DO YOU WONDER WHY INDIAN FINANCE MINISTER POSE WITH RED BROWN LEATHER BRIEFCASE ON BUDGET DAY PHOTO-OPS?

Those who have been tracking annual budgets in India over the years would agree that any given news report of a budget is incomplete if it is not accompanied by a photograph of the smiling & confident finance minister flashing a red or brown briefcase usually made of leather. When the economy is cheerful, they extend this tradition by sparing several minutes posing for photo-ops before entering the Parliament to present the budget. This has been the tradition followed by Indian Finance Ministers ever since the first Govt of India was formed under Nehru.

The word Budget is derived from Middle English word (BOWGETTE) which come from BOUGETTE which means a leather bag in French. 

How did India develop this tradition? The simple & straightforward answer to it is that it was derived from the tradition followed in Great Britain for the past 150 years. After Independence in 1947, India adopted several practices and systems from the British, and this tradition of posing with a red, leather briefcase before presenting the budget, is also a tradition adopted from them.

In Great Britain, it is popularly called “Budget box” which is actually an obsession among the ministers. On the day of the budget, as soon as the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Finance Minister) of the British Govt steps out of his house, he proudly flashes the budget box to an army of cameramen, signalling his journey to the parliament to present it.

The earliest usage of the budget box dates back to around 1860, when William Ewart Gladstone was the Chancellor of the Exchequer in Great Britain. He was notorious for presenting very long budget speeches which lasted 5 to 6 hours!! Since such long budget speeches required lots of files & documents, he felt the need of a box to organize and carry them to the parliament (House of commons). A meticulously designed leather box (briefcase) called the “Budget Box” was presented to him by the Queen for this purpose, and the same budget box has been presented to successive chancellors, who in turn have been continuing this tradition of proudly posing and flashing it during budgets for more than a century.

Recently, it was decided to retire this 1860 budget box into a museum and it replaced with a shiny, new, fresh red leather budget box.

In India, the “budget-box” or “budget-briefcase” is not revered as much as it is done by the Brits and hence successive ministers have been using different briefcases over the years. However, the tradition of proudly flashing the leather briefcase for photographers has been followed religiously every year in India. Not just in India, but even in most of the nations which were part of British colonies, have adopted this tradition of proudly flashing a leather briefcase on the day of budget. 

H-1B REFORM BILL INTRODUCED IN US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

This is more than double of the current H-1B minimum wage of USD 60,000 which

was established in 1989 and since then has remained unchanged.

A legislation has been introduced in the US House of Representatives which among other things calls for more than doubling the minimum salary of H-1B visa holders to USD 130,000, making it difficult for firms to use the programme to replace American employees with foreign workers, including from India. The High-Skilled Integrity and Fairness Act of 2017 introduced by California Congressman Zoe Lofgren prioritises market based allocation of visas to those companies willing to pay 200 per cent of a wage calculated by survey, eliminates the category of lowest pay, and raises the salary level at which H-1B dependent employer are exempt from non displacement and recruitment attestation requirements to greater than USD 130,000. 

This is more than double of the current H-1B minimum wage of USD 60,000 which was established in 1989 and since then has remained unchanged. 

"My legislation refocuses the H-1B programme to its original intent to seek out and find the best and brightest from around the world, and to supplement the US workforce with talented, highly-paid, and highly-skilled workers who help create jobs here in America, not replace them," said Lofgren. "It offers a market-based solution that gives priority to those companies willing to pay the most.

This ensures American employers have access to the talent they need, while removing incentives for companies to undercut American wages and outsource jobs," he said. Lofgren said it removes the 'per country' cap for employment based immigrant visas so that all workers are treated more fairly and to move to a system where employers hire the most skilled workers without regard to national origin. It raises the salary level at which H-1B dependent employer are exempt from attestation requirements to a new required wage level of 35 percentile points above the median national annual wage for Computer and Mathematical Occupations published by the Department of Labour Occupational Employment Statistics (roughly USD 132,000), which would be adjusted in the future without the need for new legislation, and eliminates the Master's Degree exemption for dependent employers. The legislation sets aside 20 per cent of the annually allocated H-1B visas for small and start-up employers (50 or fewer employers) to

ensure small businesses have an opportunity to compete for high-skilled workers, 

CIA CLAIMS THAT SOVIETS PAID CONGRESS,CPI,CPI-M MEMBERS EVEN IN RAJIV GANDHI ERA.

By PTI | Updated: Jan 30, 2017, 06.29 PM IST

NEW DELHI: The Soviets pumped huge amounts of cash to influence Indian politicians, including a large number of Congress MPs during Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's government, to influence Indian policies, according to a now declassified December 1985 CIA report. 

This continued into the Rajiv Gandhi rule, although he tried to reduce the influence of Moscow on India, says the report.

The confidential 24-page memo, redacted heavily with lots of pages removed, also notes that the Soviets funded opposition parties including the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the CPI-Marxist "through a combination of kickback schemes, normal business transactions and direct cash payments". 

"In addition to party funding, the Soviets channel money to individual Congress and opposition politicians (through) clandestine payments. This cash is reportedly obtained from the favourable Soviet trade balance," said the document titled "The Soviets in India", which is one of the millions of CIA memos declassified recently. 

"As many as 40 per cent Congress MPs in (Indira) Gandhi's last government had received Soviet political contributions," the report reads. 

"The Soviet embassy maintains a large reserve of rupees for various uses - including clandestine payments to Congress politicians... Many Congress politicians are also businessmen who trade with the USSR." 

It says that the Soviets had also been orchestrating political activities of at least a dozen front groups in India -- including the Indo-Soviet Cultural Society, the local affiliate of the World Peace Council and a professional journalists' organisation. 

The 1985 document notes that the Soviet Union over the last three decades had "developed a substantial capacity to plan and orchestrate large-scale propaganda and disinformation campaigns involving the placement of article with the major Indian wire services and a wide range of Indian newspapers". 

It said that the Soviet had "considerable success in putting the United States on the defensive in its diplomatic and commercial dealings in India" because American officials in New Delhi would devote "much time and effort" to rebut Soviet articles in the press.

The report named several leading Indian newspapers, including the Times of India, the Hindustan Times, the Statesman and the Hindu as often carrying Soviet propaganda without questioning the source, although often in their editorial stance the mainline newspapers did not buy much of the propaganda. 

The report quoting a defector (possibly Vasili Mitrokhin) said that the Soviets use 40 to 50 journalists annually to place material and over the last several years had used around 200 to 300 journalists for this purpose. It said that the focus of the Soviets was to place stories in the mainline press against the United States, but also in favour of the India government. 

It said that pro-soviet papers like the Patriot or the Blitz used the material but the Indian public by and large did not place much credibility in them. It said many Indian papers were reluctant to use stories without sources, so the press section spent a lot of effort to "develop a bogus source" for a story. 

Another technique was to place material with an Indian news agency which would run it with a Moscow dateline as its own story so that newspapers could run it. The CIA report said the Soviets had "immense success" using this technique with the Press Trust of India whose "key managers" were "on Soviet paroll." It also named United News of India and Samachar, as well as Communist party controlled small agencies as being used for placing Soviet stories. 

The CIA report quoted two Soviet defectors as saying that they had so much success with the main agency for placement of stories that among Soviet officials the joke was that PTI stood for "Press Tass of India." The press section of the Soviet Embassy in New Delhi was the central point for press placements operations in India and its various arms employed hundreds of Indians to further its propaganda, the report said. 

The press section regularly carried out campaigns and one such campaign, it said, even "jeopardized completion of a trade deal between the Indian government and a US firm". Also, often reports accusing the United States of aiming to "balkanize" India appeared. Some placements by the Soviets even accused the US of orchestrating assassination of Indira Gandhi. 

The revelations of the CIA report almost appear to corroborate a 2005 book by former KGB operative Vasili Mitrokhin. 

Some placements by the Soviets even accused the US of orchestrating assassination of Indira Gandhi. 

The revelations of the CIA report almost appear to corroborate a 2005 book by former KGB operative Vasili Mitrokhin. 

.. 

IF YOU PUT EVEN FEW POLITICIANS AND PUBLIC SERVANTS IN PRISON IT WILL DETER OTHERS FROM BEING CORRUPT

Here is a list of few convicted USA politicians and public servants.

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is currently serving a 14-year prison sentence for political corruption

_______

Former Illinois U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. began serving a 2½-year prison term in October 2013 for misusing campaign funds.

________

Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan served nearly six years for a 2006 conviction of racketeering, conspiracy, tax fraud and making false statements to the FBI. 

_____

Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was sentenced to 10 years in prison in July 2014 for bribery, money laundering, fraud and tax violations stemming from his two terms as New Orleans' mayor from 2002-2010

_____

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was sentenced to 28 years in prison for corruption in 2013

______

Former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana began serving in 2012 a 13-year sentence for his convictions on corruption charges

________

Former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards was released from prison in 2011 after serving eight years for a felony racketeering conviction arising from the licensing of riverboat casinos in his fourth term

_____

Former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry served six months in federal prison for a 1990 drug conviction after a high-profile sting operation by the FBI and city police. He died in 2014.

_____

Former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland served a year in federal prison after pleading guilty in 2004 to a corruption-related charge

 By Navneet Singhal

20 TECH SKILLS THAT CAN HELP YOU STAY RELEVANT IN A DEPLETING JOB MARKET

ECONOMICTIMES.COM|

Updated: Jan 27, 2017, 05.00 PM

You can beat the gathering gloom in job market by equipping yourself with the latest tech skills.In a bleak employment scenario, evolving technology has opened up a vast space as

businesses chase innovative solutions. 

The new-age skill sets such as natural language processing are in high demand and promise market-beating rates. 

Data from Upwork, a website that matches freelancers with employers, reveals demand for

software engineers who program computers to understand human speech grew faster than

workers with any other skill. Voice-activated virtual assistants such as Apple's Siri and

Amazon's Echo devices have been made possible by natural language processing. 

According to a Bloomberg report on the Upwork data, freelancers who know natural language processing earned an average hourly rate of $123 per hour, and the total amount that they billed increased by 2,300 per cent last quarter from a year earlier. "The nascent boom in these jobs also foreshadows the employment that advances in artificial intelligence could create, even while they replace other human tasks," says the Bloomberg report.

The 20  fastest growing skills on line.. 

Demand for these skills surges on freelancing website net work.

Rank               Skills

1                       Natural Language processing

2                       SWIFT

3                       Tableau

4                       Amazon Marker place Web services (MWS)

5                       Stripe

6                       Instagram Marketing

7                       My SQL Programming

8                       Unbounce

9                       Social Media Management

10                      Angular JS

11                     Business Consulting

12                     Machine Learning

13                     Brand Strategy

14                     3D rendering

15                     Information Security

16                     R Development

17                     Node.js Development

18                     User Experience design

19                     Bluetooth

20                     Zendesk Customer Support

POLITICAL SYSTEM IN USA AND INDIA

In case it is true,it reflects a lot on the political system in USA and India

`'''On January 20, immediately after Donald Trump’s inauguration, the Obama family moved to a rented apartment after spending eight years at the White House. The Obamas don't own a house till date. Also, Obama paid for groceries from toothpaste to toilet papers and dry cleaning from his own pocket. Even the family vacation was not free. Similarly, after the ceremony, Joe Biden, Obama’s deputy, carrying his own brief case, took the famous Amtrak Acela Express train to get back to his hometown Wilmington. Poor people! Aren’t they?

Incredible examples of personal integrity by two highest ranking office holders of the sole superpower; Biden held public office for 43 years following his first election to the Senate at 29. Nearly 35 years in the Senate and eight years as the Vice President yet he couldn’t afford to pay for the expensive cancer treatment of his son anymore. And who was the son? The Attorney General of his State of Delaware. He also had been an Iraq war veteran before becoming the Attorney General. But the cancer treatment ate up all his savings. Then came his father to the rescue. But even that was not enough. And just when he planned to offer his house for sale to mobilise funding for the son’s treatment, President Obama loaned him funds from his personal savings to prevent him from selling his home. Biden himself recounted this before a TV audience with tearful eyes. Unfortunately the son died but not after the father had given all his best.

Neither Obama nor Biden boast tonnes of money, multiple houses and fleet of cars, escorted by massive security after all these years at top posts. And with heads held high, they walk out of their official residences to rented homes and public transport. The less said the better about politicians in India.

CA  Rajiv Arora Amritsar

CHINA BACKS RUSSIA'S MOVE FOR TRILATERAL TIE UP WITH USA

By PTI | Updated: Jan 26, 2017, 08.18 PM IST

BEIJING: Amid rising tensions with the US over Taiwan and South China Sea issues, China today backed Russian proposal for a trilateral tie-up among Washington, Moscow and Beijing to address global problems. 

"China, Russia and US are all major countries with worldwide influence and permanent members of the UN Security Council,"

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said, commenting on Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's remarks that the three nations should increase trilateral cooperation. 

"For world peace, stability and development, we share a great responsibility," Hua said. 

Addressing the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, Lavrov on Wednesday said that Moscow stands for building fair and complementary cooperation with Washington and Beijing in the economic and security area. 

Moscow would like the US, China and Russia to build relations with each other, Lavrov was quoted as saying Russian state agency TASS. As for global security issues, the three countries play a very important role in solving them, he said.Donald Trump after assuming office as US President moved closer to Russia, contrary to his predecessor Barack Obama's hardline policy towards Moscow. 

Trump, however, started his tenure setting off barrage of tensions with China over one-China policy involving Taiwan, seeking halt to the island building by Beijing over the disputed SCS besides threats to impose tariff restrictions. 

"We aim to build a generally stable and positive major country relationship with Russia. We deepen our comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation and we also work to promote the major country relations with the US. So we are willing to work together

with Russia and US to address the problems and challenges," Hua said.

"All three countries have great influence in the world and part of permanent five of the UN Security Council. Positive interactions actions between the three sides are not only beneficial to the three sides but also to the development of peace and development of

in the region and the world," she said. 

  

The three countries should have positive interactions like Lavrov said, Hua stated. 

"The development of the trilateral relationship will not be targeted against any other part. It will be within frame work of major countries relationship featuring win-win cooperation," she added. 

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INDIAN TECHIES NERVOUS ABOUT STAY IN DONALD TRUMP'S AMERICA,MULL PASSAGE BACK HOME

By Neha Alawadhi, ET Bureau | Jan 26, 2017, 06.40 AM IST 

NEW DELHI: Indian engineers have for long viewed the US as the land of El Dorado with its promise of riches — professional and personal. But they are now a deeply worried lot as nationalist rhetoric turns shrill in Donald Trump’s America. 

  

Riddled with insecurity about the status of their visas and unsure about continuation at American workplaces, scores of Indian techies are turning to social media platforms to express deep-seated angst. 

  

In a bid to gauge their mood, ET spoke to several US-based engineers of Indian origin who declined to be identified fearing professional retribution, but expressed a multitude of fears about what the future might hold for them. 

“I got married last year. How much do you think I’ll have to earn to live a comfortable life in Delhi?” asked a senior information technology project manager, who has lived in the US for seven years and works for a technology corporation on an H-1B visa. 

His peers are asking similar questions as the Trump government makes plain its intention to tighten the H-1B visa programme. Armies of Indian coders have used this programme to work in the world’s largest market for IT services. 

Industry estimates place the total number of Indian engineers on H-1B visas in the US at 300,000-350,000. This includes employees of Indian tech companies such as Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro as well as those employed by American multinationals like Accenture and IBM. American politicians, of all hues, have regularly taken umbrage at this model of outsourcing. 

The Indian information technology services industry is now estimated to be worth $150 billion. 

The lack of clarity on how exactly the Trump administration will tweak visa norms is fuelling apprehension among Indian techies.While some have put off key financial decisions, others say their job prospects have dimmed since the change of guard at the White House. 

“I have put plans to buy a house on hold, because my visa is expiring next year. So, I don’t know how my green card application, which was supposed to begin in February, would get affected,” said a management graduate who earned his degree in the US and

now lives in Texas. 

A New York-based information management specialist who has been in the US since 2012 said he has experienced an immediate fallout of the Trump presidency. “I was looking for a job and got one a few weeks ago. But they stalled the appointment because I have an H-1B visa,” he said. “The problem is, we don’t yet know about Trump’s stand on legal immigration. But with him, you never know. So companies are being cautious.” 

  

Uncertainty extends to Spouses 

A foreign worker with an H-1B visa can stay in the US for a maximum of six years, with an initial validity of three years that can be extended by another three, according to legal advice site nolo.com. 

It is not just the engineers who are worried. The uncertainty extends to their spouses too. The fate of the Obama administration’s decision in 2014 to allow spouses of H1-B visa holders to apply for work permits in the country also hangs in the balance. 

“I have to apply for a work permit (EAD) under this provision, but now there is no clarity on how that will work. So we’re waiting and watching,” said a woman who worked as a business analyst in one of India’s top IT companies before relocating to San Francisco in

2014 after marriage. Her husband studied in the US, and now works in Silicon Valley in one of the world’s largest technology companies. 

At present, the US has a cap of 65,000 visas for the general category and allows a further 20,000 people who have a US masters’ degree from an accredited institution to also apply. In a year, nearly 200,000 H-1B visa applications are approved, including visa renewals, extensions and other exempt categories. 

WORRIES OVER VISA RENEWALS TOO 

Professionals whose visas are coming up for renewal are a worried lot too. On his first day in office, Trump promised to ask the US department of labor to investigate the work visa programmes. 

“My visa is coming up for renewal in some time, and I am a little uncertain. But I won’t blame Trump, because he definitely needs to take some hard steps to avoid visa exploitation by companies,” said a senior developer who works for a financial services company in Utah. 

Most of the senior professionals ET spoke to are of the view that the H-1B visa system, which was designed for “highly skilled workers”, has been misused by some technology companies. 

“Indian work visa-sponsoring companies import fresh-off-the-boat Indian workers under long-term labour bonds to displace experienced Indian techies already present in the US on H-1B visas,” said Rajiv Dabhadkar, founder of the National Organisation for Software and Technology Professionals, which works for Indian workers overseas. 

“It’s the smaller and relatively unknown outsourcing outfits that have been known to rampantly abuse the system,” said Sanchit Vir Gogia, chief executive officer at Greyhound Research. 

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WHY IS THE INDIAN RUPEE GOING DOWN AGAINST THE US DOLLAR?

Brushing with colgate

Shaving with Gillette

Having a bath with pears

Aftershave with old spice

Wearing jockey underwear 

Wearing a Van heusen shirt

Wearing a Levis pant

Eating Maggi and drinking nescafe and Starbucks 

Using a Samsung phone

Wearing a ray ban

Seeing the time on a Casio

Going to a Multinational company on a honda bike

Using an Apple computer with coke on the side

Finishing lunch at McDonald's 

Buying Pizza for the wife and ordering from Dominos

And then blaming the Gov... "WHY IS THE INDIAN RUPEE GOING DOWN AGAINST THE DOLLAR "

Eye opener Msg for all intelligent Indians.

by Navneet Singhal

HOW IMPORTANT IS OUR BELLY BUTTON-A GIFT TO US BY OUR CREATOR

DID YOU KNOW?

Our belly button (NABHI ) is an amazing gift given to us by our creator. A 62 year old man had poor vision in his left eye. He could hardly see especially at night and was told by eye specialists that his eyes were in a good condition but the only problem was that the veins supplying blood to his eyes were dried up and he would never be able to see again.

According to Science, the first part created after conception takes place is the belly button. After it’s created, it joins to the mother’s placenta through the umbilical chord.

Our belly button is surely an amazing thing! According to science, after a person has passed away, the belly button is still warm for 3 hours the reason being that when a woman conceives a child, her belly button supplies nourishment to the child through the child’s belly button. And a fully grown child is formed in 270 days = 9 months.

This is the reason all our veins are connected to our belly button which makes it the focal point of our body. Belly button is life itself!

The “PECHOTI” is situated behind the belly button which has 72,000 plus veins over it. The total amount of blood vessels we have in our body are equal to twice the circumference of the earth.

Applying oil to belly button CURES dryness of eyes, poor eyesight, pancreas over or under working, cracked heels and lips, keeps face glowing, shiny hair, knee pain, shivering, lethargy, joint pains, dry skin.

*REMEDY For dryness of eyes, poor eyesight, fungus in nails, glowing skin, shiny hair*

At night before bed time, put 3 drops of pure ghee or coconut oil in your belly button and spread it 1 and half inches around your belly button.

*For knee pain*

At night before bed time, put 3 drops of castor oil in your belly button and spread it 1 and half inches around your belly button.

*For shivering and lethargy, relief from joint pain, dry skin*

At night before bed time, put 3 drops of mustard oil in your belly button and spread it 1 and half inches around your belly button.

*WHY PUT OIL IN YOUR BELLY BUTTON?*

You belly button can detect which veins have dried up and pass this oil to it hence open them up.

When a baby has a stomach ache, we normally mix asafoetida (hing) and water or oil and apply around the naval. Within minutes the ache is cured. Oil works the same way.

Try it. There's no harm in trying.

You can keep a small dropper bottle with the required oil next to your bed and drop few drops onto navel and massage it before going to sleep. This will make it convenient to pour and avoid accidental spillage.

I am forwarding this valuable and very useful information received from a very good friend.Its really amazing.A million thanks to the friend.Happy to share it with friends.

Top of Form

WHAT IS DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INDIA AND USA-----????

Ans.

1.America produced Microsoft, 

India produced Satya Nadella (CEO)

2.America produced Pepsi Co.

India produced Indra Nooyi (CEO)

3.America produced Adobe Systems, 

India produced Shantanu Narayen (CEO)

4.America produced CitiGroup

India produced Vikram Pandit (Ex CEO)

5.America produced Berkshire Hathaway Insurance, 

India produced Ajit Jain (President)

6.America produced MasterCard 

India produced Ajay Banga (CEO)

7.America produced Quest Diagnostics, 

India produced Surya Mohapatra (Ex CEO)

8.America produced Deloitte

India produced Punit Renjen (Global CEO)

9.America produced Google 

India produced Sundar Pichai (CEO)

And finally,

10.America produced Quora

India produced Balaji Viswanathan.

It’s sad to see so many comments with negative perspective which “completely disregard " the role of India played to mould those top Indians.

So here is a little stat:

1. Satya Nadella- B.E Electrical Engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology

2. Indra Nooyi- (PGDM /MBA) from IIM Calcutta

3. Shantanu Narayen- BSc. Electronics Engineering from Osmania University

4. Ajit Jain- B.Tech Mechanical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur

5. Ajay Banga- PGDM (/MBA) from IIM Ahmedabad

5. Surya Mohapatra- B.S in Sambalpur University

6. Sundar Pichai- B.Tech Metallurgical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur.

7. Balaji Viswanathan- B.E Computer Engineering from Thiagarajar College of Engineering

Indian Schools were the ones to provide the “basic” for those geniuses which created the rootsfor the tree to grow.

Proud to be Indian

THERE COULD BE A HINDU PRESIDENT IN MERITOCRATIC AMERICA IN FUTURE:BARACK OBAMA

By Chidanand Rajghatta, TNN | Updated: Jan 19, 2017, 11.37 AM IST 

As long as the United States recognizes merit and provides equal opportunity to all, it will have not just a woman president but could also see a Latino President, a Jewish President, and a Hindu president in the future, America's first mixed-race President Barack Obama said in his final press conference in the White House. 

"I think we're going to see people of merit rise up from every race, faith, corner of this country. Because that's America's strength. If in fact we continue to keep opportunity open to everybody, then yeah, we're going to have a woman president. We're going to have a Latino president. And we'll have a Jewish president, a Hindu president," Obama said at a farewell pow-wow with the media. 

"I suspect we'll have a whole bunch of mixed up presidents at some point that nobody really knows what to call them. And that's fine," he added amid laughter.Obama's remarks came when he was asked if, as the country's first black president, he expected to something like this again, amid some political chatter that the Trump victory was the result of a backlash — or a whitelash — against minorityism. 

But Obama's expansive reply on the need for the United States to recognize the inequality that was pervasive in the country and to be more inclusive, while largely relating to minorities, also took into account the constituency that voted for Trump. 

"There are a whole bunch of folks who voted for the president-elect because they feel forgotten and disenfranchised. They feel as if they're being looked down on. They feel as if their kids aren't going to have the same opportunities as they did. You don't want to have an America in which a very small sliver of people are doing really well, and everybody else is fighting for scraps," he said. 

Trump, who will move in the White House on Friday after the noon inauguration was the 800 lb gorilla in the room, with many of Obama's remarks obliquely directed at him even when his name was not mentioned. 

Even in his preamble outlining his relationship with the media, he told the press corps "having you in this building has made this place work better. It keeps us honest, it makes us work harder." It was a dig at his successor, who wants to evict the media from the White House. 

  

"That does not, of course, mean that I've enjoyed every story that you have filed, but that's the point of this relationship. You're not supposed to be fans, you're supposed to be skeptics, you're supposed to ask me tough questions. You're ... supposed to cast a critical eye and make sure that we are accountable to the people who sent us here, and you have done that," he said in remarks that contrasted sharply with the outlook of his successor, who has already development a reputation of being a thin-skinned narcissist at war with the press. .. 

Asked what he intended to do after leaving the White House, Obama's response was utterly self-effacing, and again, in sharp contrast to the constant self-aggrandizement of his successor : "I want to do some writing. I want to be quiet a little bit and not hear myself talk so darn much. I want to spend precious time with my girls." 

However, the man who will relinquish executive power after eight years warned that he will continue to be in public life, and while he may not get on a ballot again, he will speak up if core American values are in danger. He put in that category any institutional efforts to silence dissent or the press and any systematic discrimination being ratified in some fashion, including any effort to discriminate against children of immigrants who were well integrated into American society. 

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