President Obama will be naming Aneesh Paul Chopra as his choice for CTO during tomorrow’s weekly address, as first reported by the Washington Post and confirmed in this press release posted to the White House’s official web site. Chopra currently serves as Virginia’s Secretary of Technology, and has previous acted as the Managing Director for the Advisory Board Company, where he advised executives on health care operations.
According to Virginia’s state website, Chopra was recently recognized by Government Technology Magazine’s for excellent ‘use of technology to improve government’, and he was awarded Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society’s 2007 State Leadership Advocacy Award.
The choice comes after months of speculation, during which many of Silicon Valley’s most prominent figures, including Steve Ballmer, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Eric Schmidt (among many others) were named as possible candidates. Whether or not some of these people actually wanted the position is another story, but obviously President Obama chose a different route.
According to this article published in the Washington Post in 2005, Chopra was not a career technologist before he became Virginia’s Secretary of Technology, but he has extensive experience in policy making. He also co-created a venture fund called Avatar Capital, which invested $11 million in 18 companies (though these figures are likely dated).
While he may not be a lifelong coder, Chopra has previously stated that his “primary understanding is from customer need, not bits and bytes”. During his time as Virginia’s SoT, he drove the state’s partnership with Google to become sitemap compliant, and also partnered with Cox and Comcast to broadcast free GED classes to Virginian citizens.
According to President Obama’s upcoming remarks, Chopra will “help achieve our most urgent priorities – from creating jobs and reducing health care costs to keeping our nation secure. He will work closely with Chief Performance Officer Jeffrey Zients (also being named tomorrow) and recently-named CIO Vivek Kundra.
For another perspective on the news, check out Tim O’Reilly’s post Why Aneesh Chopra is a Great Choice for Federal CTO.
Via Scobleizer.
President Obama’s full remarks for tomorrow are below:
It’s not news to say that we are living through challenging times: The worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. A credit crisis that has made that downturn worse. And a fiscal disaster that has accumulated over a period of years.
In the year 2000, we had projected budget surpluses in the trillions, and Washington appeared to be on the road to fiscal stability. Eight years later, when I walked in the door, the projected budget deficit for this year alone was $1.3 trillion. And in order to jumpstart our struggling economy, we were forced to make investments that added to that deficit through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
But as surely as our future depends on building a new energy economy, controlling health care costs and ensuring that our kids are once again the best educated in the world, it also depends on restoring a sense of responsibility and accountability to our federal budget. Without significant change to steer away from ever-expanding deficits and debt, we are on an unsustainable course.
So today, we simply cannot afford to perpetuate a system in Washington where politicians and bureaucrats make decisions behind closed doors, with little accountability for the consequences; where billions are squandered on programs that have outlived their usefulness, or exist solely because of the power of a lobbyist or interest group; and where outdated technology and information systems undermine efficiency, threaten our security, and fail to serve an engaged citizenry.
If we’re to going to rebuild our economy on a solid foundation, we need to change the way we do business in Washington. We need to restore the American people’s confidence in their government – that it is on their side, spending their money wisely, to meet their families’ needs.
That starts with the painstaking work of examining every program, every entitlement, every dollar of government spending and asking ourselves: Is this program really essential? Are taxpayers getting their money’s worth? Can we accomplish our goals more efficiently or effectively some other way?
It’s a process we have already begun, scouring our budget line by line for programs that don’t work so we can cut them to make room for ones that do. That means ending tax breaks for companies shipping jobs overseas; stopping the fraud and abuse in our Medicare program; and reforming our health care system to cut costs for families and businesses. It means strengthening whisteblower protections for government employees who step forward to report wasteful spending. And it means reinstating the pay-as-you-go rule that we followed during the 1990s – so if we want to spend, we’ll need to find somewhere else to cut.
And this Monday, at my first, full Cabinet meeting, I will ask all of my department and agency heads for specific proposals for cutting their budgets. Already, members of my Cabinet have begun to trim back unnecessary expenditures. Secretary Napolitano, for example, is ending consulting contracts to create new seals and logos that have cost the Department of Homeland Security $3 million since 2003. In the largest Department, Secretary Gates has launched an historic project to reform defense contracting procedures and eliminate hundreds of billions of dollars in wasteful spending and cost overruns. And I commend Senators McCain and Levin – a Republican and a Democrat – who have teamed up to lead this effort in Congress.
Finally, in the coming weeks, I will be announcing the elimination of dozens of government programs shown to be wasteful or ineffective. In this effort, there will be no sacred cows, and no pet projects. All across America, families are making hard choices, and it’s time their government did the same.
That is why I have assembled a team of management, technology, and budget experts to guide us in this work – leaders who will help us revamp government operations from top to bottom and ensure that the federal government is truly working for the American people.
I have named Jeffrey Zients, a leading CEO, management consultant and entrepreneur, to serve as Deputy Director for Management of the Office of Management and Budget and as the first ever Chief Performance Officer. Jeffrey will work to streamline processes, cut costs, and find best practices throughout our government.
Aneesh Chopra, who is currently the Secretary of Technology for Governor Kaine of Virginia, has agreed to serve as America’s Chief Technology Officer. In this role, Aneesh will promote technological innovation to help achieve our most urgent priorities – from creating jobs and reducing health care costs to keeping our nation secure.
Aneesh and Jeffrey will work closely with our Chief Information Officer, Vivek Kundra, who is responsible for setting technology policy across the government, and using technology to improve security, ensure transparency, and lower costs. The goal is to give all Americans a voice in their government and ensure that they know exactly how we’re spending their money – and can hold us accountable for the results.
None of this will be easy. Big change never is. But with the leadership of these individuals, I am confident that we can break our bad habits, put an end to the mismanagement that has plagued our government, and start living within our means again. That is how we will get our deficits under control and move from recovery to prosperity. And that is how we will give the American people the kind of government they expect and deserve – one that is efficient, accountable and fully worthy of their trust.
Thank you.
Indeed, Silicon Valley has very little to do with Fairness and the Socialist State that Obama envisions of building here.
You do realize that even after Obama’s tax cuts, the taxes we’re paying are actually lower than those in Reagan’s presidency, right?
Obama’s tax cuts? Must have missed that news day. And don’t fool yourself either. All this spending will require more taxing, and in many cases it will be future generations (who can’t vote yet) paying for them. I volunteer your kids to start ponying up.
I call BS. Giving ‘tax breaks’ to those who dont pay isnt a tax break. Nice try.
I do pay taxes and I am getting a tax break. As are 95% of us. I know you are in denial, but is getting to be more like a psychosis for you teabaggers.
I don’t know why Obama should care about Silicon Valley anyway – Obama hates entreprenuers. If he cared about them, he would make it easier for a company to grown instead of adding taxes and freaking ridiculous regulations on every business.
Business create jobs and wealth – NOT government!!
I’m confused. I thought Vivek Kundra, DC’s CTO, was named Obama’s CTO.
Nope, he’s CIO
I would say that if anyone is to be selected as a government technologist who has futuristic views and a serial inventor of cutting-edge new technologies, then it should be Bill Joy. No one else beats this technologist & entrepreneur. He understands business and he also understands state-of-the-art technology, I mean real technology.
Yeah we need someone who is running a company into the ground. And who leads a language that is falling by the wayside.
How is that JavaFX working out?
hah, you think bill joy is running something into the ground?
You are making the mistake that any Obama appointment has to change things for the better. The fact that his whole cabinet are Wall St cronies should tell you the selection criteria of this government.
I saw this on http://hookk.com
Wow that’s a lotta words. Vimeo it. Qik it. Hell – tweet me in 140 chars but whatever you do – don’t make me read all those letters. This ain’t 1986 and I ain’t in Shakespeare class. Perhaps someone else can dumb it up for me below?
Okay. So basically Obama decided that having someone with business sense and intelligence would be a bad idea for his staff and could be downright dangerous to the Liberal agenda. So he got this guy.
For more info check out http://www.f2bb.com
That’s a ridiculous headline – Chopra is well-respected in Silicon Valley. Choosing him isn’t “spurning” Silicon Valley; it’s bringing in a proven tech-bureaucrat to represent Silicon Valley’s interests.
I don’t mean that he’s necessarily going to go against Silicon Valley’s interests, but he certainly isn’t one of SV veterans that have been lobbied around.
Like who? You’re not talking about Bezos or Ballmer are you?
certainly not if his only notable technical accomplishment was a Google sitemap
Don’t kid yourself…. there are FAR MORE – like, not even close – FAR MORE large company CTO’s outside of Silicon Valley than within Silicon Valley.
You need to get out of your Silicon Valley shell, and see the world a little. Maybe start with this little map…. http://money.cn...maps/index.html
According to the online dictionary, “scorn” means to “reject disdainfully or contemptuously.” Totally inappropriate usage in this context. Your use of “scorn” just reflects, in a very unprofessional way, your bias towards the SV veterans that were being mentioned.
sorry, definition was actually of “spurn” not “scorn”
that is to say I meant to write “spurn”
Hrm?
The headline is really silly: “Obama Spurns Silicon Valley …”.
How has he spurned the Valley?
Just because there are tech CEOs in the valley, doesn’t mean they were considered or that they’d immediately quit their jobs and move to Washington. And listing the names Ballmer, Bezos, Gates, Schmidt is ridiculous. It’s simply throwing out famous names. They were never considered for the job.
I hope the headline changes to “Obama names CTO.” No reason to try and connect this to Silicon Valley.
I SAID FIRST!!
Anyway, is this guy any good?
Where is the Spotrunner story?
I didn’t know Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer and Jeff Bezos live in the Silicon Valley – nice reporting guys!!!
Vivek Kundra and Aneesh Chopra = Change.
Both of them seem to be familiar with current technology and come from hands-on roles. To me, that should work out better than having an SV celebrity as CTO. We’ve wasted millions and millions on badly implemented and overpriced and IT systems for the Feebs, SSA, IRS, FAA, and other agencies. I hope that they can bring change to those systems, too.
How about I get the money, you keep the CHANGE?
Your undies could use some CHANGE.
Good choice. SV is nothing but a few lottery winners amongst a sea of losers.
No offence but compared to the other candidates mentioned it seems like his main qualification is that he knows how to wear a suit and a tie.
I would’ve liked to see Silicon Valley represented by, you know, someone who’s actually been here for a while.
Then again, I’m pretty happy to have tech represented in the White House in the first place.
your post implies that a CTO’s main and perhaps only job is to be a SV rep, which is clearly not the job description for the position. It involves (probably among other things) implementation and government usage of tech
Maybe you should lobby Government to have an official and exclusive SV rep in Obama’s cabinet.
Great another red tape guy. The problem with our government offices is red tape and overly slow bureaucratic processes and people.
They overly focus on security. Honestly, what is the issue with people not seeing my medical records? I could care less. Maybe someone will see them, feel sorry for me and pay a couple of bills.
I am sure Obama selected him because he is a red tape guy and the media and RNC will feel secure, but that means he will select the big enterprise companies do the work and then it will be slow, horrible to use,…..you know java enterprisey.
Come on Obama, I voted for you, don’t make me look stupid.
Change = Enterprisey Java IBM/SAP shit????
What a slippery slope point of view. Im glad you have no hand in govt because the govt has NO right to see my private records
If you want everyone to give you pity cash for your medical bills, publish ‘em online. But dont subject your socialist healthcare on me.
The government (via the patriot act) and the 3 main credit agencies already have your information. And the word “socialism” is no magic phrase that you rightards can invoke to send fear into the hearts of americans.
That already happened on W’s watch.
Now go back to watching Glenn Beck teabagging Rush. mkay?
I love that the blogosphere totally ignored the embargo (6am ET tomorrow). This is why I love new media, no rules, regulation, or filtering, just the news and opinions on it.
If he can figure out single sign-on for all my fellow Americans that would be change we can believe in…
Make sure this one has paid his taxes, Obama.
offRail1: Don’t you know, that’s why O’ picked a state level government employee instead of an SV entrepeneur. Government employees ordinarily don’t work quite so hard to avoid paying their taxes – it’s a lot easier to get them past the checkups.
This guy has had a few years to clean up his tax act. He should come in OK.
Am I the only one confused here?
“. . .many of Silicon Valley’s most prominent figures, including Steve Ballmer, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Eric Schmidt. . .”
Eric Schmidt is the only one in SV. The rest are in Washington.
Wow, we got a nobody for the CTO of the country. I’m sure they won’t dig out any dirt on this guy.
Gandhi would feel very proud today.
@Dave,
Why are you bringing Mahatma Gandhi into discussion, here in this context?
A nobody? Get out of the Valley man.
I have met Aneesh, and I have to say that for this job, he beats any Silicon Valley CTO I know hands down. Government is a world all its own. Having someone who knows how to bring technology to government – and Aneesh has been doing an amazing job in Virginia – is essential.
I am very bullish on this appointment. Working on my own post (which was going to appear tomorrow morning to respect the embargo) now.
Tim, I am a great fan of your work, but this move by the administration is a major blow to the small percentage of the Americans who make the difference in the technology sector. To bring someone who has not made a significant change in the valley is big minus. I will also just ignore your comment about the valley’s talent not being adequate for this position.
I live in Silicon Valley and I think this is a great appointment. Why? Very simple…
The primary need for the CTO is to be political, NOT to be a pure technologist. Whoever got chosen had to be very very good at navigating the politics and getting change implemented.
If you take any large company, the CTO is a political figure who understand technology – a pure technologist never cuts it. Getting any bureaucracy to implement technology is a political exercise, not a technological one.
I don’t know Aneesh, but he looks to have gotten government to actually implement some good stuff. So, I totally concur with Tim O’Reilly.
Salim wrote:
“The primary need for the CTO is to be political”
This goes against what Obama had promised for this administration. We need a competent brave government willing to move forward with the change, not some sleazy serpents looking to suck whatever is needed to get a point across.
The idea that Barck Obama would disrespect the political is in direct contradiction to his longstanding, overtly expressed, judgement that politics needs more respect – and should have more influence in policy setting – than it has had in the past.
You clearly misunderstand politics or disrespect it for reasons of your own. Or you are relying upon other peoples’ misunderstanding and disrespect to make a cheap shot, rhetoricaly.
When Obama calls for more people to become involved in governance, he is talking about politics. When he clearly states that reliance upon legal actions instead of political organization and action have disadvantaged the people of our country and damaged our ability to secure popular support for effective governance, he is talking about politics.
So don’t imply that politics is “bad”. And don’t expect Barack Obama to think, or to act as if, politics, political organizing, and political action are bad things.
I am reacting to the idea that we need to split technologists into two camps, those who understand or are better at politics and those who are not. This by itself goes against what Obama has been talking throughout his campaign trail where promised that he would bring resepect back to politics. Bringing in someone with minor technological achievements into a highest technology position simply because he’s better at politics tells me that the focus is not on change and competencies but rather on assimilation. No cheap shots, just some sound reasoning.
Don’t be fooled. Obama and Congress are spending trillions & trillions dollars without thinking and the person in this new position is like a drop of water in the ocean in terms of his/her ability to make change.
Plus, the cronyism and politics control all decisions. Don’t forget that Obama and much of his team went through the Chicago & Illinois system of government.
I remember trying to get a summer job with “the City” and when I called to find out why it was delayed, I was told they were having trouble getting the voting records. (I took another job.)
Unless you live through how things are done here in Chicago, you may not appreciate it. Obama is just expanding the system to the Federal Government.
The CIO, CTO, etc. will surely innovate some but the innovation will be controlled by politics and the effects will not get in the way of how things are done.
As I said, don’t be fooled.
Hey man what is calculus?
Um. Isn’t that line from stand and deliver? Only the strong is about capoieira fighters. Get your shi*t together man.
http://www.yout...h?v=x5Y1BxtjkMc
Steve Ballmer and Jeff Bezos are silicon valley vets ?
I guess 2 Indians are now gonna save the US
Ha ha… Wait and watch..
Might be a good choice depending on what direction Obama wants this person to go.
It does tell me that he doesn’t want the office of the CTO to go the direction that many of us on the west coast and in tech wanted to see it go.
It might actually say more about their willingness to take the job as the White House has designed its scope and direction.
Or even about their ability to pass tax checkups.
Since I believe (wish I knew more) that I would tend toward the SV point of view about the right direction for our internet and technology policy I hope the choice does not reflect a significantly different point of view.
On the other hand, I have detected a splitting of point of view among various West Coast IT/Internet leadership – a choice from outside the area might avoid some WCoast infighting.
Boy you’re so insightful. You sound like you know everything inside the President’s head. Maybe you should be in charge.
My GOODNESS People! I can’t believe as smart as you all are, NO ONE is commenting about what this appointment is really about. Everyone is so concerned about the Valley and what it means to tech in the Gov’t… but even this post points CLEARLY to the reason he was chosen.
Let me ask… what’s one of Obama’s main goals? What did Obama say was the main drag on the economy now? What does he mention MOST OFTEN in the speech he’s giving Chopra as an introduction?
C’mon! It’s HEALTHCARE. Obama wants to ‘overhaul’ – (socialize) – healthcare in America. This post clearly points out several times that Chopra is the man for the job – the job of placing everything about your health in a ‘uniform system’ for better care, yada, yada.
The CIO is going to handle all the other stuff (if he survives the justice dept) – and they were never going to look to the valley for a CTO – that’s ridiculous. The valley might be mind numbed robots supporting Obama in the first place – but they should be smarter about following what he actually says he’s going to do – because, whether we want him to or not (and I certainly don’t want him to!) – he’s going to.
Obama’s ‘priorities’ should lead the valley sheep – not some pipe dream that someone from the valley would be named to a useless post (in the sense the person named from the valley would want to do more than overhaul healthcare) and be worshiped for it. It’s about Obama, not the dolts who follow.
Maybe he can work on the IRS’s and SEC’s systems to weed out all of Obama’s appointees who don’t pay taxes or follow securities laws.
I hope that they can do the job well.
The notion that no one in the technology industry has the political chops to guide technology policy from DC is ridiculous. And apparently, giving the tech CEOs great seats at the inauguration and invitations to a White House lecture, um I mean Summit, apparently weren’t enough… so they did a middle-of-the-night outreach to OReilly, Scoble and others vulnerable to the “a briefing document I was shown” tactic further blunt the inevitable criticism. Change we can believe in?
Who tha heck is he? He has no wikipedia entry.
I didn’t vote for Obama — I am a supporter of Romney-Jindal
But, Aneesh Chopra seems like a very good selection.
He presents himself very well in this YouTube video–
http://www.yout...h?v=BfoBMNhjHU8
Will
Thanks for the Link. I managed to watch the whole YouTube video since Mr. Chopra kept me watching because of his insights.
Best,
Jason
Here are some Silicon Valley big wigs making very supportive comments about Chopra:
“President Obama has made an outstanding choice in naming Aneesh Chopra as the nation’s first CTO. I got to know Aneesh during the 2008 Presidential campaign and transition, where I worked with him and experienced first-hand his great drive, broad skills and inspirational approach to to how technology can be used to spur innovation, help create good jobs, grow the economy, and improve the delivery of services by the government to its citizens. Aneesh’s experience as Virginia’s Secretary of Technology and that state’s CTO has provided highly relevant preparation for this new role, and I am confident he will be a major asset to the Administration.”
Mitch Kapor
founder, Lotus Development Corporation
PC industry pioneer
co-founder Electronic Frontier Foundation
Founding chair, Mozilla Foundation
***********************************
“If you want innovation, change and high performance – in any organization – the CTO role is crucial. Aneesh is an inspired appointment. His smarts and experience in technology, health care and investing will serve us well.”
John Doerr
Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
jdoerr@kpcb.com
Willing to talk to press
**************************************************8
“Aneesh built one of the best technology platforms in government in the state of Virginia. He understands technology and its use in public policy and really gets it; he is the perfect choice for the Nations’ first CTO. All of us look forward to working with him in his new national role.”
Eric Schmidt
Chairman of the Board and CEO
Google
(650) 224-1344
Currently on East Coast
Willing to talk to press
“Aneesh Chopra is one of technology’s leading lights and we are lucky to have him as our nation’s Chief Technology Officer. Aneesh demonstrated outstanding leadership as Virginia’s Secretary of Technology and believes to his core that innovation and technology are the backbone of our economy. We applaud President Barack Obama for this choice of a proven, results-driven and experienced executive that will harness the power of innovation and cutting-edge discovery to help to make government work better for all of our citizens.”
Craig Barrett
Chairman, Intel Corporation
“President Obama has made a stellar choice in the appointment of Aneesh Chopra as America’s CTO. This man is a ‘do-er,’ plain and simple. He is a visionary leader and executive who can bring people together around a vision to get the job done. Aneesh is a passionate advocate of how technology and innovation can positively impact the lives of millions of our citizens through improved education, health-care, helping better protect our environment and so much more.”
Vinod Khosla
Founder of Khosla Ventures
vk@khoslaventures.com
**************************************************
“Aneesh Chopra is the type of results-focused and open-minded technology leader that our country needs. Aneesh has the abilities and experience to harness innovation for the greater public good, whether that is to reduce health care costs or increase access to government services through open source, make our country’s systems more secure, foster job creation, or better prepare our future workforce. We have the utmost confidence that Aneesh will succeed in driving more efficiency and innovation into the government and get the most for the U.S. tax payer’s investments.”
Scott McNealy
founder and Chairman of Sun Microsystems and Chairman of Sun Federal, Inc.
Great comments, made by those with a personal agenda and the desire to be politically correct: Chopra is a minority and he is black, as Obama is.
But reality will show that Washington is the land of ruthless gridlock – it will be like landing in molasses, the malicious type, for Chopra… let’s talk in about six months…
What is happening is what always happens: the intention of helping is celebrated endlessly and the facts around the issue at hand are never scrutinized.
The messengers of contrary facts are attacked and called named.
As we have seen for many decades, the costs in government are never scrutinized and the benefits are never measured.
The only thing discussed are the “good intentions” and some positive facts to back it up.
So when people point out that the costs are likely to be much higher, the benefits will be less and that the operation will be built and run by the same corrupt government systems that most of us complain about, they don’t want to hear it.
Tom: He’s brown not black. Are you color blind? Oh, you must be the “white” guy that America is losing today.
Will, thanks for the link to the youtube video. I have not yet finished viewing it, but it’s very impressive so far. Worth checking out for sure.
http://www.yout...h?v=BfoBMNhjHU8
Here’s my take on Chopra: this looks like very good news for advocates of robust government transparency, collaborative governance, and innovation in government, based on his record in VA. More here: http://techpres...a-uss-first-cto
I read Obama’s remarks and he says “In the year 2000, we had projected budget surpluses in the trillions, and Washington appeared to be on the road to fiscal stability.”
This disingenuous at the least and misleading for sure. Come on, we ALL know the bubble that fueled the influxes of tax revenues burst then. The NASDAQ peaked six months or so before the 2000 election. The “trillions” of projected surpluses that Obama references could not happen.
What Obama is really doing is really lying to us.
I miss Bush
The only bush you’ve been missing is the one you can’t get anymore.
Congratulations on your new appointment!
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Steve Ballmer as a CTO –ha ha!
Never mix politics with religion. And this post does it.
Silicon Valley and Obama.
we are fast becoming a digital society, everything we do now involves a computer and the Internet in some way. But now in a tough economic time, we are more vulnerable to digital threats, email scams, hackers, identity theft. i use this new digital security resource site justaskgemalto.com its free and its like a wikipedia site with a lot of useful information practical information.
Excuse me, I didn’t realize so many TechCrunch comments give Slashdot a run for the money in bile and cluelessness.
The bitterness of these comments amazes me. I live in Virginia, and I am a moderate, and therefore have tended to vote Democrat for the last few years. If I lived in Massachussets or California, I would almost certainly vote Republican. Extremists in this part of the country tend to ban the teaching of evolution and remove library books while letting infrastructure crumble, and extremists in the liberal part of the country tend to tax heavily and burden employers and landlords.
Too many of the comments on here smack of extremism. If you don’t think the health care system in this country is in major need of an absolute overhaul, you are blind. We might disagree on the nature of the overhaul, but the previous administration did nothing to try to fix it. Health care cost inflation is 9% annually. This is not sustainable, and Chopra has ideas to cut health insurance administration costs through form standardization. Right now, every insurance company demands doctors use different forms of information sharing with them. This leads to bloated, inefficient health care.
I have faults with Obama on many issues, but at least he is pushing to solve the coming health care nightmare. You think you’re taxes are high now? Imagine paying for Medicare when 9% inflation continues for 2 decades. Then, factor in the fact that a Republican president and a Republican Congress were politically unable to cut Medicare benefits(old people vote!).
Jai Ho !!
So the Indians have cleaned out Silicon Valley, cleaned out Wall St. and there is nothing left to rob so now they are getting into gov’t? We can bet the Federal government will be full of Indian bodyshop cronies – all siphoning America’s unlimited borrowing and spending power out and sending it back home to India. And you wonder why there’s a recession?