State Budget

Pennsylvania Deficit Watch: January 2010

  • January 5, 2010

Six months through the 2009-10 fiscal year, state revenues are $254 million below budget expenditures, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Tax collections have been below estimate in…

Press Release

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Regulation

Deal on Pennsylvania Table Games Appears Done

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 5, 2010

After Gov. Rendell threatened to lay off 1,000 state workers if he didn’t sign legislation to establish table games (and the licensing fee and tax) at Pennsylvania casinos by…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

Financial Crisis: What Went Wrong

  • January 5, 2010

In December, Big Think, an online global forum released its series ‘What Went Wrong’, an eight week web-based series examining the causes of the financial crisis. This series brings…

Media

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State Budget

The Stimulus and State Budgets

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 4, 2010

The Wall Street Journal had a recent editorial on the impact of the stimulus on state budgets – noting that while the legislation create a one-time bailout to states,…

Media

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Government Accountability

Book Review: Liberal Fascism

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 4, 2010

I finally got around to finishing Jonah Goldberg’s 2007 tome, Liberal Fascism, a compelling and important read. Goldberg both attempts to make the case that fascism has always been…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

Climategate Investigator Seeks Whistleblowers at Penn State

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 4, 2010

An investigator into the “climategate” controversy has emailed all of Penn State professor Michael Mann’s colleagues, highlighting the reward for those who blow the whistle on misuse of federal…

Media

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Government Accountability

PennsylvaniaVotes.org Year in Review

  • January 3, 2010

Below is a handy set of indicators as to how your state legislators performed in 2009, courtesy of PennsylvaniaVotes.org, the Commonwealth’s first and only website that…

Media

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Government Accountability

Capitol Cafeteria Another Rendell Sweetheart Contract

  • Nathan Benefield
  • December 31, 2009

While some have pointed to the rodent-poo filled cafeteria at the Pennsylvania state capitol as a failure of the free market (as a private firm…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

The Success of Electricity Deregulation in Texas

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • December 30, 2009

Here are some recent numbers, from our friends at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, illustrating the success of electricity deregulation. Since 2007 Texas’ electricity market has been fully deregulated…

Media

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Health Care

Cynics on Why to Support the Health Care Bill

  • Nathan Benefield
  • December 30, 2009

Quiet Declarations has a good blog post on why to support the Senate health care bill, basically outlining three rationales. One, if you want to pass any bill to…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

Major Victory for Electricity Generators on Mercury Rule

  • December 29, 2009

Last Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld a decision made earlier this year by a Pennsylvania Court Judge who decided the Department of Environmental Protection’s attempt to regulate statewide…

Media

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Government Accountability

More Evidence for Term Limits

  • December 29, 2009

State Rep. Bryan Lentz, a Democrat from Delaware County, has provided the latest evidence that term limits are very healthy for representative democracies. First elected to the state House of…

Media

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Health Care

Challenging the Constitutionality of Health Care Legislation

  • Nathan Benefield
  • December 29, 2009

Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett is joining with a number of other state AG‘s (latest count is 10 attorneys general) to challenge the “Nebraska Compromise” in the latest…

Media

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Regulation

Of Mice And G-Men

  • December 28, 2009

An inspection by the Pennsylvania Agriculture Department found rodent droppings “just about everywhere” in the cafeteria at the Pennsylvania state capitol. The cafeteria, reportedly, also has a severe rodent…

Media

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Regulation

Private Funding for Historical Sites

  • Nathan Benefield
  • December 28, 2009

The historical site of Washington’s Crossing saw a cut in taxpayer subsidies this year, and some forecast doom and gloom for history. Instead, Lockheed Martin and other private donors…

Media

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Government Accountability

Pennsylvania Legislative Audit Says Little

  • Nathan Benefield
  • December 28, 2009

A new audit of the Pennsylvania Legislature’s accounts was released earlier this month, and is available via state Rep. Josh Shapiro. The big news on the audit is that…

Media

Read More: Pennsylvania Legislative Audit Says Little