Commentary

Education

Unions’ Taxpayer-Subsidized Politics

• Nathan Benefield
• October 14, 2013

How would you feel if you were forced to pay for a political cause that worked against your own beliefs and values? Outraged? Victimized? Just plain angry? Many Pennsylvania teachers,…

Commentary

Regulation

PA Can’t Afford to Dither on Meaningful Pension Reform

• Nathan Benefield
• October 10, 2013

Is your family ready to pay nearly $900 more in property taxes and state taxes per year? Are you prepared to see 33,000 public school teachers in Pennsylvania — nearly…

Commentary

Regulation

Liberals and Conservatives Agree: Let Go of Our Liquor

• Matthew Brouillette
• October 7, 2013

As the partisan divide plays out in Washington, it's encouraging to see one policy battle in Pennsylvania with support on both sides of the political spectrum. Across the state, voters…

Commentary

Education

How Unions Use Students as Bargaining Chips

• Nathan Benefield
• September 18, 2013

When government unions engage in labor disputes, they use their power and monopoly to remind the public of the value of their service. However, schoolchildren should never have to bear…

Commentary

Regulation

After Detroit, how about 401(k)s for public workers?

• Matthew Brouillette
• September 6, 2013

As another Labor Day comes to pass, it's worth reflecting on the legacy of Detroit and its workers. Detroit's bankruptcy is a warning to other cities—and even states—that public…

Commentary

Health Care

Burdens of Obamacare – Commentary

• Elizabeth Stelle
• August 30, 2013

Say you’re working your way through college, supplementing student loans with a part-time job managing inventory at Wegmans. You make a decent hourly wage, but your health insurance benefits are…

Commentary

Regulation

Repeating Detroit’s Error in Pennsylvania

• Matthew Brouillette
• August 19, 2013

Much has been said about why Detroit lies in critical condition, but one serious wound has been festering for decades: the unsustainable pension and health benefits that were secured for…

Commentary

Dissolution Of Detroit Is A National Teaching Moment

• Matthew Brouillette
• August 2, 2013

Detroit's bankruptcy has sparked soul-searching and hand-wringing among the financial and political classes. But such distress won't be limited to Detroit for long. Cities and states across our great nation…

Commentary

Health Care

States Use Federalism to Protect Poor

• Matthew Brouillette
• July 18, 2013

The debate in the Keystone State on the question of whether to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act looks to be ending. Governor Tom Corbett has successfully pointed out…

Commentary

Public Union Democracy

Big Government Party Blocks Bold Reforms

• Matthew Brouillette
• July 8, 2013

Why haven’t liquor privatization and pension reform passed yet here in Pennsylvania? The reason is that the true divide in the General Assembly is not between the Republicans and Democrats,…

Commentary

Education

Happy National Employee Freedom Week, America

• Priya Brannick
• June 24, 2013

National Employee Freedom Week is about informing workers about their rights and empowering them to exercise their freedoms.  Ultimately, there are ways for workers to leave the Hotel California. We…

Commentary

Regulation

Get Rid of the Government Middleman

• June 18, 2013

If lower prices and greater selection are what you’re looking for, you won’t get it unless the government privatizes retail and wholesale operations. If the PLCB maintains its monopoly on…

Commentary

State Budget

The Case for Corbett’s Tax Reform

• Nathan Benefield
• June 13, 2013

Combined with the federal tax rate, Pennsylvania businesses pay the second highest tax on their profits in the entire industrialized world.

Commentary

Regulation

Liquor Privatization Done Right

• Nathan Benefield
• May 15, 2013

It's decades past time to get government out of our Prohibition-era liquor system. Pennsylvanians have suffered from the PLCB's conflicts of interest and taxpayer-funded boondoggles for far too long.  Until…

Commentary

Regulation

Good for Business: One Beer Distributor’s Privatization Perspective

• May 9, 2013

What business owner wouldn’t jump at the chance to expand their business?  Some of my fellow beer distributors, apparently.  The association that is supposed to be representing my business interests…

Commentary

Health Care

States Fix Medicaid

• April 26, 2013

That's why leaders in statehouses across the country should do the right thing and follow Pennsylvania's lead. Instead of waiting for dollars and dictates from D.C. to expand a broken…

Commentary

Regulation

Protect Pennsylvanians from Pension Tsunami

• Priya Brannick
• April 7, 2013

Pennsylvania's pension crisis is about to hit Pennsylvania homeowners and taxpayers, and the results won't be pretty.

Commentary

Regulation

Pennsylvania Stuck in Prohibition

• Matthew Brouillette
• April 6, 2013

Eighty years ago, baseball was still segregated, Social Security was non-existent and it was illegal to buy alcohol in the United States. Times have changed, and Prohibition has since ended…

Commentary

Regulation

Drawing Liquor Lessons from the Turnpike Commission

• Matthew Brouillette
• April 1, 2013

Following last week's House vote, the Pennsylvania Senate has the opportunity to end similar corruption and taxpayer costs by dismantling the PLCB—the Turnpike Commission's cousin in wasted money and broken…

Commentary

Regulation

Dispelling the Myths About Alcohol Privatization

• March 22, 2013

The friends of government-run liquor stores have to resort to such tactics as they have neither public opinion nor facts on their side.  Here are just a few of the…

Commentary

Health Care

Expanding Medicaid: Eat Now, Starve Later

• Nathan Benefield
• March 20, 2013

When the governor released his budget last month, the loudest opposition hinged on Medicaid - government insurance for the poor and disabled. Advocates of expanding the program via the Affordable…

Commentary