On June 15, women members of the House and Senate played women from the Washington press corps in the 8th annual congressional softball game. On June 23, the Democratic and Republican members of the House and Senate squared off against each other in a baseball game that has been contested with some regularity since it was inaugurated in 1909. While the congressional women played softball on a bipartisan team and the congressional men played hardball on partisan teams, the game on … [Read more...]
Helping Poor Kids Get Grit. Part 5: Time to Keep the American Promise
[This is the final blog in a series of five that we have posted on grit and what it means for poor kids.] In the first blog, we introduced the concept of grit and its importance. In the second, we placed the focus on building grit through quality early childhood education and beyond. In the third, we addressed the three essential grid-builders: communities, neighborhood schools, and families. In the fourth, we examined the crisis conditions confronting poor kids today. We … [Read more...]
Donald Trump Is Building a Wall
Donald Trump, the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party for President of the United States, has become famous - or, should we say infamous - for saying he would build a wall on the border between Mexico and the United States. In a recent interview with Jake Tapper of CNN trying to defend his indefensible comments regarding Gonzalo Curiel, a native-born American of Mexican heritage, who is the federal judge overseeing the lawsuit against Trump University, Trump repeatedly … [Read more...]
Helping Poor Kids Get Grit. Part 4: Kids in Crisis.
[This is the fourth in a series of five blogs that we will post on grit and what it means for poor kids.] In the first blog, we introduced the concept of grit and its importance. In the second, we placed the focus on building grit through quality early childhood education and beyond. In the third, we addressed the three essential grid-builders: communities, neighborhood schools, and families. We closed our last blog by stating that, “... the need for an innovative and comprehensive … [Read more...]
Helping Poor Kids Get Grit. Part 3: The Grit-Builders – Communities, Schools and Families.
This is the third in a series of five blogs that we will post on grit and what it means for poor kids. In the first blog, we introduced the concept of grit and discussed how important it is for poor kids. In the second, we examined how quality education in early childhood and beyond can contribute to grit-building. In this blog, we focus on the three most essential grit-builders. In 2013 we wrote a blog about making the educational connections and introduced the concept of a triangle … [Read more...]
Helping Poor Kids Get Grit. Part 2: Building Grit – Early Childhood and Beyond.
This is the second in a series of five blogs that we will post on grit and what it means for poor kids. In the first blog of this series, we introduced the concept of grit, as defined by Professor Angela Duckworth in her new book, Grit:The Power of Passion and Perseverance, and discussed how important it is for poor kids. We ended that blog by asking what can be done to help poor kids raise their GPA. That’s not grade point average. In this instance it stands for Grit Potential … [Read more...]
Helping Poor Kids Get Grit. Part 1: The Importance of Grit.
Grit! If you don’t have it, get it. It’s the key to success. [We look at grit and what it means for poor kids in this series of five blogs. In this first blog we introduce the concept and explain why it is important. In the next four blogs we examine: what can be done to build grit in early childhood and beyond; the roles and responsibilities of the primary grit-builders: families, neighborhood schools and communities; the crisis conditions facing poor kids today; and, what needs to be … [Read more...]
America’s Economic Dilemma: All Big Business Present But Not All Accounted For
For a large part of the 20th century, the fate and fortune of American big business and its “average citizens” were intertwined. In the 21st century, they are almost completely disconnected. Among the primary reasons for this disconnection are major corporations: offshoring millions of what were good paying American jobs through a process euphemistically called “globalization.” reducing the size of their incumbent workforce significantly through means such as organizational streamlining, … [Read more...]
The Cure for a Sluggish Economy: More Entrepreneurial and Small Business Support
Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the United States increased by 2.4% in 2015. The Bureau of Economic Analysis’ advanced estimate of GDP for the first quarter of 2016 released on April 28 was an increase of 0.5 percent following an increase of 1.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015. While these are positive numbers in the aggregate, for the past 15 month the United States economy has been sluggish and appears to be moving into the economic doldrums. Even though the U.S. … [Read more...]
The 2016 Populist Uprising in Perspective: Part 1 – The Nature of Populism Today
No matter the final results of the presidential elections in November, 2016 will be forever known as the year of the uprising of the populists in both political parties. {We examine what that uprising means in detail in this series of four blogs. In this first blog we look at the nature of populism today. In the next three blogs we will look at: the development of the populist brands over time; the history of populism in the United States; and, the prospects for the future of populism … [Read more...]