In a speech that was thick on policy and heavy on optimism, Barack Obama accepted his party's nomination for president of the United States on Thursday night, the last day or the Democratic National Convention. Framing the election as "a choice between two fundamentally different visions for the future", the US president urged Americans not to turn the clock back on all the progressive initiatives he put in place in the past four years. "[Know] this, America," he said "Our problems can be … [Read more...]
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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.
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Race for White House: Michelle Obama delivers a masterful speech at the Democratic National Convention
After getting pummeled during the Republican National Convention in Tampa last week, it was finally time for the Democrats to make their case. And that is what one witnessed in Charlotte on Tuesday, the first day of the Democratic National Convention. Speaker after speaker made eloquent and powerful cases to the American people for giving President Barak Obama four more years. There were several speakers that stood out, but none more than San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro and Massachusetts … [Read more...]
This Is Not Your Mother’s Medicare: Part 1
It takes The Villages to raise many misconceptions regarding Medicare to national attention. It takes the Republican Party Convention to make them central to the national discussion. Paul Ryan, the Republican vice presidential nominee, visited The Villages, a senior retirement community in Florida, on August 18 with his 78-year-old mother by his side. Jon Busdeker of the Orlando Sentinel opened his article on the visit by reporting that Ryan went there "to make a point about Medicare." … [Read more...]
Labor’s Love Lost
"Look for the union label." That was one of the catch phrases for the union movement in happier times. It used to be labor unions were something that many working class Americans loved. It now appears that labor unions are something that many working class Americans hate. What is the status of labor unions as we approach Labor Day 2012? On January 27 of this year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its Union Members Summary for 2011 which showed that the union membership rate … [Read more...]
A Tale of Two Armstrongs
In the past week, two American heroes passed away: One literally -- the other figuratively. Both were household names not only here in the United States but around the world. In the future, both will be remembered but for different reasons. Neil Armstrong, the astronaut who walked on the moon in 1969, died on Saturday, August 25. This Armstrong became famous for declaring "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" as he set foot on the moon's surface. Armstrong traveled … [Read more...]
Higher Education Reform in Motion
It's been said that necessity is the mother of invention. As we have shown in our first three posts in this series on higher education, there is much necessity. This necessity has spawned "inventions" and innovations ranging from system changes at the federal, state and local levels to individual initiatives. In this final post, we provide a Whitman's sampler of some of the approaches that are being discussed or are underway in the areas that we analyzed in our prior posts: costs; graduation … [Read more...]
Donald Trump, Statesman of the Year?
No, it's not a skit for Saturday Night Live -- at least not an intentional one. On August 26, on the day before the Republican Convention officially begins in Tampa, Florida, the Sarasota Republican Party will honor Donald Trump as its Statesman of the Year in an award ceremony in Sarasota. In making the announcement of the award on July 9, Joe Gruters, the Sarasota Republican Party chair, said to Jim Meyer of Newsmax "He is a very sage, skillful, and respected leader. Jobs and the economy … [Read more...]
Lessons from the Olympics
The Olympic Games in London opened on July 27 with a sense of playful wonderment and closed on Sunday evening August 12 with a raucous and irreverent celebration -- participated in by many of those who competed and contributed to making this an awe-inspiring event. As always, these Olympics -- in their 17 days -- taught many lessons. Here are our major takeaways. Great Britain Is Great! Mitt Romney may have had his doubts about whether London and Great Britain were ready to host the … [Read more...]
Time for India to Get Real on Economic Reforms: Frank Islam
President Obama's remarks last month that New Delhi needed another wave of reforms triggered widespread consternation in India. The country's notoriously divided political parties, for once, displayed a rare unanimity in condemning the perceived "meddling" of the American president in India's domestic affairs. Blaming "international lobbies like Vodafone" for "spreading this kind of a story," Corporate Affairs Minister Veerappa Moily said, "Obama was not properly informed about the things … [Read more...]
It’s Time for Customer-Centered Reform of Education: Part 1
In our August 7 post, we called upon the national Commission on Educational Attainment to bring forward new "business models" and actionable approaches to enable higher education to do a much better job in creating value for its customers -- i.e., students. In this post, we provide our analysis and thoughts on why it's time -- past time, indeed -- for customer-centered reform of higher education by examining the following areas that impact the value equation for students: college costs; … [Read more...]