America has a serious shortage of skilled workers and that is a primary cause of our lack of job creation. Right? Wrong! We have been bemused for the past few years as an ecumenical group of business leaders, academics and experts have put forward the argument that training and developing a more skilled workforce would help drive job creation. It seems to us that this is a basic misunderstanding of cause and effect. We can have a philosophical debate about which came first -- the chicken … [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.
Auctioning Off Democracy
On June 22, George Washington's personal annotated copy of the Constitution including the Bill of Rights was auctioned off for almost $10 million. Just three days later, the United States Supreme Court reaffirmed its Citizen's United ruling which gave corporations the right to unlimited "independent spending" to support candidates to federal election office by summarily reversing a decision by the Montana Supreme Court that had upheld a state law limiting independent political spending by … [Read more...]
The cracks in the fabric
High-ranking officials from India and the US, led by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, have been meeting every summer since 2010. Dubbed "strategic dialogues," these meetings involve high-level discussions between key US agencies and Indian ministries and cover a broad range of political, economic, defence and security issues. Officials in both countries point to these dialogues as evidence that the two democracies are closer than ever before. … [Read more...]
Time to Work the Pivot Points
2012 is a pivotal time for the United States. The decisions we make and the actions we take in this election year and in the remainder of this decade will determine the future of America and the American dream. Some might want to call this a tipping point, a turning point or a talking point. We strongly prefer the term "pivot point." Let us explain why. In science, a tipping point is the "point in which a system is displaced from a state of stable equilibrium into a different state." A … [Read more...]
The Politics of Division and Subtraction
Much has been written over the past few years about the partisan polarization of our two major political parties. It is unquestionable that both parties have become more partisan -- one much more so than the other. We think, however, that an equally appropriate description for what is going on is "the politics of division and subtraction." That's because as the parties have polarized they have grown the divide between them and subtracted a large number of registered voters from their rolls. … [Read more...]
Letter From Washington – Wisconsin’s Ralph Nadar
Bain Capitol?
Over the past few weeks, the main debate in the political arena has centered on what would it mean if Washington, D.C., became a Bain Capitol after the November elections. Would it be worse or better for job creation and the economy? The Romney campaign began the debate by claiming that Mitt Romney's experience at Bain Capital made him extremely qualified as a job creator who would be able to turn the economy around because of his business experience. The Obama campaign countered this assertion … [Read more...]
Will Facebook Go Boom or Bust on Wall Street?
Now that Facebook has gone public, the $104 billion dollar question is this - what kind of future awaits the social networking giant on Wall Street? A lot has been written about Facebook, its founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and the company's $104 billion initial public offering on May 18. It was one of the most highly anticipated IPOs in years. Investors wonder if Facebook will become another Google, whose stock has performed spectacularly since the company's 2004 IPO, or if it will go … [Read more...]
Renew America: It’s the Econometrics, Stupid!
Although they disagree on much, there is one thing on which President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican candidate for president, seem to agree. That is it is time to renew America and the American Dream. President Obama made his view explicit on his Afghanistan visit when he proclaimed, "Let us... reclaim the American dream that is at the heart of our story." The president called for unleashing innovation and creating new jobs as part of his formula for reclaiming the … [Read more...]
The Buffett Rule
It's time to invoke the Buffett Rule. That's Jimmy's, not Warren's. Let us explain why. The Buffett Rule, as put forward by President Obama, was an attempt to raise the minimum tax paid by a person earning more than a million dollars a year to a minimum of 30 percent. The president developed the rule in response to billionaire investor Warren Buffett commenting in writing andinterviews that he thought wealthy folks like him should be willing and required to pay more taxes. Three national … [Read more...]