HILLARY AND OUTSOURCING. The Obama campaign fumbled badly in June when it attempted to make an issue of Hillary Clinton's ties to Indian businesses implicated in the outsourcing of American jobs, releasing a press release that identified her as (D-Punjab). Today the Los Angeles Times offers up a more analytical take on the Senator's ties to India's Tata Consultancy Services, a company with 10,000 employees in the United States, 90 percent of whom are foreign-born. Clinton lured Tata to open an office in Buffalo, New York, the Western New York city that's only now beginning to revitalize after a decades-long economic slump. She heralded Tata's arrival as an opportunity for research collaboration between Buffalo's state university and the corporation. What were the results? Tata created only 10 jobs in Buffalo (the company won't say how many of those employees are American citizens) and has so far not worked at all with the university. In 2004 Clinton defended herself to Lou Dobbs, saying, "Outsourcing does work both ways." But at least in the Tata deal -- and my hunch is that this is the case for many supposed partnerships between huge multinational corporations and public universities in economically beleaguered regions -- local benefits were minute. The Times reports that earlier this month, Clinton assured an Indian-American audience in Silicon Valley that she'd fight for more visas for skilled workers like themselves, recognizing that there are benefits to both the United States and their home country. So while Clinton is talking frequently now about economic inequality -- I've heard her rail against astronomical CEO salaries, for example -- she isn't really backpedaling away from her long-time view of economic globalization, which is essentially a positive one. --Dana Goldstein
