Challenging American Leadership (eBook)

Ernst G. Frankel has a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Engineering, Ph.D. in Transport Economics, an MBA in Systems Management, and a DBA in Operations Research. He has been a member of the MIT engineering and management faculty from 1962 to his retirement in 1996. He has extensive management experience and served as Technical Director of Litton Industries, Director of Engineering of Sealand Corp., Operations Advisor for the Port of Singapore, Advisory Board of the Panama Canal Authority, Director of several major shipping and logistics companies, Director of Operations of Pascagoula Shipyard, Advisor to Hyundai Heavy Industries (Korea), Advisor to Mitsui Shipbuilding and Engineering (Japan), and numerous other industrial firms, as well as governments. He also served as an Executive of the World Bank from 1982 to 1989. He has published 13 books (see list) and over 220 refereed journal articles. He has worked and lived in over 67 countries on all five continents.

Preamble: The 20th Century Stage for American Leadership; INTRODUCTION: The Need for an Economic Policy; America’s Condition; The Meaning of Economics; Understanding Economics; American Democracy is not for Everyone; The Country of the Lonely; CHAPTER 1: U.S. ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT; Industrial and Technological Policies; Factors of Economic Growth; Politics and Economy; Strategic Management of the Economy; Managed Economics of Markets, Services, and Trade; The U.S. Standard of Living; The Impact of Human Behavior on Economic Systems; American Performance and Productivity; Capital and Labor Costs; U.S. Immigration; Energy or Fuel Use; America’s Economic and Trade Dominance -- Is it real?; The U.S. as an Exporter; Foreign Trade Imbalance or Outsourcing; The U.S.-Asian Dilemma; Imposing Our Principles on Others; Economic Inequities in the U.S. Job Markets; Maintaining the Economic Leadership; Securities Markets; The American Consumer; Wealth and Value Creation; CHAPTER 2: AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENTS; The Problem of U.S. Underinvestment; Investment in Technology Development; Technology as an Economic Driving Force; Working in American Industry; Interpersonal Relations, Work Place Productivity, and Economic Impact; The U.S. Pension Debacle; Technology Ownership; Management of Technological Changes; Management Structures and Incentives; U.S. Corporate Pay; Worker Morale and Work Ethics; Productivity in America; Quality Management; Quality Control in Purchasing; Contradictions of Competitive Bidding and Procurement; The Decision Based Industrial Organization (DBO); Institutional Support for Industrial Development; America as a Service Economy; The Demise of the American Middle Class; Inequity in American Society; Economics of Disability in America; Political Correctness and Organized Labor; The Customer and the Cost of Doing Business in America; American Economic Prospects; The U.S. as a Post-Industrial Society; AnEnvironment for Economic Success; CHAPTER 3: AMERICAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS; Tax Burdens and Economic Incentives; Effectiveness and Cost of Government Regulation; Government Budget Making and Budgetary Needs; Government Spending; The National Debt Problem; The Entitlement Morass; A Welfare System which Discourages Work and Encourages Fraud; The Scourge of the Unemployed; Unemployment and Unemployment Benefits; The Business of Government; Government Failure; Improving Productivity by Downsizing; Welfare, Workfare, and Unemployment; The Twentieth Century Revolution in Technology and Social Structure; The Most Important Global Problem; Discouraging Job Growth; Misplaced Agricultural Support; Nuclear Waste Peril and Future Economic Costs; Impact and Future Role of the Internet; Stick Built Housing; American Income Distribution; Environmental Protection Quagmire; The American Worker; American Education; Law Enforcement Costs; Immigration and The Future of America; Economic Prospects and Challenges; CHAPTER 4: CLAIMS TO WORLD LEADERSHIP; The New America; America’s Business and Financial Leadership; America’s Identity Crisis; Fostering Food Adequacy and Supply; American Moral and Spiritual Leadership; Financial Management; The Making of Leaders; American Contradictions and Hypocrisy; Sovereignty and Human Rights; American Strengths and Weaknesses; CHAPTER 5: MANAGING AMERICAN LEADERSHIP; Impact of Technological Change; Ethnic Integration; The War on Terror; Deficits and Public Debt; America’s Leadership in Innovation; America’s Health Care Leadership; The Right to Leadership; Democracy in Action; Advancing Democracy; American Strengths and Weaknesses; CHAPTER 6: THE FUTURE OF WORLD LEADERSHIP; Challenging American Leadership; Growing Asian Dominance; Asian Road to Economic Success; America’s Mistaken Self-perception; America’s Economic Challenges; Impact of Globalization and Outsourcing on Economic Leadership; Factors