(no subject)
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/09/the_grudge_barry_soetoros_indo_1.html
To really understand Barry Soetoro's Jakarta life, one must understand the socio-economic framework within which the family lived. Stepfather Lolo may have worked for an American oil company, but he was not an expatriate employee; he was a local hire. His mother Stanley Ann reportedly taught English, working for the United States Embassy, but also was not an expatriate member of the diplomatic corps. This fact meant that the family was embedded as lower caste members of the Jakarta expatriate American community.
Few Americans who have not been or associated with expatriates in poorer countries can grasp the immensity of the gap which separates expatriate lifestyles from those of the locals. When a company or the government sends an executive-level employee overseas for an extended time complete with family, immense resources are expended making life overseas as close as possible to that at home, no matter what the cost. Benefits include lavish housing allowances, schooling allowances, and home leave. These and other benefits place the expatriate families at the very peak of local society economically.
The Americans for whom Obama's parents worked undoubtedly enjoyed large, comfortable, air-conditioned American-style housing, paid home leave, club membershsips, and company-paid tuition at the best private schools, and most of them would have had at least one chauffeur-driven car as well as a staff of servants in the home. Meanwhile, Lolo's salary as a locally hired Indonesian at Mobil Oil, while no doubt much higher than the impoverished average of Jakarta, could pay for none of these perks. I have studied and consulted extensively on the issues of managing expatriate executives, and I would be surprised if Soetoro received even close to 10% of the total compensation of his Mobil Oil American colleagues, despite being highly educated. That would be enough to afford a bungalow, perhaps, but certainly not American-style housing or even a car, most likely.
To really understand Barry Soetoro's Jakarta life, one must understand the socio-economic framework within which the family lived. Stepfather Lolo may have worked for an American oil company, but he was not an expatriate employee; he was a local hire. His mother Stanley Ann reportedly taught English, working for the United States Embassy, but also was not an expatriate member of the diplomatic corps. This fact meant that the family was embedded as lower caste members of the Jakarta expatriate American community.
Few Americans who have not been or associated with expatriates in poorer countries can grasp the immensity of the gap which separates expatriate lifestyles from those of the locals. When a company or the government sends an executive-level employee overseas for an extended time complete with family, immense resources are expended making life overseas as close as possible to that at home, no matter what the cost. Benefits include lavish housing allowances, schooling allowances, and home leave. These and other benefits place the expatriate families at the very peak of local society economically.
The Americans for whom Obama's parents worked undoubtedly enjoyed large, comfortable, air-conditioned American-style housing, paid home leave, club membershsips, and company-paid tuition at the best private schools, and most of them would have had at least one chauffeur-driven car as well as a staff of servants in the home. Meanwhile, Lolo's salary as a locally hired Indonesian at Mobil Oil, while no doubt much higher than the impoverished average of Jakarta, could pay for none of these perks. I have studied and consulted extensively on the issues of managing expatriate executives, and I would be surprised if Soetoro received even close to 10% of the total compensation of his Mobil Oil American colleagues, despite being highly educated. That would be enough to afford a bungalow, perhaps, but certainly not American-style housing or even a car, most likely.