Media

State Budget

Bad Budget for Business

• Nathan Benefield
• September 15, 2009

Lowman Henry calls out the PA Senate GOP for its budget deal, from many of the same reasons we did – it…

Media

Regulation

If You Don’t Like Pork, Don’t Vote for It

• Nathan Benefield
• September 14, 2009

State Rep. James Casorio issued a news release today criticizing a taxpayer-funded loan to what he terms a “puppy mill”. The loan came from the Renewable Energy Program of…

Media

Taxes & Economy

Saving is Good for the Economy

• Nathan Benefield
• September 14, 2009

The Freeman, the monthly publication of the Foundation for Economic Education, has a good article on the ridiculous economic argument that savings is bad for the economy.  This…

Media

Regulation

Constitutionality of PA Dog Law Upheld

• Nathan Benefield
• September 14, 2009

A federal court ruled last week that Pennsylvania’s new “dog law”, enacted last year does not violated Constitutional protections against unwarranted search and seizure: U.S. District Judge Sylvia…

Media

Whoops, We Were Wrong About Obama

• September 13, 2009

Media Hit

Government Accountability

Recaps of 9/12 March on DC

• Nathan Benefield
• September 13, 2009

Here is some coverage of 9/12 protest in Washington DC from Pennsylvania (and some national) bloggers and attendeed: PA WaterCooler has a photo essay from John Lewandowski, who went…

Media

Government Accountability

CF Blog Roundup

• Nathan Benefield
• September 13, 2009

Here are some of the most recent Commonwealth Foundation citations from Pennsylvania blogs: Capitol Ideas gives us some linkage on health care reform and on flying cars. GrassrootsPA…

Media

Budget plan gets chilly reception from governor

• September 12, 2009

Media Hit

Veto threat clouds budget deal’s prospects

• September 11, 2009

Media Hit

Government Accountability

Follow PA Lawmakers and Politics on Twitter

• Nathan Benefield
• September 11, 2009

I recenlty learned of a tool – not sure if it is new or not – to compile lists of Twitter users that anyone can follow with a single click. …

Media

Another Rickety Bridge to PA’s Future

• September 11, 2009

Budget deal will result in job losses, additional tax hikes in future years HARRISBURG, PA  – Commonwealth Foundation president and CEO Matthew Brouillette released the following statement in response to…

Press Release

Education

The Right Direction

• Nathan Benefield
• September 11, 2009

A colleague of mine suggests that the budget deal (see our grade of the budget agreement) is better than we say it is,…

Media

State Budget

Which New Taxes are Coming for Pennsylvania?

• Nathan Benefield
• September 11, 2009

The new Pennsylvania state budget “deal”, which House Democrats, Senate Republicans, and Senate Democrats have agreed to – but which House Republicans have disavowed and Gov. Rendell has not signed…

Media

Republican solutions to the health care problem

• September 10, 2009

Media Hit

State Budget

PA Senate GOP Caving on Tax Hikes?

• Nathan Benefield
• September 10, 2009

John Micek reports that there may be a compromise coming in the Pennsylvania state budget, but surprisingly (to me) it is not the $27.5 billion plan outlined by…

Media

Taxes & Economy

A Failure of Government

• Nathan Benefield
• September 10, 2009

The Institute of Economic Affairs in Britain has a new paper on the role of government in economic contractions in the United States, noting the interventions policies of Hoover…

Media

Health Care

More Thoughts on Obama’s Health Care Speech

• Nathan Benefield
• September 10, 2009

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

Government Accountability

Legislative Staff and Term Limits

• Nathan Benefield
• September 10, 2009

Following up on our blog post and Brad Bumsted’s article about Pennsylvania having the most legislative staff, I took another look at the…

Media

Health Care

Obama’s Pants are on Fire

• Nathan Benefield
• September 10, 2009

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

Health Care

ObamaCare Live Blog

• Matthew Brouillette
• September 9, 2009

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

Taxes & Economy

Pennsylvania is Among “The Biggest Losers” on Cap & Trade

• Nathan Benefield
• September 9, 2009

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