In the world of international affairs, a classic trade-off question is guns or butter. In domestic affairs in the United States of America today, there is no question: the answer is more guns and more butter. In the period from 2003 to 2013, consumption of butter in the U.S. increased by 25 percent. That’s a significant growth rate until it is compared to the growth rate of guns. Between 1994 and 2015, the number of guns grew by more than 70 million to a total of … [Read more...]
Articles
Frank blogs regularly for the Huffington Post and writes occasional columns and articles for publications such as the International Business Times and The Economic Times of India.
Frank writes on a wide variety of topics that are critical to shaping the future of America and the American dream and to making the United States and the world a better place. These include: Business; education; poverty and inequality; politics and public policy; immigration; manufacturing; innovation; leadership; citizenship; and social commentary.
Frank’s most recent blogs are highlighted on this page. To read other blogs or articles by Frank, click on the categories or publications links on the left.
Immigrants are ‘future of America’
An eminent Indian-American philanthropist has described immigrants as "the future of the United States", which he said, is a nation of inclusion, openness, opportunity, democracy and freedom. Frank Islam made these remarks during a ceremony where some 200 foreign nationals took the oath of citizenship. Islam borrowed a quote from Former President John F. Kennedy: In a democracy, every citizen regardless of his interest in politics or holds office, every one of us is in a position of … [Read more...]
Put Indian women entrepreneurs first, tap their potential
On November 28-30 in Hyderabad, India and the US will jointly host the Global Entrepreneurship Summit. This is the eighth annual summit which was the brainchild of former US President Barack Obama. It has been held in other locations such as Istanbul, Dubai and Silicon Valley. The theme for this year’s Summit is “Women First, Prosperity for All”. The Summit provides India and Hyderabad an excellent opportunity to showcase the exceptional progress and achievements that have been made by Indian … [Read more...]
Our American Dilemma: Is it a Gun Control or a Mental Health Problem?
Shortly after the mass shooting of 26 people in a church in Sunderland Springs, Texas by a single person with a gun, President Trump provided his “informed” diagnosis of this tragedy from Japan, on the first leg of his 12-day Asian trip. He proclaimed “I think that mental health is your problem here.” Trump added “This isn’t a guns situation.” In response to a reporter’s question, one day later in Korea, Trump reinforced his “expert” opinion stating that gun … [Read more...]
Critical Need to Ensure Freedom of India’s Free Press
As an Indian American, I have had the privilege of living in the two largest democracies in the world. One of those, the United States of America, came into being in part because of the free press. The other, India, has the reputation of having the most vibrant and free press in the developing world. Since its establishment as a free nation, the free press in India has grown substantially and contributed significantly to the evolution of Indian democracy. Sadly, in recent times, the … [Read more...]
Insights On The Current Support For Donald Trump
Over the past several months, there have been numerous reports on declining support and approval for President Donald Trump. For example: In June, Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight reported, “There’s been a considerable decline in the number of Americans who strongly approve of Trump from a peak of around 30 percent in February to just 21 or 22 percent of the electorate now.” An August Wall Street Journal/NBC poll showed that since April, the number of … [Read more...]
Alternative Perspectives on Donald Trump’s IQ
In the news recently, it was widely reported that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had called President Trump a “moron” in July of this year. President Trump reacted to these reports by telling Forbes, “I think it’s fake news, but if he did that, I guess we’ll have to compare IQ tests. And, I can tell you who is going to win.” Given our opinions of the President’s IQ, we immediately thought Trump meant Tillerson would and that he was complimenting the Secretary … [Read more...]
IT entrepreneur Frank Islam talks ‘American dream,’ risk, diversity at Mizzou event
Frank Islam came to the United States from India at the age of 15 in pursuit of a dream. Years later, in 1994, Islam bought a small IT services company, QSS Group, with a $45,000 bank loan that he mortgaged his house to secure. Over the next 13 years, he and his team grew the company from one employee to 3,000, and increased its annual revenue from $45,000 to $300 million, Islam said. In 2007, he sold QSS Group to Perot Systems Corp. for $250 million. “I crossed the Atlantic Ocean to … [Read more...]
Think Small Business To Help America’s Middle And Working Classes Win Big
In spite of a rebounding and more robust economy, many in the lower middle and working classes remain anxious and concerned about their futures. There has been low and slow wage growth and, as we discussed in our last blog, the changing nature of jobs, the middle class and the American Dream have pushed a large part of the workforce toward a gloomy perspective. There have been various proposals to make the economy work better for America’s workers. The Trump administration suggests that a … [Read more...]
The Changing And Challenging Nature Of Jobs, The Middle Class And The American Dream
Over the past few months, there have been several indicators that the American economy may be humming on all cylinders again. They include: A report from the Hamilton Project of the Brookings Institution showed that in July, nearly a decade after the start of the Great Recession, employment had recovered to its “demographically adjusted pre-recession level.” This means that more than 10 million jobs were added in that 10 year period. The Census Bureau’s annual report on Income and … [Read more...]