Education

Teacher Qualifications vs. Teacher Effectiveness

  • Priya Brannick
  • September 16, 2011

Teachers are an important factor affecting student performance, and teacher salaries make up the biggest chunk of public school spending. So ensuring that the best teachers instruct our kids should…

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Frackophobes With Egg on Their Face

  • Nathan Benefield
  • September 15, 2011

While Pennsylvania dealt with the realities of floods last week, frackophobic Penn Environment exploited the disaster by flooding the blogosphere with fear through positing a picture that led…

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Regulation

Cabernet Kings Couldn’t Count!

  • September 15, 2011

All together now, Pennsylvania:  Ninety-nine bottle of booze in a box, 99 bottles of booze, blow in a tube, look like a rube, still 99 bottles of booze in a…

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Regulation

Licensing Regulations Drives Out Entrepreneurs

  • Nathan Benefield
  • September 13, 2011

A Morning Call article brings to light the anti-entrepreneurship policy of occupational licensing. The article focuses on fines imposed on folks trying, in most cases, to earn a living:…

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Taxes & Economy

Brain Drain Strikes Again

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • September 12, 2011

Last weekend I attended a dinner party just over the Pennsylvania border in Ohio. Our hosts moved across the state line about a year ago and complained to me about…

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Synopsis of Stimulus 7: Serious Spending

  • Nathan Benefield
  • September 9, 2011

Obama laid out his “jobs speech” Thursday night, outlining the plot of Stimulus 7. Since few people paid attention to this, on account of flooding in Pennsylvania…

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Public Union Democracy

Senseless Regulations Cause Job Loss

  • September 8, 2011

Tuesday’s Pennsylvania Independent article on the new state independent contract rules demonstrates the clear need for regulatory streamlining in the commonwealth. After Deborah Webster’s husband lost his job,…

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Regulation

Rick Perry, Corporate Welfare and Pennsylvania

  • Nathan Benefield
  • September 7, 2011

Texas Governor and Presidential Candidate Rick Perry has taken some flak recently for “job creation” funds, which largely direct taxpayer funds to corporations and special projects. This is commonly…

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