Sponsoring and Solving the Immigration Problem

I don't care what your politics is. If you're an American citizen, you simply cannot deny that the United States has a serious immigration problem. Understand that I don't mean the United States has a problem with immigrants.  It has a problem with how it manages its immigration. I doubt that anyone would dispute that the situation is out of control, with too many immigrants -- both good and bad -- flooding into the country without any means of documentation.Of course there are all kinds of political fingers pointing at policies and personalities, but that's not going to solve very much.  Neither is arresting an "illegal" and slapping him with a Notice to Appear in some courtroom literally seven years from the date of arrest. Care to take bets on how many will ever show up?The truth is that the entire system works backwards: At the moment, if you don't go through the system, you can stay and work in the United States for years -- even decades.  I know, because I live in Los Angeles and every second person I meet here is from somewhere else. On the other hand, if you do go through the system, you're most likely to accomplish only one thing, that being the hastening of your deportation back to your country of origin. This just happened to a young Salvadoran woman, who under questionable guidance, hired an attorney to grant her asylum her in the United States.  The only problem was that in order to qualify for asylum, one has to prove racial, political or sexual persecution -- or a variation thereof. And since she only claimed she lived in fear for her life due to criminals, the court denied her application.  They're going to boot her out quickly, despite her years of honest, faithful employment and good standing here in America.I don't know whether it's unfair or just stupid, but the law is the law, I suppose.  And yet, there's such a simple remedy for good, decent legal immigrants that's already been proven successful:It's called an Affidavit of Support and it works like this:  The immigrant contacts an American relative who agrees to sponsor the immigrant.  Essentially, the sponsor guarantees that the immigrant will not be a burden to the American taxpayer and will work faithfully on a path to citizenship through a minimum of 40 consecutive quarters (10 years) of gainful employment. The sponsorship is a binding contract between the sponsor and the American government, so this is no plaything.  It's ten years of legally-enforceable dedication.Sounds, reasonable, right?  A good person is worth your backing, is he not?  And this would aid the immigration services in weeding out "the bad guys," would it not?  Sure it would.  Except for one little hitch:Re-read that paragraph about the program.  Note that the sponsor must be a relative of the immigrant. He doesn't have to be a blood relative, but he has to be a family relative. I guess that leaves orphans out, along with millions of well-meaning immigrants who simply have no relatives here in the states.So how do you solve the immigration problem?  Simple:  You drop the requirement of the sponsor to be a relative.  After all, a binding contract with the United States government is just as binding.  And when it comes to supervision and enforcement, who better to keep an immigrant on the straight and narrow than someone who's on the hook to Uncle Sam?After the Second World War, my father immigrated to the United States through the sponsorship program.  Years later (see photo), he returned the favor for a distant Israeli cousin on my mother's side.  In both cases, the immigrants succeeded and the country was better off with a system that was both time and cost efficient.Makes you wonder why nobody is suggesting that one word edit, eh?  Well, maybe they're a lot less interested in solving the immigration problem than leveraging it for political gain.For more on Rob Frankel's branding, visit http://www.RobFrankel.com

Posted on: 13 March 2024 | 4:53 pm

The Death of Apple

I'm a long haul Apple user. Not just iPhone. I'm talking about desktops and laptops. I've been a Mac guy for decades and for the most part, I've been very pleased. Overall, however, I grieve for a once great company. One of the reasons I've always liked the Mac is that I seldom have had to rely on what Apple loosely terms "Customer Support." Originally, Apple Customer Service Representatives were highly motivated, knowledgeable, helpful and accessible. They could solve almost any problem by phone, cheerfully and authoritatively. For all I know, they may still be. But I don't know, because Apple does its best to shield customers from reaching them. And that's where Apple's Great Decline begins, because customer service is where the first tiny corporate cracks appear. In its revolutionary retail stores, Apple staffed it Genius Bars with kids who were anything but. Due to slave labor in China, most "repairs" became cheap enough to be "solved" by simple replacement. Nobody knew -- or had to know -- what went wrong with your machine, because Apple would have had to train people to know stuff like that. It was much more expedient and fiscally sensible to just grab a new widget off the shelf and be done with it. Any dummy can do that. And they did. Until Apple phased them out. Poof. For a while, Apple system upgrades were generally worthwhile, too, with each new version offering simpler, improved systems that performed more tasks. For years, Apple and Mac really were brands that made creativity more achievable through technology. Then Steve Jobs died and it all started sinking fast. The first noticeable sign was Apple's name change from "Apple Computer" to "Apple, Inc.", signaling its expansion into ancillary endeavors like phones, movie studios and automobiles. As such, the Mac OS sacrificed making things for buying things. It didn't take too long for desktops and laptops to decay into larger, heavier versions of iPhones, whose systems predictably merged into platforms with the same looks and feel, dumbed down for people to whom "thinking different" is difficult, because simply thinking is out of their realm. They just want to buy things with a point and click. These days, if you want to solve a problem, it's actually more difficult because Apple has buried everything under the hood, preventing users access to solving their issues on their own machines. Apple does its best to prevent you from calling them on the phone, suggesting instead that you "interact with others in "our Apple Support Communities" online. It's a great place, populated with more people with even more problems and almost no solutions. To make matters worse, if you utter anything that the lords of Apple find unfavorable, your comment is removed for "inappropriate content." Phrases as mild as "but nobody at Apple will respond" just burn up in the ethosphere, never to be seen again. Currently, Apple is anything but its founder's vision of making life simpler, elegant and more powerful. It wasn't tough to see it coming. That's why I keep a machine with ancient system software on it: If I'd upgraded when dictated to do so, I would have lost access to thousands of dollars worth of software with which it was incompatible. Apple's whim would have forced me to buy new hardware and software. Completely unacceptable corporate hubris. All of which is to say, unpopular as it may seem, that Apple's days are numbered. It's actually following the "three generations of wealth" axiom: The first generation creates it; the second generation spends it; the third generation loses it." If you disagree, just look at the history of General Motors, IBM, RCA and dozens of twentieth century brands that are either defunct or have disappeared. They were once the biggest companies in the world. Huge, hardy and undefeatable. Nobody ever expected their demise, either. That's because while fortunes are always won and lost, human nature remains constant. In the end, incompetence and greed always destroy great societies and powerful brands from within. Apple has built its mammoth, circular offices in Silicon Valley as a monument to itself, never realizing that Egyptian pharaohs built their own mausoleums, too. For more on Rob Frankel's branding, visit http://www.RobFrankel.com

Posted on: 7 February 2024 | 10:42 am

Ego Defeats Communism

 As the globalist hysteria wanes around the world -- and don't kid yourself, at the time of this writing it really is waning -- one can't help wondering as to why the socialist, communist and globalist agenda are falling flat on their faces.  Though history teaches us that the world is an ever-changing vortex, not everything shifts in the wind. Some things never change.And because they don't, changes are definitely on the way.Forget about which political party you hate. Ignore any candidate you favor. Because at the end of the day, neither is really important.  I'll tell you what's really important: Getting a glimpse of what a non-capitalistic society really looks like.Sure, we've all heard stories about the travails and travesties of Soviet communism.  Long lines at grocery stores. Miles of empty shelves. Years of waiting for mediocre goods and services. And the Chinese version isn't much better. The Chinese aren't exactly swimming in luxurious lifestyles, except if you complain about it, you disappear forever.  And let's not write off North Korea.  When it comes to starvation, you just can't beat 'em.But that's not what's keeping western socieites from embracing communism.  You know what it is keeping them from embracing it? Good old-fashioned, reliable, ego. Think I'm wrong? Take a look at this lovely little illustration.See that really dark blue? Those are exclusively western civilizations.  Every one of them is capitalist. See all those other countries?  They're not. Now total up the populations of those blue countries and you know what you get? That's right: a small minority of the world's population holding a disproportionate amount of wealth.  And I'm not talking about a little more than average.  I'm talking about a lot more than average.At the moment, there are eight billion dopey humans inhabiting this planet and less than 12% of them are dark blue.  The other 88% are swimming in their own filth, trudging to and from their huts to scratch out their daily bread in some miserable landscape.Yeah, that's where the globalists live.  That's how the globalists live.  Which means that if the World Economic Forum ever does achieve global domination, all those dark blue, Tesla-loving, vegan-bragging armchair socialists are going to take a huge hit in their standard of living. When they realize that a global redistribution of wealth would cut their $100,000 annual income down to an internationally equitable $4,000, their opinions start to change -- rapidly.Not sure I'm right?  Then explain to me why those same armchair socialists have begun reversing their "sanctuary city" status while complaining about all those illegal immigrating "refugees" littering their streets and filling up their hotels. Apparently, those dark blue backyards aren't quite as far off from globalist destruction as those armchair socialists thought.  Oh, there are lots of other reasons why socialism and communism will never win.  Some are human and some are just common sense. But all of them have one thing in common:  History may be fluid, but human behavior never changes. For more on Rob Frankel's branding, visit http://www.RobFrankel.com

Posted on: 15 December 2023 | 6:20 pm

Spinning Taiwan

At the time of this writing, the world is in a mess.  More of a mess, I'd say, than at any time since the Korean War, for sure.  It isn't that there are lots of countries engaged in kinetic conflict.  But it's definitely at a point where a lot of places are in a lot of flux.  A whole range of pots of simmering on the stove, all seemingly about to boil over.If you've been keeping up, you can list conflicts -- political, environmental and economic -- on just about every continent, with the possible exception of Antarctica, where penguins still worry about little more than the occasional orca.  Most of the world's conflicts are pretty generic, driven by stated and actual agenda, along with secret deals and ulterior motives.  One thing you can count on, however, is that they all come wrapped in the patriotism of each country's national flag. Every faction is sure that God is on its side, justifying whatever it is they plan on doing to the other, so most of these conflicts run by the same playbook.Well, almost all of them.  To me, the big exception is China and its plans for acquiring Taiwan. I suspect that one is not going to end the way most people think:The first thing you have to realize is that the clock is running, at least until 2024. That's not a political statement; that's just the way things are. I don't know anyone who thinks the world has been normal since 2020, either here in the United States or anywhere else on the planet.  We've all been through a lot in a relatively short period of time. But realistically, an election in the USA could signal a return to traditional politics just as quickly, which means every country, from Russia to China to France to the United Kingdom has only a limited time to get their agenda completed -- or not.China is not immune from this. It knows it has to move on the capture of Taiwan before the end of 2024, because that's the last time it can do so without firing a shot.  Here's how:First, realize that at least four generations have long since forgotten why Taiwan even exists.  They have no recollection of Chiang Kai Shek, Chinese history and the fact that Taiwan is actually a free country that rejected communism outright.  So for most of the world, there is no moral imperative to save Taiwan or its free society. Second, those who do know their history can point to the repatriation of Hong Kong, which also occurred without warfare:  The British colony simply handed over the keys to the Chinese and that was that. So what's the big deal about Taiwan?Third, and likely the most important, Taiwan, like Hong Kong, is really nothing more than a muscular ATM, dispensing cash to whomever owns it.  With the Chinese economy tanking, it needs as much revenue as it can muster, which means it has no intention of destroying Taiwan, but preserving its revenue-generating capacity. It's a gold mine and China wants that gold.Fourth, the rest of the world that depends on Taiwan's manufacturing doesn't want any interruption of its supply chain.  So they really don't care who owns Taiwan, as long as the chips and semi-conductors keep flowing.  To them, a non-violent takeover is a win/win situation.And the United States is going to let it happen with barely a yawn.Of course, there's going to be a heavy spin effort blasted at the American public and the world at large in order to justify the conquest.  My bet is that instead of this being reported as a "hostile takeover," the Biden administration will sell this as "a long overdue reunification of the sovereign Chinese people."  In fact, I'd bet that someone, somewhere will nominate Secretary of State Anthony Blinken for a Nobel Peace Prize citing his part in "the glorious reunification considered unimaginable just a few short years ago."Then everyone will get back to business.Think people won't buy it?  Depends who you ask and how many of them are getting their fourth booster shot.For more on Rob Frankel's branding, visit http://www.RobFrankel.com

Posted on: 27 July 2023 | 10:13 am

Where's the Beef?

One of the great advantages of being older is that you can draw on years of war stories: lessons you learned from personal experience rather than history books.  Don't get me wrong, history books are where I live most of the time, because I'm a confirmed believer in learning from other people's mistakes. But sometimes, there are mistakes made that simply don't appear in the history books. Sometimes, they occur for the first time ever, and if you're observant enough, you just might catch them as they happen. In fact, we're seeing one right now, in the case of imitation foods and they're inability to profitably sustain an ever-growing, ever-skeptical consumer population. Imitation food isn't itself that new.  Neither is the public's suspicion and rejection of it.  We've had everything from the "healthier alternatives" to disgusting facsimiles for almost a century (In fact, long ago, I wrote and recorded a song about it.  But that's another story).More to the point, media such as Bloomberg, The Washington  Post, Forbes, The New York Times, The Guardian and all the other usual suspects are, as of this writing, reporting another aspect of the imitation food sector that has rarely been reported:They're complete failures as investments.As it turns out, legions of financial overlords (including Bill Gates, proponent of reckless vaccines and the doom of humanity in general) are hemorrhaging cash in an industry that's bleeding red ink.  The public, it seems, has no appetite for beef flavored sawdust.But that's not the real story here. Here's what we're seeing that we've rarely, if ever, seen before:A lot of companies bet big money on the gloom and doom that they thought would propel the imitation food business. In fact, if you look really, really closely at the entire sector, you'll see that the entire industry is based on whim, speculation and, well, fashion. I've been in conference rooms where new business are launched.  I've watched projections, assumptions and recasts of spreadsheets, and this I guarantee you:Not one of these companies has ever had a business plan or a financially sound strategy.On the contrary, all of these companies thought they could ride a wave of social justice propaganda that they themselves would supply, in effect creating a category which they would instantly dominate. These are not your fathers' or grandfathers' businessmen building real products people can use.  These are not your former giants of industry creating useful machines of iron and steel.  These are over-funded, lazy and ignorant adolescent  fashionistas raised on a few decades of overnight fortunes amassed from software, apps and tech.  More typically, these types of enterprises are created with little or no discipline and absolutely no regard for the end user.  Whether it's technology or meatless patties, the usual attitude is "they'll eat what we feed them." The next step is to create a mirage of success by paying for wide distribution, creating the illusion of public acceptance. The third step is to set up straw man competitors to further the myth of consumer demand.  The fourth step, of course, is to manage consolidation of companies through cash buyouts and dump the stock for a hefty profit.Does that sound smart to you?  Or really stupid? Well, in this case, it's beginning to look really stupid, Because like so many other undisciplined, failing non-businesses (Peleton comes to mind), these profit-at-any-cost hedge-funds are dying on this hill They're finding out the hard way that whether it's fake eggs, lab grown chicken or estrogen-loaded soy milk, you can't fool all of the people all of the time. Which has left Bill Gates and his hedge fund cronies with a very bad taste in their mouths.For more on Rob Frankel's branding, visit http://www.RobFrankel.com

Posted on: 23 June 2023 | 1:38 pm

Newsom versus Trump, 2024

If you're wondering what the Democrats have up their sleeves for 2024, I'm going to speculate that their nominee is Gavin Newsom from California. Here's why: 1. Newsom is Nancy Pelosi's nephew. Her inter-married families have ruled California for the last 60+ years (Google "Brown-Pelosi-Getty-Newsom California" to learn that history). Now they're going for the brass ring. Nancy will use everything she has to put Newsom in contention for the presidency of the United States. 2. At this writing, the only Democrat in the field other than Joe Biden is Robert Kennedy Jr., who is, by all accounts, a flash in the pan. He entered the race way too early, and my guess is that by the later part of 2023, his one-note sonata will have run out of gas. Yes, the vaccines were bad. Yes, their purveyors are criminals. No, neither he nor anyone else is going to do anything about it. Other than that, RFK has no domestic or international agenda. 3. Joe Biden, by all acounts, is senile. Even the Democrats want him out, but shudder to imagine Kamala Harris in the White House, so they're content to hold that off. 4. Between Senile Joe and RFK, Newsom can and will be positioned as the "reasonable alternative" as the public will forget all the damage he's done to his home state. All of that won't matter, because the Dems will be left with no choice other than Newsom -- Pelosi will see to that. And just in case you were wondering if Newsom can attract less radcial Democrats, I humbly submit that Newsom is a white male, which never hurts. This may explain why we're currently seeing Newsom taking shots at Ron DeSantis, not Trump. By doing so, Newsom is attempting to elevate himself to presidential levels. If this plays out as I think it will, we'll see Trump run against Newsom, with Newsom leveraging the Never-Trump faction against Trump's twin agenda of domestic/foreign accomplishments and Newsom's mismanagement of California. There are some who believe the Trump has run out of steam. There are those who believe Newsom could really win. I imagine those are the same people who buy Bud Light at Target. For more on Rob Frankel's branding, visit http://www.RobFrankel.com

Posted on: 8 June 2023 | 1:35 pm

The Lost Art of Initiative

I'm older. I get it. I can tell I'm older, because I'm acting my age, regaling in the camaraderie of others who drench themselves in the nostalgia of their youth and wonder how things ever got so messed up. In fact, the only thing that keeps me balanced is recalling how my parents looked at my generation and thought the same things. Still, I'm just as tired of hearing young people whine about everything as you probably are. Mostly, it's their inability to meet potential life partners, but it seems that since the invention of the play date, kids have grown up expecting things to be served up to them. To most of them, swiping left or right can determine their Saturday night plans. Pointing and clicking not only lays a world of options at their feet, but enables expectations that are wholly unrealistic and somewhat depressing. When the internet became real (I use 1998 as the date), it held a lot of promise about connectivity, open resources and the freedom of access to information. I was there. I recall the rush of excitement of not only global reach, but instant global reach, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. But the one thing nobody saw coming ended up crippling an entire generation of humanity: The internet destroyed initiative. It turns out that when you lay the world at people's feet, they start expecting you to, well, lay the entire world at their feet. When they're just a screen away from getting results, they begin to think that life is an instant set of search results. They stop asking questions. They stop wondering. It doesn't occur to them to object to anything. They cease developing their innate hunting skills in favor of leaning back and waiting for their next request to be fulfilled. People often ask me why the world is in "such bad shape." I tell them the world isn't in bad shape at all. Everything we had before 1998 is still there. It's just that a generation lacks the initiative to get out there and hunt for real answers to real questions that suits their own real interests. If you settle for what Google tells you is the answer, you deserve what you get: an unfulfilled life. Think I'm kidding? Take a look at some of the confused, irrational and downright impossible policies that are being proposed, passed and enforced by the people in charge of your local, state and Federal government. People who just a few short years ago had no problem defining what a woman is or understanding that you can't ban airplanes or diesel-powered ships and still get to Hawaii mostly grew up in the age of point and click. This whole issue was brought to a head when I overheard some young guys bemoaning their frustrations with dating. Hey, let's face it: every generation moaned about meeting someone. But these young men use dating apps and dating websites and just about anything else that could charge a monthly fee, and none of them was meeting anyone. That's when I asked them about taking some initiative. "Are you going out there? Are you hunting for these women or just sitting around? Are you dressed like a winner or a loser? Even at the grocery store, you need to be on the lookout. You have no idea how many people fall in love in the produce section!" While that piqued their interest, they responded lethargically: "Yeah, but where are we supposed to go?" At this point, my being helpful got charged with my own frustration: "Just be an interesting young man and if she's of interest to you, ask her along! To Museums! Art galleries! Parks! Theaters! Bars! Clubs! Grocery stores! Nature hikes! Just walking down the street! Say hello! Make conversation! For crying out loud, you want me to fuck her for you, too?" It might be the most Old Dad thing I've ever yelled. For more on Rob Frankel's branding, visit http://www.RobFrankel.com

Posted on: 30 April 2023 | 12:26 pm

Faux Authority

It's now gotten to the point where I've been around for a lot longer than i'd care to admit. For a time in my career, I was the youngest voice in the room. And then one day I realized the situation had flipped and I was now the Voice of Experience. That realization came as somewhat of a shock, but on balance, it was rewarding news, mainly because at that point, I could look back and know I was right about one of my most basic tenets: Rejecting unauthorized authority. Even as a kid -- and much to my parents' frustration -- I'd always questioned any kind of authority. It wasn't my thinking I was smarter than everyone. I'm not. It was more about questioning what and who qualified these authorities and granted them such power. As such, I never went through a typical rebellious phase. I was much worse. I went through a questioning phase. One that seemingly still hasn't ended. At first it was relegated to simple observations, rooted in youthful resentment. I never liked being told what to do, but really disliked who was telling me to do it. I could understand the earned respect and authoritative voices of proven talents. What I couldn't tolerate was an ever-growing universe filled with posers and opportunists. Among my first suspects were clergymen and teachers, whom I realized had no moral, intellectual or educational value that qualified them to dispense any kind of comment with any type of authority. Indeed, it seemed that the very reason they chose to become clergymen and teachers was their own inability to garner and earn the respect of their peers in their personal lives. By simply walking into their occupations, these clergymen and professors wrapped themselves in a built-in pre-supposition of respect and authority. They didn't have to earn authority -- it came with the job. I found this model fascinating. And the more I looked around, the more poser authorities I found. Most were where you'd expect them to be: law enforcement, the judicial system, religion, financial advisors, psychologists -- even the crossing guards in front of the local grade schools. All imbued with a faux sense of authority granted to them by a diploma, firearm or some other badge proudly pinned to their egos as one who must be obeyed. The more you look, the worse it gets. Sadly, the permeation of disingenuous authority has led to a widespread acceptance of faux authority, and that's not good. Almost anyone can pose as an authority on almost any topic and pass as a knowledgable resource on whom others form their own opinions. In this age of non-accountability, few are held culpable when their claims are proven false, or worse yet, cause people serious mental and physical damage. It's not hard to connect the dots from the empty promises of faux authority with stories about mentally unbalanced, violently frustrated people: These are people who have been told to obey their faux authorities' commands, and having obeyed, explode with rage when they discover no reward in having done so. Nothing incites quite as much rage as having discovered one's been played for a fool. Faux authority has not only destabilized the gullible, it's also spawned the rise of fear porn, in which breaking news is nothing more than fallacious claims, usually baseless and fictional, but offered up by faux authorities on television, internet and social media. The most often-use formula of faux authorities is faux data sprinkled mixed with faux logic, in which cherry-picked data and combined with expert opinions to convincingly predict more doom and gloom. For crying out loud, even the Daily Racing Form warns you that “past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.” Is there any chance of defeating faux authoritarianism? Of course, and it's far easier than you think: Think for yourself. Question authority at every juncture. You'll find your challenges will deflate faux authorities quickly and efficiently, while securing and enhancing your own authority over your own personal freedom. But don't take my word for it. In fact, don't take anyone's word for it. For more on Rob Frankel's branding, visit http://www.RobFrankel.com

Posted on: 2 April 2023 | 9:43 am

The Myth of Libertarianism

As she sipped her latté, the woman announced with pride that while she was conservative, she was certainly not a Republican. Perhaps hoping that nobody would call her out, she confidently proclaimed, "I'm a Libertarian." I can't help it. Sometimes I'm just in a mood, and sensing her millimeter's depth of political knowledge, I couldn't resist asking her exactly what being a Libertarian entailed. To be candid, half of me really wanted to know, but to be completely candid, I really sniffed an incoming crock of bat dung coming my way. I was not disappointed. "And what," I inquired, "makes you a Libertarian?" She took a thoughtful drag on her cigarette and striking her most intellectual pose, began her treatise. "I'm just not aligned with any political party. After all, they're both really the same. I'm of the view that people should be able to act independently as long as they don't hurt anyone else." Well, that sounded simple enough. She prattled on a bit more, tossing her word salad with phrases such as laissez-faire and anti-statism. Before long, it was clear this woman was the human equivalent of a poorly trained myna bird, with almost no understanding of any topic at all. "I think people should be left alone, without any government interference," seemed to be her favorite platitude. That's when I stopped her in order to ask a question: "What about abortion?" I figured I'd start with the toughest example and ease up from there. "What do you mean?" she asked. "Well," I began, "Seems to me that if you're pro-life, you'd be against abortion." She disagreed with that. She insisted that preserving a woman's right to an abortion was consistent with the Libertarian rejection of authoritarianism. "Interesting," I responded. "If you were truly LIbertarian, wouldn't you leave the decision up to the baby, rather than inflict your authority over another person?" She didn't like that. "Another thing puzzles me," I continued. "Legally, if a woman chooses to have the baby, the father is on the hook for child support. He has no say as to whether to abort or not, correct?" "Correct," she replied. "Okay," I replied. "But if that's the case, if she makes the decision against the father's will, is she not imposing her will on him? And wouldn't that fly in the face of Libertarianism?" She had no response to that one, but it didn't matter. I was just getting started. "Further," I queried, "Libertarians believe taxation is theft. But they also believe a minimal government is obligated to defend its country. How is a government supposed to pay for the military and law enforcement if it doesn't levy taxes?" She answered that one with another, long, silent drag on her cigarette. "And that's the fallacy of Libertarianism, "I lectured. "It's purely selfish and completely amoral. It kicks fiscal realities down the road and leaves moral and ethical questions unanswered. Whether you like it or not, the question of one's liberalism or conservatism isn't one of politics; it's a question of ethics and morality. That's why conservative people tend to be religious and theist, while liberals and Libertarians tend to be areligious and atheistic. Libertarians reject all forms of authority in favor of self-centered individualism. But a society of individuals is not a society at all. A society, especially a free one, is glued together by common values, ethics and morals. And that's why Libertarianism is myth. No society or country can survive as such." I stepped off my soapbox feeling pretty good about myself. "So which are you -- liberal or conservative?" "I don't know," she mused. "I'll have to think about it." "And that," I smiled sincerely, "is the wisest thing you've ever said." For more on Rob Frankel's branding, visit http://www.RobFrankel.com

Posted on: 22 March 2023 | 4:33 pm

Sound as a Dollar

At the time of this writing, if you listen to any media, you're convinced that the world is about to end and that the United States -- as we once knew it -- will cease to exist.  Pundits the world over are selling clicks and ads as they conflate a myriad of events that in reality, seem to suggest that everything is inextricably tied together through cause, correlation or both.  Front and center is the usual conclusion that "this means the end of the dollar as the world's reserve currency."But is really? As I've mentioned so many times previously, I'm just a brand strategy guy, but throughout my career, I've managed to untangle some of the worst commercial spaghetti in order to get a clear view of what's happening and more importantly, what's not happening.  So how about we take a giant step back and look at the situation from the 100,000 foot level, high above the media spin of manufactured crises?At the time of this writing, we've seen a bunch of really stupid banks make really stupid decisions, resulting in their being dissolved and their assets being sold off at bargain prices.  Bad news for them, good news for the buying banks, who are buying healthy, performing assets for as little as 20¢ on the dollar.  Believe me, if I could walk through life doing that, I'd be building houses out of gold bars.  Another result of the Biden incompetence is that the previously artificially inflated Fed rates have dropped like a brick, so while not as low as they once were, at least some home and car loans are more affordable.So what does that mean for the good old U.S. dollar?  If you listen to the media, they'd have you believe that China, Russia, the Middle East and just about every other not-so-friendly region is taking advantage of the situation to destabilize the dollar as the world's reserve currency.  Really?For the those unfamiliar, the phrase world reserve currency means that  no other country on the planet trusts the value or stability of any other country on the planet. So when France does business with Zmibabwe, they both agree to conduct the transaction in U.S. dollars.  There's more than one reason for that, but among the top few are:1. The United States of America is the most politically stable country in the world.2.  The United States is the most physically secure country in the world.3.  The United States is the most economically powerful country in the world. If you find those hard to believe, ask yourself why virtually all the gold reserves owned by virtually every other country is stored in the United States, either in the New York gold depository or Fort Knox. Transferring hard assets like gold is not like breaking up with your girlfriend -- you don't just show up with a pick up truck to move your gold back home.And if you haven't been paying attention, the sworn mortal enemy of the United States, the Chinese Communist party, has been dumping their ill-gotten gains into American real estate for years. And they're not doing it to have a nice summer home.  They're actually overpaying for the opportunity because they know their currency is an unstable as a propped-up currency gets.  That's why they buy dollars and then dump them into real, tangible performing American assets like real estate.Additionally, let's add in the notion that the United States is really, really difficult to invade.  It's bordered by two expansive oceans and two "friendly" weak nations who depend on us for their existence. Every other non-North American country is bordered by at least one other country of whom they're suspicious, if not downright hostile toward.So where does this leave us? Well, this is the brand strategist talking again, and here's the long play as I see it:In the short term, China, Russia, the Saudis, North Korea, the entire continents of Asia, sub-Asia and Africa will rattle their sabers as they mock the Biden impotence. But if history is any indication, that won't last long. OPEC has been brought to its knees more than once. Embargoes usually fail. Alliances get undercut by backroom chicanery. And through it all, the United States remains the land of plenty.  Plenty of energy, food, and natural resources for a self-sustaining economy.So after the kids are finished and the adults take the wheel, everyone will come running back to the dollar as the world's reserve currency.  And old Uncle Sam, if he's smart, will re-establish domestic industries and programs, and will have learned the simple lesson that even Dorothy had to learn from experience:There's no place like home.For more on Rob Frankel's branding, visit http://www.RobFrankel.com

Posted on: 20 March 2023 | 12:35 pm

Messy Hair & Busted Banks

As is so often the case, I found myself in a political conversation.  This time with someone who was expressing her dislike for former British Prime Minster Boris Johnson. "Ugh," she grimaced, "I would never support him.  He's awful."I found that intriguing. "And which of his policies, "I queried, " do you find so objectionable?" My question was followed by stunned silence. I waited.  And waited. After a minute or so, I couldn't resist:"You have no idea of ANY of his policies, do you? You just don't like that he's fat and his hair is a mess."Her sheepish grin indicated I was right on the money. She's an American. She doesn't follow British foreign or domestic affairs. But she does watch American mainstream news, which displays large, bright publicity photos which constantly confirm that Boris Johnson truly is one unpleasant-looking man. But no matter how disheveled he appears, can it be that people really form their opinions on such little, irrelevant information?Sadly, the answer seems to be yes. Too many people don't take the time to understand what's happening or why it's happening. They simply eat what the mainstream news serves up -- which is often painfully misguided.  And nowhere is this more true than the latest (March, 2023) banking turmoil afflicting the United States (and echoing around the planet). Allow me to explain, because no doubt, you're going to find yourself in a similar situation, where you have to educate and explain about banks and their failures:The first thing people need to know is how the American banking system works, which is unlike anything you and I practice as private citizens. American banks make profits by lending out money. They lend the money their customers (depositors) entrust with their savings. The banks pay the depositors, say 2% interest on those deposits and they charge 6% to borrowers for loans.  That's a 4% profit margin, right? Wrong.As private citizens, you and I can't lend out more money than we have. But thanks to government reserve requirements, Federally chartered banks can lend out up to five times the amount of money they possess.  That's right, banks need only 20% of the money on hand to lend out five times that amount in loans.  Multiply the aforementioned 4% by five and now you can see why banking is such a great business. The reasons why this system is in place are as follows: First, the system relies on creditworthiness of borrowers to pay back loans, so nobody really is taking real cash out of any accounts.  They're making promises to pay the loans back and they usually do -- or suffer harsh consequences.  Second, as long as the creditworthiness holds out, lending five times as much money as you have accelerates economic growth:  more loans to more businesses means more people do more business -- generating more taxable revenue. Third, the Federal government tries to assuage depositors' fears by insuring each account's total deposits up to US$250,000.As precarious as it may sound, most of that works just fine -- most of the time.  Every so often, however, bankers may be greedy or just plain stupid -- or both.  And that's when things go south very quickly.  This aptly describes the geniuses at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the piggy bank of some of the most reckless tech investors in the world.  Here's what happened:If you didn't know, SVB is centered in the heart of the most woke, left-leaning, well-monied community in the country. These are people who, like my friend above, donate and support political candidates pretty much based on what little they know politically.  They're the same with their investments. And most of the time, it works for them.  Remember that 20% reserve requirement? Well, like so many other bankers, the masterminds at SVB decided that simply holding that 20% in cash seemed awfully tempting.  After all, that 20% represented billions of dollars and it seemed a shame not to invest it.  So like other banks, when interest rates of Federal Treasury notes (bonds) started inching up from zero to 1.9%, SVB scooped up as many as they could find, telling depositors that these were safe, low-risk, government bonds.  To anyone not paying attention, that probably sounded like a smart move after so many years of interest rates being near zero.  And that's where the problems started.  It sounded like a smart move. Because nobody knew enough to question it. The big secret about "safe" bonds is that nobody holds them to maturity. They buy bonds hoping future rates will go down, making their bonds more valuable to sell at a profit.But this time, it didn't:  Because within a few months, all those bonds paying 1.9% were eclipsed by bonds paying well over 3%, which rendered those 1.9% jobs practically worthless.  SVB couldn't unload those bonds to anyone, because everyone was busy buying higher rate bonds.  Pretty soon, when SVB customers tried to withdraw cash from their accounts, there was no cash was available. Not for bills, payroll, or anything else.Some people were told not to worry, because the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insured their accounts up to US$250,000.  That was all well and good until the bank revealed that only 2.5% of deposit accounts were valued at US$250,000 or less.  The rest of the depositors' accounts -- some 97.5% --  far exceeded that amount, ranging into the millions and even multi-millions.Poof.  Gone. And that's when the state and the Feds closed down the bank.At the time of this writing, nobody knows for sure how or when SVB will be bailed out. If recent history is any indication, ignorance, mediocrity and stupidity will create a program that will funnel your tax dollars into a program designed to save a severely corrupted system.  Nobody will be held accountable. And the people and politicians who knowingly allowed it to happen will likely suffer no consequences.But at least now you know what happened and why.  Maybe that will teach people that when making really important decisions, there are many more important issues to consider than, say, messy hair.For more on Rob Frankel's branding, visit http://www.RobFrankel.com

Posted on: 13 March 2023 | 1:55 pm

The Speakeasy

"You may remove your blindfolds now," said the man in a calm, gentle voice.  "Once again, my apologies for the drama, but I think you'll understand their necessity as the evening progresses."  We removed our blindfolds and found ourselves standing together in a group before a maitre d' impeccably dressed in a black tuxedo with a red rose bud tacked neatly to his lapel. "Please," he smiled as he gathered up our blindfolds, "follow me to your table.  I think you'll find we have a lovely spot for you, right in front of the picture window."The first thing I noticed was how amazingly tranquil the place was. Not completely silent, but other than the low murmur of distant conversations at the other tables and the occasional clinking of glasses, the place was remarkably quiet.  Very relaxing. Even the lighting was soft and warm. We followed the maitre d' as he glided across the lush carpeting to our table, which was exactly as he promised: Six upholstered dinner chairs surrounding a linen cloth covered table, at the center of which was a small crystal bowl arranged with a small bouquet of freshly cut flowers."Your host will be here directly," he intoned as we took our seats. "In the meantime, may I offer you a drink?" We were halfway through our order when our host greeted us with a smile. "Well," he grinned as he took his seat, "what do you think?"I have to admit, we were impressed. The view out the picture window overlooked a vast, green valley that swept down to the bay. On the horizon, miles away, city lights twinkled through the twilight as the sun set behind them.  In just a few moments, the entire sky was a gradation of blues.  We could feel how special this was going to be."Romantic, isn't it?" asked our host. "You know, there was a time when all the good places were like this. Super classy. Not so much anymore, am I right? Just a wonderful place to be...and wait until you taste the food. Incredible." We tried to remain polite, but it didn't take long until one of us had to inquire: "What's this placed called?" I asked.  Our host smiled and looked at each of us intently.  "It has no name," he quietly answered. "It has no address and it doesn't take credit cards. Very few people even know about it.  You should be honored to be here."I immediately began questioning things in my mind.  How can a place this large and luxurious maintain any kind of secrecy?  There were staff, waiters, bartenders, bellhops, concierges -- a veritable army of employees.  Finally, I broke the silence and asked what everyone else was thinking.  "How can something like this remain hidden?"Our host leaned back and took a sip of his 30 year old scotch. "It's a product of, shall we say, natural selection.  Look around this room. What do you see?  Men in jackets and ties.  Women in dresses.  Children sitting attentively, having conversations with their parents."  He leaned forward in his chair. "You won't hear someone else's loud music blaring in your ears and you won't see people shoplifting napkin rings from their tables. Everyone here wears sensible shoes. They dress respectfully and act appropriately toward one another. Everyone here actually appreciates this place and realizes that if its existence ever became public knowledge, the government would open it up to the public, which would close it down immediately."In that moment, we all knew why we'd been blindfolded. We all knew that we must have been screened and judged worthy of membership."This is why," he continued, "nobody knows anyone else's name and nobody can pay their tab with credit cards.  The entire operation is 100% undetectable -- as it should be."  He waited a beat, raised his glass and smiled once more. "Welcome," he toasted, "to the last vestige of civilization."I'm pretty sure we were all taken aback by his revelation, but in fact, the entire meal was less about the food than it was about a lost dimension of reality.  The more we looked about, the more we noticed that nobody was on his phone.  In fact, there were no screens of any kind to be found anywhere. It was almost as if the evening has been suspended in time, where every word of conversation could be considered and every drop of wine could be savored. There was no place we had to be; no reason for interruption.  It was, in a word, glorious.Our host looked at us.  "There was a time when places like this flourished out in the open. Anyone who could afford the experience was welcomed. Of course, that was before anything and everything was attacked as being exclusionary.  The forces that govern us determined those places had to open their doors to anyone at any time. It didn't take too long for all of them to deteriorate into the kinds of places where people steal, shout over their loud music and engage in fist fights.  Not too long after, all of those places closed down."He smiled thoughtfully and looked down at his drink.  "Oddly, the very people who demanded access are the very ones who destroyed it.  A shame, really. In any event, now you know the reason for all the drama and the secrecy. In time, we may approve you as members and you may visit us again. For now, think of us like the speakeasies during Prohibition. That lasted about ten years and then the country came back to its senses. So for now, we're here, but we're not here -- at least not until the climate improves."The rest of the dinner was just as remarkable.  The conversations was good, the desserts even better.  As we rose from the table to leave, the maitre d' appeared and handed each of us our blindfolds. Donning them securely as we entered the limousine, we all knew we'd experienced a visit to long-forgotten civilization. We'd taken a trip back through time, when life was a series of honor and challenges, respect and rewards.We'd been to the mountain top and liked what we saw. We knew we'd come back. Until then, we'd vigilantly guard the secret and work for a better day -- knowing that millions more like us had already made their reservations.For more on Rob Frankel's branding, visit http://www.RobFrankel.com

Posted on: 3 February 2023 | 1:32 pm

You Can Stop Apologizing Now

At the time of this writing, it's Labor Day in the United States.  To the uneducated, the day marks the end of summer vacations and backyard barbecues; yet another day off as guaranteed by the Federal government. To the more respectful, the day celebrates the hard, often anguishing efforts of the men and women who, with their bare hands, keen minds and powerful machinery, built this country into the most powerful and prosperous nation this planet has ever known.No doubt you've heard the litanies of praise lavished on labor. I won't bore you with sophomoric glorifications.  Just take a look at everything from Hoover Dam to the moon landing to highways, bridges and nuclear medicine therapies.  In fact, look anywhere and everywhere and you'll find that American labor has touched and improved every single aspect of your life. But that's not what I'm focused on today.  Here's what fascinates me:Take a nice, long look at that map of the world. That's a lot of people living on the entire land mass of the planet:  roughly 200 million square miles. Of that, western civilization -- the stuff and culture that's made your life so wonderful -- covers a minor fraction of that. And on that minor fraction, a minor fraction of the planet's population, specifically Western Europe and the continental United States (marked in red, above), are responsible for virtually all of the philosophical, practical and scientific advancements that have driven world prosperity up and world poverty levels down.Now look at the other 90% of the planet.  The parts that aren't in red. Larger continents.  Greater populations. Varying climates.  Immense stores of natural resources. From the 100,000 foot level, you have to ask yourself why would the vast majority of human advances -- what we refer to as western civilization -- emerge from such a small fraction of the planet?You can analyze this question from almost any angle, but chances are that fear is going to prevent you from accepting the only actual, rationally based answer:  Western culture is simply structured differently and not everyone gets it. Let me be blunt: The key to the success of western civilization has nothing to with race, although there are lots of ignorant people who would like to think so. No, the key to the success of western civilization is its core cultural values: productivity, efficiency, betterment and industry.  The culture, being as successful as it is, may have been founded in a region populated by white people, but those people never excluded anyone from participating in its success. In fact, their systems of capitalism actually welcomed them, because the watchwords for western civilization are "the more, the merrier."  Western civilization just gets better for everyone in direct proportion to the number of people who embrace it.  Capitalists call this "growth," and for the most part, growth delivers more benefits at lower prices, making it more accessible to those regions who couldn't come up with this stuff themselves.And yet, there are morons who seem to think that prosperity is a function of racism.  Nope.Holding hands, singing Cumbaya and handing out participation trophies may be popular in universities and children's soccer leagues, but it has no place in western societies. Don't believe me? Fine.  Do your own research.  See who's invented what and how they changed the entire world, not just their own.  Are the majority of them white? Oh well, that just how it goes and has been going for centuries with virtually no barrier to entry for anyone choosing to get in the game. And if you doubt that, learn some history.  Find out about the non-white successes who embraced the system instead of sitting on the side of the road with their hands out.Those are the facts. It's just not politically correct to say so.So if you're a product of western civilization, for God's sake, stop apologizing for being a part of a system that's made the world a better place for everyone, for hundreds of years.  It's a proud, industrious and accomplished heritage; one whose detractors consist of little more than jealous, lazy whiners.Happy Labor Day.For more on Rob Frankel's branding, visit http://www.RobFrankel.com

Posted on: 5 September 2022 | 10:39 am

The Pony in the Room

There's an old joke about a man who offers two kids a free pony, the only condition being that they have to get the pony out of a room where it's behind a closed door.  The kids open the door to find the room is filled with horse shit six feet high.  The first kid frowns and says, "I knew it was a trick," while the second kid plunges forth, burrowing through the manure. The first watches his friend and asks,, "Are you crazy? What are you doing?" to which the second kid answers, "There's got to be a pony in here somewhere!"Believe me, my crystal ball is probably no more accurate than yours, but back in November, 2020, I wrote a lot about how things in the United States were going to slide from good to bad to horrible in a short amount of time. A lot of people made that call, because judging from the people who took office, it wasn't a particularly tough call to make.  Citizens moaned and people cried.  But that's where most them stopped.I didn't.Being an eternal optimist, I immediately started looking for the pony. Yes, the economy was going to get wrecked, so to avoid getting dragged down into the abyss, the first thing I did was sell off non-performing assets, while keeping the dividend-paying equities. The second thing I did was to start hoarding cash. Not just to mitigate the effects of any upcoming crash (which actually occurred in June 2022), but also to prepare for the moment when anything and everything would be selling at fire sale prices.It's called a "buying opportunity," and my wait wasn't very long.If you've been living under a rock since 2008, you may not know that the American economy has been kept afloat by the Federal Reserve keeping money cheap and easy to get. They did that by keeping interest rates low. As a result, buying stuff became super affordable, so people kept buying stuff and the economy boomed. And then November, 2020, happened.  All of a sudden, every wrong decision that could deliberately be made about the American economy was indeed made, and the downward spiral began. The party was over. There wasn't enough product to buy, so prices on product that was out there -- fuel, housing, and food shortages -- starting going up.Traditionally, the antidote to inflation is for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates, which would have slowed the economy and lowered prices.  Unfortunately, the folks in charge didn't realize that tactic only works in a free economy, not in a system where arbitrary policies counter every market behavior known to man. Apparently, over 65% of the current administration has never run a business or held a job outside government, so there's no mystery there.Which brings us to the moment I've been waiting for.As interest rates rise, employment drops and money tightens, one of the biggest fire sales you've ever seen is going to open for business.  Just watch as people who thought they could afford that house or that car face up to the reality that there's no way they can afford either.  They'll be forced to sell, and not at any kind of profit, because there will be lots of houses and cars and big ticket items on the market, all being sold by owners who no longer have the means to pay for them -- because they're no longer employed. In fact, there will be tons of stuff marked way, way down, only to be scooped up by those who have the cash for a sweet, quick, below-market deal.Remember all those people whining about housing not being affordable? All those complainers moaning about stock prices being too high? All those miscreants who figured they were one diversity program away from prosperity?  Well, you can tell them their time is coming, too.  Everything is about to go on sale. America is going on sale.  The inclusive buying opportunity is almost upon us, where everyone gets to scoop up the bargains.Get ready.  It's time to pony up.For more on Rob Frankel's branding, visit http://www.RobFrankel.com

Posted on: 3 August 2022 | 7:43 pm

My Trip to the Voting Booth

At the time of this writing, it's election time in California. So on the advice from one of my friends, I decided to junk the mail-in ballot and vote in person at the local polling station. It was the first time in decades that I didn't vote by absentee ballot. After locating my local polling place, I walked into the cafeteria at Valley College to do my part for American democracy. I was greeted by at least 20 signs in 30 different languages, each one attempting to direct voters of every race, color and creed on how and what to do next.  It was early in the voting period, and while there must have been close to 50 voting machines, there were just a few people actually voting. I took a long look around. "Boy, a lot has changed since I last voted in a booth," I thought to myself. And from what I could tell, these were not changes for the better. Not that I'm by any means an expert, but I spent a lot of my career nurturing information technology clients in Silicon Valley, so I have just enough knowledge about this stuff to be dangerous. Nevertheless, I can tell you without reservation that everything I observed pretty much confirmed the viability of every theory of voting fraud I've ever heard. Stick with me, because this is not what you think.To begin with, it's clear the voting machines were designed to foster the notion that we're still using "printed ballots." We're not. Oh, you're handed a paper ballot, but that hardly matters, because all your voting is done by touch screen.  By touching the screen, you're sending a digital signal that can be stored, transmitted, read, altered or eliminated by anyone, anywhere along the way from vote cast to vote count. The "printed ballot" is nothing but a prop. The real data is encoded when you select your choices and hit the "Submit your ballot" button on the screen. The digital stuff not only manages and records your votes' values, but also draws your votes really beautifully on the paper. The fact that it looks as good as it does confirms that your choices were digitally translated and designed according to the voting machine's layout program.  So no matter what the polling people tell you, your votes were digitally encoded the second you cast them.After you vote, the machine lets you inspect the printed piece of paper to confirm your choices, but then it insists that you feed it back into the machine, ostensibly so it can be tallied. I say ostensibly, because the digital information has already been trapped by the machine and could be anywhere on the internet.  Which led me to the following question:Why even bother with a printed ballot, unless you want people to believe they're really voting with a paper ballot?  There's no way anyone other than a highly-trained techno-professional could tell what's being transmitted where, but I can tell you this much: Throughout the entire experience, people's phones were going off all over the place, which means the facility was not RF protected, and that any digital device from cell phones to bluetooth modems could have been sending anything, anywhere, at any given time. Not exactly high security. Especially when you consider that most courthouses block RF frequencies in order to keep their proceedings secure. That's why you can't use your phone in a lot of trials. Heck, even music concerts have wireless blocking technology to keep audiences from streaming the shows to their friends in real time on Facebook or Instagram. But your local polling place has nothing. It's wide open for anyone to intercept anything. Overall, my visit didn't do much to instill much trust in the system. In fact, it only increased my concerns about the integrity of our election systems.  I don't know if the game is rigged, but I do know that Josef Stalin was on to something when he mused how getting votes isn't nearly as important as counting them. For more on Rob Frankel's branding, visit http://www.RobFrankel.com

Posted on: 3 June 2022 | 11:22 pm

The Myth of Growth Stocks

Let me start this off by saying that I am not a financial advisor.  I hold no certificates. No degrees in finance. No authorizations from the SEC or anyone else. I'm just a man who looks at stuff and wonders why nobody else questions anything, including investments.  And here's what I've found:Everyone is getting head faked.At the time of this writing, it seems that everything in the world is going to hell in a hand basket. If you listen to the media, you're getting some pretty heavy blood-letting in your portfolio. So the first thing you have to do is what every healthy, red-blooded American should be doing every day: ignore the media. Financial reporters have no idea of how, why or where to invest.  They simply repeat what the last guy reported on another channel, then go home to the wife and kids.The second thing you need to do is look at the calendar:  If you're over 50, you have no business being in any kind of growth stocks.  Sound unreasonable? Not really. Because growth stocks are a huge head fake.  They're nothing but air until you sell them.  Most people strut around with their financial statements, bragging about how they bought low and now -- would you just look at how high this thing went?  What they don't realize is that there's nothing there.  That's why the IRS classifies that as unrealized gains. Until you sell them, those gains are nothing.Talk to people whose growth stocks crashed in 2008, 2020 and again in 2022. Sure they bought low.  Then they watched them go high.  A few years later, they all cratered and all that was left was a few years of nothing. At the time of this writing, Amazon, Tesla, Twitter, Target, WalMart and a slew of other media sweethearts have lost about 30% of their value, dragging down all those "well-managed mutual funds" with them.If you're going to invest in equities, understand the basics:  When the American stock market was invented in the late 18th century, it had one purpose:  profit sharing.  That's it. A company needed capital, you gave them some and they paid you dividends. Simple.  The only reason why share prices rose was that shares in any company were limited in number -- just like today. If you coveted shares in a company but couldn't find them, you'd have to offer a shareholder a premium over what he paid and voilå: you owned those shares. Hence the notion of "growth stocks." But equity shares were never meant to be traded as a means of investment, because trading shares isn't investment -- it's speculation with odds even less reliable than those in Las Vegas.  You're essentially praying for a growth stock's share value to go up.  In the meantime, the growth stock pays you nothing while you're a-wishing and a-hoping.The beauty of dividends is that they're real value, not promises; they're cold, hard cash. Once you receive your dividends, nobody can take them from you.  They can't go down in value. They're the only tangible, solid profit you can honestly say you own.  Which is why if you're over fifty years of age, those are the only kinds of issues you want. Leave all the fly-by-night, media-hyped growth stocks to people either too young or too stupid to understand they're investing in air with no safety net or tangible benefit.Too harsh? Consider this: ever since Jimmy Carter's disastrous Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, financial institutions claimed to be "spreading the risk" by packaging super risky mortgage loans with legitimately A+ mortgages ("Collateralized Mortgage Obligations" or "CMO").  Then the highest caliber rating services assured investors that the CMOs were A+.  Except that in 2007, so many of those notes failed that they ignited a financial holocaust that destroyed Bear Sterns and a number of so-called "professional" financial houses.So much for the experts.Everything else you've ever heard or seen in the investment world is total banana oil, designed to make the system look more complicated so that you don't bother your broker with pesky questions.  Besides, they have no idea what they're doing, since most stockbrokers are actually salesmen whose only task is to bring in money which they hand off to "money managers" who know even less. Derivatives, futures, options, shorts, covered calls: you name it, it's all speculation, inventions with no real purpose other than attracting unsuspecting investors' money.The truth is that none of those brokers will tell you how to generate real income because most are too lazy to figure it out.  But you're not, especially with today's online brokerage search tools (i.e., Ameritrade and other online platforms), that allow you to make really smart decisions and really decent returns.  If you can use a search engine to find porn, you can use an online brokerage's search engine to find great equities -- and you don't have to erase your browser's history!Personally, I have a few guidelines that have treated me well: I stay away from growth stocks, funds, glamor stocks, international issues, tech, pharma, transportation and most but not all financials. I don't do bonds. I don't do metals. I avoid brokers, media and rating services.  I stick with American dividend-paying stocks that stay off the radar, where life is good and earnings can exceed 12% a year.For more on Rob Frankel's branding, visit http://www.RobFrankel.com

Posted on: 24 May 2022 | 1:08 pm

John F. Kennedy Invades Ukraine

Those of you who know me also know I spent the better part of my career manipulating hearts of minds for the highest bidder.  I make no apologies for that. I set my own ethical boundaries under the rationale that nobody really gets hurt by switching toothpaste or driving a different kind of car.  Of course, after that many decades, it's become easy for me to spot when a messaging game is rigged.  The truth is that there never has been and never will be an occasion where (to paraphrase Lincoln) "all of the people were fooled all of the time."  So whenever I see a tidal wave of "unanimous popular opinion," I can smell something a lot different.And there's definitely something in the air floating around Ukraine and Russia.Let me start by saying I have no skin in this game. I care less about what you think than why you think it.  You and I could spend hours playing Who's More Horrible without either one declaring victory.  But if you really want to gain insight about what's happening over there, you need to know about two things:1.  Russian history2.  John F. Kennedy  If you know anything about Russia and its history, this is all playing out very predictably, and the first thing you need to know is that Russia is not simply a Communist version of the United States. Far from it: Even transitioning from its monarchy to Communism to its present form hasn't changed the basic Russian persona, just as centuries haven't changed the American personality.  Keep reading.  This makes sense:While not as xenophobic as China, Russia has always been suspicious of the west.  That's because unlike America, Russia has never had one, central cultural ideology that could unify its regions spanning eleven different time zones. As a result, Russian "unification" has always been impressed upon the country through authoritarianism -- sometimes very harshly. This "top down" nationalism is not organic in the way "from the ground up" nationalism is in the west, where nations like the USA established themselves through common cause. In Russia, cultural infighting is practically a national pastime, which means Russian unity has always been fragile at best, as we saw most recently when the Soviet Union collapsed.This fragility heightens Russian concerns of foreign intrusion -- and justifiably so. Most people know nothing of Russia's history, but if you read up on it, you'll find two common threads throughout Russian history: 1. Authoritarian leadership suppresses cultural differences across those 11 time zones, and despite the west's disapproval, has proven the only effective means to that end.  Note that I never said it was successful, but if that's the best they can do, Russia keeps doing it.2. The Russian agenda can and does turn on a dime, driven by self-interest.This time around, Putin sees the European Union and NATO as alliances of explicit military and economic threat. He doesn't want missiles on his borders and has repeatedly let the west know that. So when Ukraine, Russia's immediate neighbor to the west, begins kissing up to NATO, the west and the World Economic Forum, it's very much a matter for Russian concern.If any of this sounds familiar, it should:  John F. Kennedy tried and failed to secure American borders with his Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba (even Teddy Roosevelt wanted to "secure" Cuba as a matter of national security.  That failed, too).  And Kennedy's Cuban Missile crisis was practically a blueprint for Putin's recent actions: Back then, Russian Prime Minister Nikita Krushchev planted nuclear missiles just 95 miles away from Florida, and Kennedy was having none of it.  The saber rattling never got to the point of actual military conflict, but it came close enough to send everyone north of Tampa scurrying for their bomb shelters.The media is also not reporting a piece of history that would seem critical to know: Putin is not claiming the two eastern-most provinces as part of Russia, but instead "recognizes their claims of independence they asserted in 2017." Didn't know that?  Well, it happened.  It was official  It just wasn't reported.  Neither was the widespread conflict in both of those provinces which are culturally and geographically closer to Russia.Taking the Russian-speaking provinces to his west was the only remedy Putin felt he had left to retain a "neutral buffer zone" that was *supposed* to be Ukraine.  That buffer zone was fine until Zelensky started drifting over to the west, WEF, the NWO -- and NATO.  That's when Ukraine became a threat and that's when and why the Russian tanks started rolling in.Didn't know any of that? Maybe that's because everyone prefers protecting their special interests rather than comprehensively discussing anything that doesn't fit their agenda.  Think about that before you the next time your friends start waving their Ukrainian flags while sipping their lattés -- or sending America's sons and daughters off to war.For more on Rob Frankel's branding, visit http://www.RobFrankel.com

Posted on: 12 April 2022 | 10:03 am

In Spock We Trust

If you really want to know why the world is as messed up as it is, there are five people you can blame:  John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and John F. Kennedy.  Not that any of them ever claimed to be nefarious villains plotting world domination. The truth is that none of them actually knew they were setting humanity on a course of destruction as they were actually doing it.Before you go searching for hidden messages in their speeches and lyrics, let me assure you that you won't find any, because the real crimes they committed was actually one crime they all committed: they successfully achieved goals previously only attainable by men three times their ages.If you know your history, you know that prior to 1960, nobody in the western world expected to be a millionaire before turning 50. In those days, the legends dictated that hard work and persistence would eventually be rewarded with good fortune.  If you wanted to achieve greatness any other way, you'd probably have to marry the boss's daughter.  Other than that, millionaires took the form of the Monopoly man, balding, graying, with a little paunch and maybe a mustache.The Beatles and JFK changed all that.In 1960,at the age of 43, John Kennedy became the youngest candidate elected to the presidency in American history.  In 1964, the Beatles were, in John's own words, "bigger than Jesus Christ," and millionaires in their own right, ranging in age from 20 to 23. Which means that in the span of three years, one of the world's greatest wishes was granted and one of its major tenets was destroyed: You really could be young and have it all (I go into detail about this in my book).By 1960, the boomer youth culture that began in the late 1950s increased by an order of magnitude, as well-monied, big spending boomers cultivated a tsunami of hedonism that eventually raised the divorce rate, broke up the family, inspired feminism and produced the Me Decade that spawned super selfish fortunes and corporate greed.  But there was a far more insidious force in play: the replacement of sound, critical thinking with feelings and non-accountability. Somewhere along the line, steady, rational processes gave way to short cuts and self-indulgence.On this, I speak from personal experience.  I was raised during this time as most traditional notions of family, sex, honor, thought and justice were summarily thrown on the scrap heap in favor of feeling good and "just getting it done without really understanding why." I was a sophomore in college, hopelessly confused about growing up.  I mean, I could pose along with the best of them, but I had no idea why I was doing whatever it was I was doing. The thing is, neither did anyone else. We all sprinkled our conversations with familiar hack phrases that made it seem we knew what we were talking about, but we really didn't.  And yet we all graduated college, some with honors.To me, nothing made sense and everything ran counter to traditional development of confidence and character.  It became increasingly difficult to figure out not only what to do with my life, but how to go about even thinking about it.And then one day, I found myself in front of my old, seven inch black and white portable Sony television, watching an old episode of the original Star Trek, where Mr. Spock was calmly explaining to the rest of the Enterprise crew that their seemingly desperate situation wasn't hopeless, and that with a simple application of logic, a solution was at hand.I was thunder-stuck. In one moment, I realized that all of my own conflicts were due to an upbringing in which feelings and ego had replaced construct and character.  This was the reason why nothing in my youthful life made sense: Up to that point, nothing in my head had been required to make sense, so nothing ever worked. That was the instant that my life changed forever.From that very second, I committed to never making even the most trivial decision without logical, accountable analysis. And when I say trivial, I'm talking about things as minor as how to leave a room so that I'd never have to retrace my steps after closing the front door. I'd literally sit on the edge of my bed, planning the most efficient means of leaving my roach-ridden apartment in the most time-efficient manner possible.It worked.Within a few months, everything in my life, from my grades to my (first) girlfriend sprang up like roses around me. I reveled in the rewards brought to me by simple reason.  I never looked back and have enjoyed those rewards ever since. I was lucky. Spock spoke and I listened. Others, however, have not fared so well.To this day, many of my peers and their offspring, still haven't realized that the world revolves on logic, analysis and critical thinking.  They applaud statues being felled, dictionaries being redefined, history and curricula being rewritten to accommodate and soothe their juvenile frustrations, even though most of them are now senior citizens. Of course, they're easy marks for clearer thinkers, but the fact there are so many of them, makes it seem as if they're insurmountable.  They're not. A lifetime of screaming and kicking and holding their breaths until they turn blue is now coming to fruition -- and the fruit is plenty rotten.It's almost over. Logic and reason always wins out.  As the man says, "Live long and prosper."For more on Rob Frankel's branding, visit http://www.RobFrankel.com

Posted on: 24 January 2022 | 2:34 pm

Mourning Holistic Accountability

History is replete with misinformation.  For example, a lot of people are under the impression that Henry Ford invented the automobile. He did not.  By the time Ford got into the business, horseless carriages had been rolling along for sometime.  Some vehicles were electric. Some were powered by steam.  The gas-driven internal combustion engine was somewhat late to the game.  In fact, long before the invention of the internal combustion engine, gasoline was considered to be a waste product of the oil industry, whose main product was not fuel, but lighting oil for lamps.  Midway through the 19th century, rivers in Pennsylvania churned with John D. Rockefeller's gasoline as it rushed along the countryside,But that's not what concerns me here.  What really concerns me is Henry Ford's true contribution to the decomposition of the American -- if not the world's -- human condition.To be precise, Henry Ford's real contribution to modern society was his revolutionizing the labor process.  Ford was the one who hired efficiency experts who pronounced his means of assembling products as costly and inefficient.  Their recommended remedy was the assembly line, in which each man on the line performed only one task.  The theory was that by specializing at that one task, each man could perform his task faster and at a higher level of output.The theory proved true, and from that day forward, anyone producing any kind of mass-produced product adapted Ford's assembly line to their own production facilities.History will tell you that Ford's innovation not only made his cars more affordable, but also raised the wages of his laborers to the highest in the industry (Ford was famous for rejecting unionization by paying his workers more than the unions demanded, a situation that eventually deteriorated under latter day management). What history doesn't mention, however, is the real cost of Ford's innovation, and it goes something like this:Prior to his assembly line, any and all labor possessed a quality I call holistic accountability.  Simply put, it means that craftsmen owned their projects from inception through completion.  They conceived, planned, engineered, constructed and finished their products, taking care along each step to assure its integration into the overall design.  If a step didn't fit perfectly, the craftsman went back and made adjustments until it did.  It was only after verifying its integrity that he'd move on to the next phase of the project. Back then, products were "built to last a lifetime" and craftsmanship was often the basis of personal pride.Ford's assembly line essentially obliterated all that.  By displacing labor efficiency with economic efficiency, each worker on the assembly line became task-oriented, doing only his job without much regard for its overall integration into the product as a whole.  The result, as you experience to this very day, was devastating to our society: In the wink of an eye, "a job well done" devolved into "it's not my job."The atomization of the workforce is a direct descendant of Ford's assembly line. It's the reason why the guy in the produce section can't tell you where to find canned tuna fish, or why the woman at Window #2 sends you to Window #3.  Perhaps the most cinematic illustration is the moment in the 1993 movie Falling Down, when the fast food joint won't serve breakfast at 11:35 because "we stop serving breakfast at 11:30."Need more?  Try getting a medical diagnosis without traipsing to a minimum of three doctors, each of whom specializes in something so narrow and focused that he won't commit to anything outside his own specialty. Hop on a customer service call, and if you can get past the automated menu, see how many people are required to "get you to the right department for that."This is what happens to a society that ethically, morally, economically and politically disengages from holistic accountability.  Everyone stares at his own navel with no regard for the big picture.  Meanwhile, thousands of companies hire human resource directors who hire coaches and motivational speakers to unite the company -- because it isn't their job.There's a reason why we attach value to descriptors like "hand-made" while we eschew terms like "mass-produced."  It's become the hallmark of genuine quality and holistic accountability.  It's true of every product you buy -- and even truer for every child you produce.For more on Rob Frankel's branding, visit http://www.RobFrankel.com

Posted on: 8 January 2022 | 12:17 pm

The Rule of Big

As the world careens mindlessly from the conditions I pointed out years ago (A Nation of Children), it seems that the data is in, and that much to many people's chagrin, I was right:  The undermining of America's most prominent brands and institutions is well under way -- for all the same reasons.This isn't my opinion, mind you.  This is pure, raw data supplied to the public by no less than Dow Jones, whose job it is to track this stuff. I just interpret the more far-reaching conclusions, and believe me, they're not good:According to Dow Jones:Walt Disney, Verizon, and Boeing, as well as California-based biopharmaceutical firm Amgen and tech conglomerate Honeywell, were the worst stocks of 2021, according to stock market index Dow Jones.  Disney and Verizon stocks saw double-digit percentage losses, while the other three firms booked losses in the single digits.Not too pretty, is it?  And yet it was completely predictable.  Not because these giants are incapable of healthy growth and profitability; but because all of them have abdicated their founders' brand strategies.  The fact that brands grow and die is nothing new. The manner in which they grow and die, however, has changed.  And here's how:There's an old adage about the Three Generations of Wealth:  "The first generation creates it.  The second generation spends it.  The third generation loses it."  As a rule of thumb, it's pretty accurate for both family and corporate brands.  Think about the canny progenitors who founded companies like Ford and families like the Kennedys, and then think about their grandchildren and great-grandchildren,  an army of inept buffoons who steer the ship on to the rocks so predictably that the phenomenon has inspired its own HBO series (Succession).Ever wonder why this happens with such regularity?  Well, it happens precisely because of the brands' successes. It's the same scenario, deployed repeatedly across families, enterprise, education and government.  I call the the Rule of Big and it goes like this:The size of the entity is inversely proportional to its structural strength.What that means is that the larger the brand, the less need people see for maintaining and nurturing the brand, which weakens the brand overall.  Back in the day, an old saw was that "nobody went broke buying IBM," on the theory that IBM was a dominant market player and would never do anything to forsake that position.  That was in the 1960s.  Take a look at IBM and its market today.  Not too pretty.  Same story with Xerox. Remember when "he went to Harvard law school" meant something?  Today, not so much, although people too lazy to think still accept its mythic value..  The Rule of Big ensures that most large entities begin to atrophy and die, like huge blue whales slowly decomposing -- not from sharks, but from tiny, greedy, self-involved bacteria.People mindlessly jump on gravy trains simply because the brands, families, universities and governmental agencies are huge, figuring that if they're that big, they must know what they're doing.  What they don't realize is that the larger the entity, the less focused the brand is on its core strategy.  The result is less attention to productivity and more distraction on non-business matters, such as diversity hiring and cause marketing, neither of which contribute to core deliverables and both of which contribute directly to brand atrophy.Doubt that the Rule of Big exists? Take a look at "some of the biggest universities" across the country. Is there anyone, anywhere who takes Harvard, Yale or U.C. Berkeley seriously anymore? Does anyone view the New York Times or the Los Angeles Times as anything close to impartial sources of news?  Start looking around, and notice how many things in your life simply aren't as reliable as they once were. Don't even get me started on medical information.Why should you care?  Take a closer look at those equities listed above.  How many are in your investment portfolio or 401K? Do you even know? Or have you been lumped into a "highly rated fund" composed of equities you were too lazy to investigate?Has the Rule of Big lulled you into being one of the walking dead who figures "my investment firm is one of the largest in the country?" Newsflash:  Your fund manager knows even less than you do.  He probably can't even define collateralized mortgages -- and it was his company reliance on them that caused the financial meltdown. Maybe it's time you looked at the real data yourself.  Maybe it's time you realized that the Rule of Big is everywhere -- and getting even bigger.  For more on Rob Frankel's branding, visit http://www.RobFrankel.com

Posted on: 3 January 2022 | 10:53 am

Trust Me...I'm a Doctor

With the ascent of social media, it seems as if everyone has suddenly become an expert on just about everything, regardless of education or experience.  That's just the way it is in social media: everyone can say what they wish with complete impunity, the only accountability being the possibility of being cancelled or "fact-checked" by yet another entity that's likely even less educated and experienced.Now that viruses and vaccines have captured the imaginations, fears of America's leisure time, I find the most interesting responses among all sides of the debates to run along the lines of, "What are your qualifications?" or "Can you provide a source for that?" or the ever-famous, "Really? Who made you a doctor?"It's that last one I enjoy the most, because from where I sit, merely being a doctor doesn't hold nearly the currency it once did. Hear me out on this.  More than likely, I've been around at least as long, if not longer than you, and you might find this interesting.To really understand what modern doctors are, you have to begin with what doctors once were.  Back in the nineteenth century, western medicine was still mostly guesswork and hardly recognizable as what we know today. In fact, it was only by the late nineteenth century that John D. Rockefeller's University of Chicago help displace homeopathy as America's go-to medical discipline. Prior to that, grandma's remedy or Aunt Hattie's root tonic stood just as good a chance of curing what ailed you as anything else. Since then, however, scientific medicine has ruled the roost. But there was a transition period of almost 100 years, where both approaches were considered with a healthy dose of critical thinking, during which a doctor observed, questioned, and then drew conclusions as to how to treat a patient's condition.  The ability of a physician to draw on a broad, diverse library of data, coupled with an extensive knowledge of appropriate treatment resulted in the reverence of doctors as highly knowledgable, well-respected members of society's highest order.In other words, these were the smartest guys on the block, because they knew what  to think and how  to think.  Not so much anymore.First, there's simply a lot more to know:  Most doctors are no longer general practitioners. By far, most physicians are specialists, with little real depth outside their fields of expertise. That seems fair, given that there's much more to know about any particular field of medicine than there was previously.  I mean, when you deep dive on liver function, there's not much time left over for pulmonary or cerebral research.Secondly, the advent of digital media has displaced critical thinking. With every kind of diagnostic test reduced to a numerical score, doctors have become overwhelmingly reliant on numbers instead of observation and reasoning.  This is why the most common refrain in medicine has become, "Let's run some more tests."Lest you think this is of no real consequence, allow me to illustrate this true story:Not too long ago, an elderly relative was admitted to the hospital, suffering from wild swings in her blood pressure. The woman had purchased a home blood pressure monitor and throughout the day, noticed it soaring and plummeting so badly that her doctor called her in for "observation and testing."  Two days in, tests showed nothing.  The doctor somberly called me into the hallway and whispered, "I think you should prepare yourself; it could be cancer."I wasted no time and responded, "Are you out of your mind? Have you considered the fact that she's gone crazy with that home blood pressure kit you advised her to get and all it does is increase her anxiety?" The doctor looked at me and replied, "Hmmm.  Maybe a baby dose of Lexapro would help.'  Yup.  It was that quick.  And it was the right diagnosis, because she's 90 years old today and humming like a well-tuned Chevy.  Makes you think twice about labeling something a vaccine that actually has no working resemblance to anything like a vaccine.  But you'd have to think critically to want to know that.The over-reliance on digital numbers, along with a complete lack of critical thinking has reduced the status and ability of doctors to claim their once-respected thrones.  Like airline pilots, who have been reduced to flying bus drivers, today's doctors are pretty much auto mechanics for people.  So the next time someone calls you out for "not being a doctor," don't be insulted.Consider it a badge of honor.For more on Rob Frankel's branding, visit http://www.RobFrankel.com

Posted on: 10 October 2021 | 9:36 am

What You Won't Hear About 9/11

I'll probably catch hell for this, but this reading of the 9/11 victims is a massive head fake that accomplishes nothing, and is actually an insult to the country.  Sure, it looks like we're doing something, but we're really not. It makes people at home feel like they're participating, but they're really not. Nobody reads the names of sailors who died on December 7, 1941.  Nobody reads the names of the passengers who died when the Lusitania was torpedoed.Like so much of what we see and do, these services are nothing more than a salve, designed to defray any real efforts or political actions. They serve only to provide a sense of accomplishment to a sedated population accustomed to subservience."Did you watch the memorial service? It was so sad."  That's it.  That's all.There was a time when this country didn't slink off and lick its wounds. We didn't get mad; we got even. Now all we get is maudlin programming with regularly scheduled commercial interruptions.This is the shame that is America.For more on Rob Frankel's branding, visit http://www.RobFrankel.com

Posted on: 11 September 2021 | 11:08 am

The Digital Drop Piece

You don't have to be a Law & Order fan to know what a drop piece is.  It's a fixture in just about every police detective story ever told.  But in case you've been a literary Rip Van Winkle, I'll remind you that a drop piece is a small, unregistered hand gun that police detectives usually carry attached to their ankles.   Its serial numbers have been filed off to make it untraceable, and it remains hidden under the pants leg until it needs to be used.The gun is not there for self-defense or predatory purpose. In fact, while it is loaded with live ammunition, the gun is rarely, if ever, fired.  That's because the sole purpose of a drop piece is to plant evidence on a perpetrator at the scene of a crime.  In case a bust becomes questionable or lacks evidence, a detective can claim that "this small, illegal handgun was found at the scene," which would ostensibly escalate the event into one of life-threatening circumstance, justifying the cop's next-level behaviors.The fraudulent use of drop pieces are, in every way, completely illegal, providing false evidence which at trial, is tantamount to perjured testimony.And yet, drop pieces have been used plenty of times, unquestioned against the word of law enforcement and context of circumstances.  After all, it's far easier for juries and judges to believe the bad guy had a gun than it is for them to accuse the police of framing an innocent citizen. If you happen to be arrested by mistake, this forms the perfect storm for a mistaken conviction.Enter Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple.In case you haven't heard, Apple now intends to scan every single image on every single iPhone for "images of child pornography" or those which they suspect could be such.  If that doesn't scare you, it should, for a few reasons:First, it completes big tech's intrusion into, and the total destruction of, any illusions of privacy you may have had about your digital data. While we all know that big tech has been sharing our sales and contact information for decades, this completes the loop to include visual data.Second, it assigns Apple and others the dubious task of determining what is objectionable and who should be reported to authorities. Since there is no discernible standard against which these images are judged, the exact same image could be viewed as innocent for one person but criminally suspect for another. The entire program is arbitrary at least, capricious at best.Third, these scans can and will be used as digital drop pieces, where "undesirables" (as arbitrarily defined by big tech) can and will suddenly be found in possession of said images, prompting reports to authorities and subsequent prosecution, opening a whole new world of political harassment and persecution to those that big tech simply doesn't like.Think it can't happen to you?  Think again: Do you know anyone whose credit card hasn't been compromised?  How many have been the victim of a persistent wrong number or something as harmless as a misdirected e-mail or spam?  The FBI already has huge arsenals of digital weaponry, listening, watching everyone from muslim terrorists to anti-vaccine activists to take one wrong step.Now think about big tech generating its own political enemies list matched up to its image scanning weapon and the picture for you -- even unscanned -- gets pretty ugly.Be careful out there.For more on Rob Frankel's branding, visit http://www.RobFrankel.com

Posted on: 7 August 2021 | 10:30 am

A Simple Twist of Fate

As I continue to clean out the garage to make way for the art studio, I stumbled on this, the sole survivor of some advertising that but for a quirk of fate, could have changed my entire life. You can tell it's pre-digital; even the fonts are hand-drawn. In the early 1980s, a Korean car company decided to launch its operations here in America. Nobody in America had ever heard of Hyundai, and the agency I was working for was invited to pitch the account, which was by all standards HUGE. I was a Creative Director in the west coast (Los Angeles) office, and a twenty-something wunderkind, a bicoastal creative wizard who stalked the media department for gorgeous female media buyers when I wasn't killing it with advertising awards. I was, in short, impossible. So it was no small thing when the general manager assigned me to be in charge of pitching the entire national account. That not only meant heading up the Los Angeles office's effort, but flying weekly to New York to kick ass on their team, as well. Heady stuff? You bet. Flying first class (when first class was worth flying) and staying at four star hotels, waltzing into conference rooms in my cowboys boots/no necktie to face the lineups of account executives and creatives all outfitted in Brooks Brothers. Remember, this was the go-go 1980s, when everything, including hair, art and cars were big and getting bigger. But Hyundai was not an 80's car. Truth be told, it was more like Volkswagen in the 1950s: smaller, more efficient, less money. My campaign featured Judd Hirsch, the down-to-earth actor starring in "Taxi", who would walk around the car on a seamless white background, cleverly extolling the virtues of Hyundai's practicality. It was, as it were, "a sensible car for sensible people," and thus the tagline, "Built on common sense." The campaign was quickly chosen as the lead to pitch. It took six months and about $300,000 (these are 1980 dollars), but June 23 -- the day of the pitch -- was getting near. I was all set. Winning this account would mean a ginormous raise, serious national exposure for me, and more job offers than I could handle. I slept at night dreaming of general managers lining up to hand me the keys to their agencies, pleading for me to become a partner. Then something happened on June 21: Apparently, secret meetings had been going on for some time between our agency and another major agency. Nobody knew anything about it until June 21, when management not only announced the agencies' merger was finalized, but as a result, we were pulling out of the Hyundai pitch. The other agency already had Buick as a client, and Hyundai would have been a conflict. In sixty seconds, my entire future went up in carbon monoxide. Every single dream, goal and wish that was supposed to drop in my lap completely missed and went down the toilet. The twenty something wunderkind would not be taking the world by storm after all. As a result, my life changed radically. I soon left to start my own agency, never trusting anyone in business ever again. I also kissed off that young man's dreams of New York City. I decided that going my own way meant not going everyone else's. I stayed in Los Angeles for the rest of my life, eventually living the life I never could have enjoyed so thoroughly anywhere else. Sometimes, things work out.For more on Rob Frankel's branding, visit http://www.RobFrankel.com

Posted on: 28 May 2021 | 5:28 pm

You Can Look Me Up

If you're a Boomer, you may have forgotten. If you're younger than that, you never knew. But there once was a time when just about anyone, anywhere, could be found by flipping through the pages of "the telephone book." Every city, town and village had their own telephone books. They were thick, heavy and contained every citizen's name, address and, of course, telephone number. THey were free, and if you owned a land line, they'd be delivered to your doorstep every Spring, updated with the latest listings. The larger the population, the thicker the book. If you grew up during that era, telephone books were de facto booster seats: million of children balanced precariously atop stacks of them at restaurant tables, long before Chinese car seats were invented. Telephone books aren't really around anymore. Not because people own fewer land lines, but more because this country has long since transitioned from a nation of neighbors to a mass market of automatons. The friendship and openness we once enjoyed as a culture has been programmed out of us, replaced by suspicion, all in the name of "privacy." Try selling a concept of a phone book today and see how far you get. People would think you're nuts. Who in their right mind would hang out their personal name, address and phone number for anyone to see? Well, not too long ago, the American culture was far friendlier. The phone book was how people found you -- mainly by those who you wanted to find you. Everyone knew that if you wanted to get in touch, all you had to say was, "You can look me up. I'm in the book." Of course, all that is gone now. You're reading this and thinking about stalkers, murderers and Communist activists doxxing and harassing you. The world, it would seem, is out to get you, so it's far better to hide out under the specter of anonymity. Not true. As a veritable antique, I can tell you that it was a far better time when we assumed each others' trust. It was a richer life when we opened our lives and hearts, welcoming old friends who looked us up and new connections we wanted to meet. Can you imagine a world in which there was no orchestrated fear? Lucky me. I lived it. Not so lucky you. Now put on both of your masks and stay six feet away.For more on Rob Frankel's branding, visit http://www.RobFrankel.com

Posted on: 29 April 2021 | 9:37 am