My first U.S. Presidential Election Fund-Raiser

This past Sunday, my wife and I attended a fund-raising dinner in Manhattan for Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. It was organized by Indian-Americans for Hillary - a group that supports her 2008 campaign. No, we did not pay $1,000 for an hamburger dinner. Neither are we very active followers of the U.S. presidential politics. We attended for the experience (our first), and our invitation was free (from a very close friend, whose employer was the main host).

The event, apparently the biggest of its kind, raised ~$2m for the former first lady. Given a rather early start for the 2008 campaign, it'd be hardly surprising if all the previous fund raising records get broken this time. Mrs. Clinton’s ties with the increasingly wealthy 2.3M-strong Indian-American community in the U.S. could therefore prove very helpful.

According to the US Census Bureau, Indian-Americans are the richest ethnic group in the country - their median annual income is $61k compared to the national median of $41k. More than 300,000 Indians work in the Silicon Valley, where their average annual income is $200k. This, combined with the increasing importance of India on the global economic scene, indicates that alienating Indian-Americans could be an expensive prospect in the US politics, as Barack Obama, Mrs. Clinton's main Democratic presidential rival, realized recently.

The Media Revolution - 2050

This is an interesting video on the future of the media industry. Too radical in my opinion, as most such predictions usually are. End of radio, TV, advertisement, books, abolition of copyright in 2020 after Lawrence Lessig, the author of Free Culture, takes over as the U.S. Secretary of Justice, etc.

Some are however on the mark. E.g., the concept of prosumer (producer + consumer) has already become mainstream, and is only going to gain further momentum.

Activity on my blog

It has been the longest break in my brief blogging history. My readers (though a tiny base) are pretty vocal in complaining that I need to be more active. Most are folks from my professional/personal network. Trust me, it's not lack of commitment, but rather lack of time due to a crazy travel and work schedule lately.

Going forward, I'll be writing shorter posts when I'm pressed for time in order to keep the blog active.