Media

Health Care

Video: Health Reform and Wait Times (In Lego!)

• Nathan Benefield
• July 9, 2009

Here is a good video comparing health care wait times in Atlanta and Boston – home to the failed Massachusetts health care reform, which serves as a model…

Media

State Budget

Rendell’s Actual Budget Proposal

• Nathan Benefield
• July 8, 2009

Number crunchers around Harrisburg may remember last week, I posted a spreadsheet of the Pennsylvania state budget proposals, but had to guess at Governor Rendell’s allocation of federal stimulus…

Media

Taxes & Economy

Climate Change Alarmists Seek to Educate NEPA Taxpayers

• July 8, 2009

The Mertz-Gilmore Foundation, a self-described “sustainable environment” grant making institution based out of New York City, recently announced its plan to give a $50,000 grant to PennFuture, to “support…

Media

Higher Income Taxes Will Cost Jobs

• July 8, 2009

HARRISBURG, PA — Economists at the Beacon Hill Institute (BHI) at Suffolk University published a rebuttal to the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center’s (PBPC) criticism of the Pennsylvania State Tax…

Press Release

Blogging about the Commonwealth Foundation

• Nathan Benefield
• July 8, 2009

Here are some of the blogs who have given us some linkage on a a variety of budget-related issues over the past week. BucksRight, PA Family Institute Blog,…

Media

State Budget

PA House Democrats Against Tax Hikes

• Nathan Benefield
• July 8, 2009

Contrary to the Rendell administration’s claims that many Republicans will support a personal income tax increase, the opposite it likely true.  John Micek writes that there are maybe…

Media

Taxes & Economy

Tax Code Helped Cause Financial Crisis

• Nathan Benefield
• July 7, 2009

Budget & Tax News reports on a new study on the effect of tax policy on the financial crisis. [Author Sam] Eddins also addresses the issue of credit default…

Media

State Budget

Pennsylvania Budget and Tax Updates

• Nathan Benefield
• July 7, 2009

Here are some brief highlights on the Pennsylvania budget: Brian O’Neill editorializes angrily on “America’s Largest Full-Time State Legislature” failing to do their job, again, and includes phone numbers.

Media

Education

Could Pension Crisis Shut Down High School Sports?

• Matthew Brouillette
• July 6, 2009

Patriot-News sports reporter Rod Frisco took a look at how the looming pension crisis might impact public school athletics. Derry Township School District Superintendent Linda Brewer noted that “every…

Media

State Budget

Do Rendell’s Budget Numbers Add Up?

• Nathan Benefield
• July 6, 2009

Mario Cattabiani and Angela Couloumbis take a look at some of Gov. Rendell’s latest budget rhetoric, namely his claim that 50% of Pennsylvanians don’t pay the Personal Income Tax,…

Media

Taxes & Economy

What Obama’s Critics Really Say

• Nathan Benefield
• July 6, 2009

I like this post by Scott Ott, in which he challenges Obama’s comments that critics “say we are trying to do too much, that we are moving too quickly”. …

Media

Government Accountability

10 Ways to Balance the Budget Without Tax Hikes

• Elizabeth Stelle
• July 3, 2009

Contrary to the Governor’s rhetoric, there are a plethora of reforms and spending cuts that can balance the budget without firing our police, evicting our elderly, or dumbing down our…

Media

State Budget

Pennsylvania Budget Proposals – Revised Spreadsheet Now Online

• Nathan Benefield
• July 3, 2009

The Rendell administration has released a new version of his Pennsylvania state budget proposal, unfortunately this is only available in a PDF document, and does not include the allocation…

Media

Pennsylvania House Passes Silly Bills

• Nathan Benefield
• July 3, 2009

We are now three days in to the fiscal year without a state budget, yet the Pennsylvania House Democrats still refuse to bring any spending or revenue legislation up for…

Media

State Budget

Why Are State Budget Negotiations Secret Meetings?

• July 2, 2009

With all the debate surrounding the Budget this summer, a concerned taxpayer has the right to see exactly what his representatives and legislature are doing on the people’s time,…

Media

Where Does YOUR Legislator Stand? | “Yes, We Can!”

• July 2, 2009

Gov. Rendell is saying, “No, You Can’t!” balance the budget without raising taxes on working Pennsylvanians and job creators.   But many members of the House and Senate are saying,…

Press Release

Who is Blogging about the Commonwealth Foundation

• Nathan Benefield
• July 2, 2009

A new, hopefully regular, feature on Policy Blog will be a roundup of Commonwealth Foundation citations in the Pennsylvania blogosphere.  Here are some blog posts from the past week:…

Media

Government Accountability

PA General Assembly Costs $50,000 Per Day for One Hour Sessions

• Nathan Benefield
• July 2, 2009

ABC 27 News has a story on the high cost of the General Assembly – $50,000 per day – to have sessions during the budget impasse. This is very…

Media

Taxes & Economy

Upcoming Pennsylvania Tea Parties

• Nathan Benefield
• July 1, 2009

The are a number of upcoming “Tea Parties” in Pennsylvania coming up in the near future, many on or around July 4. Here are some listings to find the event…

Media

State Budget

Pennsylvania Lawmakers Against Tax Hikes

• July 1, 2009

The Commonwealth Foundation today launched a new effort to collect names of Pennsylvania lawmakers who agree with President Obama when he said “In an economy like this, the…

Media

Taxes & Economy

EPA Internal Report Skeptical of “Global Warming”

• July 1, 2009

The Competitive Enterprise Institute has revealed private emails they had obtained from the EPA skeptical of the science behind the global warming phenomena. In the emails, Alan Carlin and…

Media