Prosperity
New Year, New Taxes in Pennsylvania
Originally published at RealClearPennsylvania The new year is always a great opportunity to shed vices like smoking and binge eating. For state and local lawmakers, their guilty pleasure tends…
Read More: New Year, New Taxes in PennsylvaniaHigh taxes make for a slow-growing economy. And communities feel the pinch of high taxes as more and more native Pennsylvanians leave the Keystone State to prosper elsewhere. To remain economically competitive, Pennsylvania must lower state taxes and ensure businesses have the opportunity to succeed. Lower taxes will incentivize more individuals to call Pennsylvania their home, ultimately spurring our statewide economy forward.
Health Care
More Thoughts on Obama’s Health Care Speech
Here are some poignant comments on Obama’s latest health care speech: Greg Scandlen notes that in Obama’s “29th speech devoted exclusively to health care since he became president” he…
Media
Read More: More Thoughts on Obama’s Health Care SpeechHealth Care
Obama’s Pants are on Fire
Obama’s health care speech, in which he denounces misinformation and scare tactics, he offered quite a bit of misinformation and scare tactics (e.g “more will die as a result”). The…
Media
Read More: Obama’s Pants are on FireHealth Care
ObamaCare Live Blog
President Barack Obama will address Congress at 8pm tonight in an effort to push through his health care agenda. Cato Institute policy experts Michael D. Tanner and…
Media
Read More: ObamaCare Live BlogTaxes & Economy
Pennsylvania is Among “The Biggest Losers” on Cap & Trade
ALEC has compiled data from the Heritage Foundation to produce rankings of which states have the most to lose from Cap and Trade, i.e. the Waxman-Markey bill.
Media
Read More: Pennsylvania is Among “The Biggest Losers” on Cap & TradeHealth Care
Whoops, We Were Wrong…
One of our goals at the Commonwealth Foundation is to predict the effect of proposed public policies. Most of the time, we are proven correct, and humbly announce, "We told…
Commentary
Read More: Whoops, We Were Wrong…Regulation
Electric Choice Working in Texas and Michigan
Natural gas is at a 7 year low and consumers who have electric choice are cashing in. In Texas, consumers can shop for rates 25-40% lower than what they…
Media
Read More: Electric Choice Working in Texas and MichiganRegulation
Pennsylvania’s Failed Economic Development Spending
State and local governments are locked in a constant competition to attract and retain businesses. Unfortunately, instead of addressing a poor business climate and flawed economic policies, they have increasingly…
Commentary
Read More: Pennsylvania’s Failed Economic Development SpendingRegulation
Economic Development Subsidies Fail
Today’s Wall Street Journal writes on the failure of taxpayer-funded “economic development” grants – i.e. corporate welfare – in the state of Michigan. The article relies heavily on…
Media
Read More: Economic Development Subsidies FailPublic Union Democracy
Tolling I-80 is a Recipe for Disaster
Once again, state lawmakers, bureaucrats and special interest groups are looking for another way to grab more money from Pennsylvanians. The latest rendition is tolling Interstate 80 across the northern…
Commentary
Read More: Tolling I-80 is a Recipe for DisasterEducation
What Does This Blog Post Inspire You to Do?
When I first heard of President Obama’s planned speech to all students, I didn’t think much of it. I imagined he’d say things like “Don’t do drugs! Stay in school!”…
Media
Read More: What Does This Blog Post Inspire You to Do?Regulation
Counting All Pennsylvania State Employees
A state lawmaker sent along a Patriot New article, in which Gov. Rendell cites the relatively low number of Pennsylvania state employees compared to other states, to find out…
Media
Read More: Counting All Pennsylvania State EmployeesRegulation
HB 80 Will Increase Energy Costs
Clean energy proponents are attempting to reignite the fire under HB 80, which would increase the amount of electricity utilities the state must produce from alternative energy sources. In a…
Media
Read More: HB 80 Will Increase Energy CostsEnergy
Rendell’s Mixed Energy Agenda
Governor Rendell frequently talks about the need to combat rising energy costs. Yet he continues to support policies that will increase Pennsylvanians’ electric bills and endanger thousands of jobs in…
Commentary
Read More: Rendell’s Mixed Energy AgendaTaxes & Economy
Rendell Retreats from Natural Gas Tax
Yesterday, Governor Rendell took another of his proposed taxes off the negotiating table. His announcement perfectly demonstrates the points made in my new commentary on…
Media
Read More: Rendell Retreats from Natural Gas TaxHealth Care
Is Individual Mandate Worse than “Public Option”?
Cato’s Michael Cannon has a commentary on the effects of an individual mandate to buy health insurance. His poster child is chief spokesman critic of Obama’s health care proposals,…
Media
Read More: Is Individual Mandate Worse than “Public Option”?State Budget
Pennsylvania State Debt
In addition to the state operating budget, Pennsylvania lawmakers each year pass a capital budget, outlining how much the state can borrow, and detailing projects which may be funded through…
Fact Sheet
Read More: Pennsylvania State DebtState Budget
Call to Action: Budget Must Keep PA Competitive
The Pennsylvania Prosperity Project has a new action alert on the Pennsylvania budget, with a form to contact your legislators and ask lawmakers to “focus on making Pennsylvania competitive…
Media
Read More: Call to Action: Budget Must Keep PA CompetitiveTaxes & Economy
New Study Shows Devastating Impact of High Corporate Tax Rates
The Tax Foundation, came out with a new study this month on the negative impacts of high state corporate tax rates. The results have coincided with previous research,…
Media
Read More: New Study Shows Devastating Impact of High Corporate Tax RatesHealth Care
What’s Wrong with Medicare
Defenders of national health care proposals try to make the claim – in response to critics – that government-run health care is pretty good, citing Medicare (and Medicaid). So what’s…
Media
Read More: What’s Wrong with MedicareRegulation
Philadelphia Sales Tax Increase Bad for Business and for Pennsylvania
Chris Freind writes on how the proposed increase of Philadelphia’s sales tax from 7% to 8% (6% state rate, local rate to double from 1 to 2%) will harm…
Media
Read More: Philadelphia Sales Tax Increase Bad for Business and for PennsylvaniaHealth Care
Medicare’s Administrative Costs vs. Private Insurance
One of the myths is that Medicare has lower administrative costs than private insurance, and thus is the model for efficient health coverage. (This was an argument made by a…
Media
Read More: Medicare’s Administrative Costs vs. Private Insurance