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

Health Care

No “Free Lunch” with Medicaid Expansion

• Nathan Benefield
• February 28, 2013

If I offered you a "free lunch" every day for the rest of your life, you'd take it, right? Oh, but there are a few strings attached. The lunch may…

Commentary

Education

Education: America’s New Civil Right

• February 26, 2013

Education can and should be America's newest civil rights issue.   Today, too many schools are failing too many children. The system is broken, and access to a quality…

Commentary

PLCB Should Not Pass Go

• February 11, 2013

Growing up in Pennsylvania, we enjoyed playing games over the holidays and none more than Monopoly.  The possibilities were endless, the rules clear and the objective simple - heck, it…

Commentary

Privatization Poll

• February 11, 2013

A strong majority of Pennsylvanians favor ending government sale of wine and liquor according to a comprehensive poll conducted by nationally-renown pollster, FM3. The poll found more than 3 out…

Commentary

Liquor Privatization: Just the Facts

• February 9, 2013

In a recent Delaware County Times webcast on Pennsylvania liquor store privatization, on which I was a panelist, there was a great deal of information thrown into the mix which may have…

Commentary

State Budget

Standing with Taxpayers

• Nathan Benefield
• February 6, 2013

Most Pennsylvanians probably weren't aware – or don't care – that Governor Corbett delivered his 2013-14 budget proposal this week.  But they should!  Spending $20,900 per family of four, the…

Commentary