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Fairness
New Analysis Reveals Striking Partisanship of Government Union Spending
Government unions spent more than $33 million on political causes and only 5.2 percent of PAC contributions went to non-Democratic candidates. Harrisburg, Pa., April 16, 2025 — Government unions…
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Prosperity
Independent Fiscal Office Exposes Shapiro’s Overinflated Revenue Projections
Read More: Independent Fiscal Office Exposes Shapiro’s Overinflated Revenue Projections
Education
Senate Republicans School Shapiro Administration, Stand up for Students and Taxpayers
Read More: Senate Republicans School Shapiro Administration, Stand up for Students and Taxpayers
Commonwealth Foundation Announces Promotion of Elizabeth Stelle to Vice President of Policy
Read More: Commonwealth Foundation Announces Promotion of Elizabeth Stelle to Vice President of Policy
Reform is Not Dead! (yet)
John Micek already posed the question: Bad night all around for the Clean Sweepers. All the under-ticket state judges appear poised to hold onto their jobs as well.
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Election News Roundup
Patriot News on Judicial Retentions and on Supreme Court Elections Inquirer on races in the Southeast and on the less competitive Philadelphia Mayor’s race. Post-Gazette on…
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Election Day Updates
GrassrootsPA is keeping running updates of elections news and reports from the polls, so that we don’t have to. John Micek is live blogging over at Capitol Ideas.
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Justifying Pork
Andrew Roth takes on the leading excuses for earmarks by Congress. These same excusses are used to defend WAMs and other corporate welfare in Pennsylvania (see here and…
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Consumer Driven Health Plans: Working as Intended
New report from Consumers for Health Care Choices on the effect of Consumer Driven Health Plans: When these programs were being considered, proponents said they would have several…
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A chance to end farm subsidies
Los Angeles Times editorial on the corporate welfare for rich farmers (including those in Manhattan). IDB has an op-ed of its own on the upcoming vote. Also…
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$2 million spent by PHEAA on giveaways
Jan Murphy of the Patriot News exposes more PHEAA expenses – including “giveaways” such as golf balls, LL Bean Jackets, and T-Shirts bearing the PHEAA logo, I-Pods and DVD…
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Convert state pensions to defined contribution
Senator Pat Browne has an op-ed in The Morning Call on the need to reform our public pension systems and the legislation he will be sponsoring in the…
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Beyond Those Health Care Numbers
Greg Mankiw in the New York Times on the misuse of health care statistics – life expectancy, “47 million uninsured,” and costs of health care.
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Scarnati submits op-ed by Turnpike Commission
Frothing at the mouth, President Pro-Tem Joe Scarnati cites the “evil foreign company” argument as to why he won’t allow consideration of a Turnpike lease (even though several…
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Last Chance to Learn About Judges
Here are surveys/info about the judges up for election and retention: Democracy Rising Judicial SurveyPennsylvania Family Institute Voters’ Guide PA League of Women’s Voters Voters’…
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Stadiums and Subsidies: Home Run for Wealthy Team Owners, Strike-out for Taxpayers
National Taxpayers Union has put out a new analysis of taxpayer subsidized professional sports studiums.
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Why we blog
Nicholas Carr thinks Greg Mankiw should stop blogging. His rationale is the economic concept of “comparative advantage” – that is, Greg Mankiw is a brilliant economist and should…
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For-Profit Philly Schools show math gains
A new study finds that for-profit school management led to math test score gains in Philadelphia (News Release and AP Story): “The impact of for-profit…
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More on Free Markets v. Socialized Medicine
In response to the criticisms of cancer survival statistics used in a Giuliani ad, David Grazter has defended his statistic and provides additional data about survival rates…
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Peterson Calls on Turnpike Commission to Pull False, Toll-Funded Ads
Congressman Peterson calls on the Turnpike Commission to stop buying ads using toll revenue, that he calls a “misleading, disingenuous toll-paid media campaign, promoting the tolling of Interstate 80”.
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Another Great Milton Friedman Video
In this 30 minute video, Friedman explains why he is a “liberal,” not a “conservative; what is wrong with minimum wage laws (and why they are used to discriminate);…
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Audit: Management of Pa. business grants was lax
More criticism of the lack of monitoring, accountability, and compliance with laws in the state’s corporate welfare programs, this time from the Auditor’s office. Click here for the AP…
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Open Records Bills Updates
Jamie Blaine at PassOpenRecords.org on the House and Senate open records bills. UPDATE: Details of the Pennsylvania Freedom of Information Coalition (PaFOIC) and PA Newspaper Association Forum…
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Government Health Insurance Kills
Somebody needs to fact check FactCheck, like me. The group FactCheck.org issued a “fact check” on an ad by Rudy Giuliani comparing health care in the UK and…
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Great Milton Friedman Video
In 2 minutes, Milton Friedman explains the errors of socialism, the benefits of free markets, and public choice theory, all while making Donahue look silly. HT: The…
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