From The Times of India:
India on Friday said it is keen to have a social security pact with the United States, on the lines New Delhi has with the European countries, to address issues like double payment by companies of both the countries.Few native born Americans care about a Social Security treaty between the U.S. and India but this blog gets a lot of hits whenever I mention the subject. This seems to be of considerable importance in India. I suspect the importance to Indians may extend past the financial dimension. Getting a Social Security treaty with the United States may be one of the many signs to Indians that urban India, at least, is moving out of Third World status.
"We are interested in a social security dialogue. We have discussed with the US side on the conclusion of what is called a totalisation of agreement by our IT companies," India's new envoy to the US Meera Shankar said at a reception hosted in her honour by the US-India Business Council. ...
"From the US side, interests have been expressed in commencing negotiations on a bilateral treaty and we hope to do that as soon as the new government is in place," she added.
Yes, India is definitely coming into its own economically. But, I'm wondering how many non-Indian US nationals will ever pay both US payroll taxes and the Indian equivalent. Then, too, there is the touchy subject of off-shored professional jobs and less well-paid foreign nationals in stateside high-tech jobs. On the one hand, we have sent a lot of jobs over seas which would otherwise have produced revenue for the SS Trust Funds. On the other, foreign nationals working here contribute less to the TF's. Of all the issues competing for our attention now, this strikes me as pretty far down the list. IMHO, anyhow. :)
ReplyDelete"Getting a Social Security treaty with the United States may be one of the many signs to Indians that urban India, at least, is moving out of Third World status."
ReplyDeleteOr more likely a sign that it's further entrenching into third world status - Kentucky comes to mind.