• last week
Economist Mitali Nikore highlights a critical gap in U.S. social policy, noting that, unlike several developed and emerging economies, the U.S. has yet to elect a female president and lacks a federal paid maternity leave policy a stark contrast to nations like India, which have made strides in these areas. In sectors like childcare and maternity leave, the U.S. remains behind, facing systemic gaps in support for working mothers and female leaders.

#FemaleLeadership #USPolicy #ChildcareSupport #EqualityInWorkforce #MaternityLeave #USElection #KamalaHarris #NextPresident #USPresident #OneIndia #OneIndiaNews

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Transcript
00:00Mark of our company here, Mithali and Pradeep, we will very quickly listen to the opening
00:07remarks by Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, which gives us a breather also to, you know,
00:13put our thoughts in a row.
00:16And Mithali, I'll come back to you with some economics, integrate questions, because it's
00:22not just economy, but also, as many are saying, feminism also at play here in your selections.
00:29Let's very quickly listen to the opening remarks by Donald Trump and Kamala Harris
00:33from their last and the only presidential debate that happened.
00:38Your opponent on the stage here tonight often asks his supporters, are you better off than
00:43you were four years ago?
00:45When it comes to the economy, do you believe Americans are better off than they were four
00:48years ago?
00:50So I was raised as a middle class kid.
00:54And I am actually the only person on this stage who has a plan that is about lifting
00:58up the middle class and working people of America.
01:01I believe in the ambition, the aspirations, the dreams of the American people.
01:07And that is why I imagine and have actually a plan to build what I call an opportunity
01:12economy.
01:13Because here's the thing.
01:14We know that we have a shortage of homes and housing.
01:18And the cost of housing is too expensive for far too many people.
01:21We know that young families need support to raise their children.
01:26And I intend on extending a tax cut for those families of $6,000, which is the largest child
01:33tax credit that we have given in a long time, so that those young families can afford to
01:38buy a crib, buy a car seat, buy clothes for their children.
01:42My passion, one of them, is small businesses.
01:46I was actually, my mother raised my sister and me.
01:49But there was a woman who helped raise us.
01:51We call her our second mother.
01:52She was a small business owner.
01:53I love our small businesses.
01:55My plan is to give a $50,000 tax deduction to startup small businesses, knowing they
02:02are part of the backbone of America's economy.
02:05My opponent, on the other hand, his plan is to do what he has done before, which is to
02:10provide a tax cut for billionaires and big corporations, which will result in $5 trillion
02:17to America's deficit.
02:18My opponent has a plan that I call the Trump's sales tax, which would be a 20% tax on everyday
02:25goods that you rely on to get through the month.
02:29Economists have said that that Trump's sales tax would actually result for middle-class
02:34families in about $4,000 more a year because of his policies and his ideas about what should
02:43be the backs of middle-class people paying for tax cuts for billionaires.
02:49President Trump, I'll give you two minutes.
02:51First of all, I have no sales tax.
02:52That's an incorrect statement.
02:53She knows that.
02:55We're doing tariffs on other countries.
02:57Other countries are going to finally, after 75 years, pay us back for all that we've done
03:02for the world.
03:03And the tariff will be substantial in some cases.
03:06I took in billions and billions of dollars, as you know, from China.
03:09In fact, they never took the tariff off because it was so much money they can't.
03:14It would totally destroy everything that they've set out to do.
03:17They're taking in billions of dollars from China and other places they've left the tariffs
03:21on.
03:22I had it.
03:23I had tariffs.
03:24And yet I had no inflation.
03:25Look, we've had a terrible economy because inflation has, which is really known as a
03:30country buster.
03:31It breaks up countries.
03:32We have inflation like very few people have ever seen before.
03:36Probably the worst in our nation's history.
03:39We were at 21 percent, but that's being generous because many things are 50, 60, 70, 80 percent
03:44higher than they were just a few years ago.
03:47This has been a disaster for people, for the middle class, but for every class.
03:51On top of that, we have millions of people pouring into our country from prisons and
03:56jails, from mental institutions and insane asylums.
04:00And they're coming in and they're taking jobs that are occupied right now by African Americans
04:05and Hispanics and also unions.
04:08Unions are going to be affected very soon.
04:10And you see what's happening.
04:11You see what's happening with towns throughout the United States.
04:14You look at Springfield, Ohio.
04:16You look at Aurora in Colorado.
04:19They are taking over the towns.
04:21They're taking over buildings.
04:22They're going in violently.
04:24These are the people that she and Biden led into our country and they're destroying our
04:30country.
04:31They're dangerous.
04:32They're at the highest level of criminality.
04:34And we have to get them out.
04:36We have to get them out fast.
04:37I created one of the greatest economies in the history of our country.
04:41I'll do it again and even better.
04:43We are going to get to immigration and border security during this debate, but I would like
04:47to let Vice President Harris respond on the economy here.
04:51Well, I would love to.
04:52Let's talk about what Donald Trump left us.
04:55Donald Trump left us.
04:57Right.
04:58There we heard both Trump and the Harris almost a month longer, you know, old opening remarks
05:08that you gave, but still holds ground.
05:10Mitali, I was meaning to come to you first here.
05:13This was the same debate that made headlines for all the good or bad reasons.
05:19You know, when Trump said that they are eating our dogs, they're eating our cats.
05:23And it was a meme fest that started it all.
05:26But Kamala Harris had a very poised standing there.
05:30She spoke about, you know, bringing back the economy on track.
05:35And when we talk about economy, countries like India play a very significant role here
05:40because just because of the sheer market that India provides, and not only as a consumer,
05:46but also as a supplier of raw materials to the United States and other parts.
05:51What are the outstanding issues between India and the United States that you think should
05:57be ironed out, irrespective of whether it's a Republican or a Democrat holding the Oval
06:03Office?
06:04Yeah.
06:05So, first of all, thanks.
06:06Thanks, Pankaj.
06:07I think, you know, playing out those visuals just gives us a little bit of context.
06:12I mean, you also touched on feminism.
06:15So I just want to take like a minute to, you know, talk about the importance of having
06:20women in leadership and politics.
06:23You know, it's not about just Kamala Harris, but it's also about looking at how the U.S.
06:28is still not ready.
06:31You know, it's still not ready to have a woman as a president in many ways, because, I mean,
06:37amongst the major economies of the world, the U.S. is the only country which has not
06:42had a woman president.
06:44The U.S. is the only country that does not have legal maternity leave.
06:49You know, women are not entitled to any maternity leave whatsoever, and especially not paid
06:54maternity leave in any way.
06:57And you know, I think a lot of the points that Kamala Harris has also made about abortion,
07:02you know, while they might be considered controversial in the U.S., are just considered usual and
07:08normal, even in countries like India, where we have actually got a very clear rules-based
07:15abortion regime, which actually favors even single women who are seeking abortion.
07:21And you know, it is taken as women's right over their bodies, and we've never had, you
07:26know, these kinds of debates in many emerging economies about, you know, this very largely,
07:34a very, very, you know, old interpretation of abortion.
07:39So I think, you know, it's very important to have candidates, not only Kamala Harris,
07:44but many candidates to come out and support women's issues.
07:49And these are not women's issues, actually.
07:51These are issues which affect all families.
07:54You know, the right to have affordable child care is something that the Indian government,
07:59for example, is taking very seriously.
08:01And, you know, I'm advising the Ministry of Women currently on this issue of having
08:06more and more affordable child care in India, because we are seeing what's happening around
08:12the world with the absence of child care, you know, and the kind of falling population,
08:17you know, rates and fertility rates that we are seeing, because the onus of child rearing
08:22cannot fall only on women.
08:24So I think, you know, with Kamala Harris raising these issues, it elevates these issues to
08:30mainstream.
08:31And it starts to, you know, these are issues which affect all families, they affect men
08:36and women equally.
08:37And I think this is something that's very important that she's doing.
08:40But, you know, on your question of like, what are some of the issues we need to resolve?
08:46I think more than issues that we need to resolve, it's about the future direction of this partnership,
08:52you know, because we cannot come always be a service provider to the US.
08:57India has aspirations to become a leader, a global leader in the, you know, areas of
09:04technology, for example.
09:07And we definitely need, you know, more and more mentoring from, you know, tech leaders
09:12in the US, our, you know, startup founders, our tech founders need that mentoring from
09:17not only the, you know, American community, but as Pankaj said, from the IADs, who are,
09:23you know, setting up these companies in the US, you know, we need to have those supply
09:27chains tracing back to India, not only as a supplier, but an equal partner.
09:32Second is on renewable energy, we really need to work more and we need to have more and
09:37more innovation.
09:38Now, India is partnering with countries like Israel on say, for example, water saving technology
09:45and technology for desalination.
09:47And these are areas that we need US support in also, if we have to work together with
09:53countries like Israel, which find themselves, you know, geopolitically ring fenced in that
09:59sense at the moment, but have the technology that we need.
10:03And even on wind energy and solar energy, we need to work together with US because,
10:08you know, China has such a large part of the solar energy market, that, you know, having
10:14innovation and partnerships with the US can really take India on the leadership for solar
10:19energy as well.
10:20And then even on electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles, you know, just a few weeks ago,
10:26my friends were in San Francisco, and they actually took, you know, self driven taxis.
10:32Now that is something which you know, of course, it's a dream to think about a self driven
10:36car in India.
10:37But at least we can think about, you know, more and more innovation on green hydrogen,
10:41electric vehicles, and that can really be driven from the US, you know, to India and
10:47taking India as a partner in this endeavor, not just a supplier, or not just a market.
10:53So I think that is really where we want to see the future direction going.
10:57And of course, visas is an important issue, student visas is a very important issue, jobs
11:04for students after they go and invest four years or five years in their education in
11:09the US, and they need to earn it back.
11:12And you know, jobs for those students is a very important issue.
11:16Absolutely.
11:17Absolutely.
11:18Mithali and Nicore Associates is what you are the founder for, and you're an economist
11:24also.
11:25And trust me, we really appreciate your inputs here, not just as an economist, but also as
11:31a woman.
11:32Don't miss out.
11:33Log on to OneIndia.com for more updates.

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