software services sector.

'We strongly believe the global delivery model is beneficial to customers,' said Infosys chief executive S. Gopalakrishnan. 'It increases their competitiveness. It reduces costs. It gives them access to a scalable high qualitytalent pool and to emerging markets. That's why it's growing.'"

• (This post originally appeared on another blog I have. Apparently it bothered someone enough to try and erase most of it. I'm sure Blogger is looking into the problem. ed.)

via MichaelSavage.com

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