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Regulation

More Corporate Welfare

• Nathan Benefield
• January 4, 2006

Here is a good piece by the Allegheny Institute on the $50 million dollars of corporate welfare granted by state and local government to PNC for construction of…

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Regulation

The Looming Financial Crisis — Public Sector Pensions

• January 4, 2006

Whether it is pensions for state workers, teachers or legislators, the financial promises made by politicians have put taxpayers on the hook. How much? Well, don’t ask the people who…

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Public Union Democracy

What’s “Education” got to do with it?

• January 3, 2006

The Wall Street Journal highlights the political agenda (via its $65 MILLION in spending to support political causes) of the National Education Association. This would not be a problem…

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Taxes & Economy

Defending the Indefensible

• January 2, 2006

Gov. Rendell just doesn’t get it that if Pennsylvania is the next state to tax, borrow and spend itself to prosperity, it will also be the FIRST! In this…

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Regulation

Public Pensions: The Coming Financial Crisis in PA

• January 2, 2006

While Pennsylvanians were up in arms over the pay raise, the ongoing public-sector pension scandal and coming financial crisis should make taxpayers even more irate. The promise of defined benefits…

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Taxes & Economy

“inebriation of your own buncombe”

• January 1, 2006

Colin McNickle of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review gets it right on the money … no, make that YOUR money. Read ‘Public-purpose’ mountebanks in today’s Trib.

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Citizens of the Year

• January 1, 2006

Editorial in the Philadelphia Inquirer…

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Health Care

Free lifetime health care will be costly

• December 29, 2005

The growing tab for taxpayer-funded benefits, in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

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Will the General Assembly override Gov. Rendell’s veto?

• December 29, 2005

With strong bi-partisan support of a meager tax cut in both houses of the General Assembly, enough votes exist to override Gov. Rendell’s veto. Rep. Dave Reed is the first…

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Power Motivates Unions

• December 28, 2005

From the Heartland Institute’s School Reform News… Power Motivates Unions Some wonder why the teacher unions, long so fervently opposed to charter schools, are now aggressively trying to recruit…

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“It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once.”

• December 28, 2005

Walter Williams on why we should guard against any encroachment on liberty, in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

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Pay-raise suit on to high court

• December 28, 2005

…”the state Supreme Court has agreed to hear Stilp’s arguments that the bill was unconstitutional because it allowed lawmakers to skirt a state constitutional ban on mid-term raises by taking…

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Taxes & Economy

Pro free-markets and pro-business are not the same

• December 27, 2005

George Mason University economics professor Don Boudreaux draws the important distinction between supporting free-markets and supporting businesses. For example, he writes: “Like many economists, I oppose minimum-wage legislation. But this…

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Taxes & Economy

Should we repeal the minimum wage?

• December 27, 2005

Hans F. Sennholz, Professor Emeritus at Grove City College, says “Good intentions, when guided by error and ignorance, may have undesirable consequences. There is no better example than minimum wage…

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Taxes & Economy

Guv can’t find 00.2% in budget fat

• December 26, 2005

AP story: Rendell Vetoes Tax Cuts As any economist worthy of his title would tell Gov. Rendell, using the 5 year total of $1.1 billion is a static (and…

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Taxes & Economy

Lawmakers take break on tax issue

• December 26, 2005

Will either the House or the Senate plan be enough to satisfy taxpayers? Methinks not. Here’s a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review story on the lull before the storm in Harrisburg. The…

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Taxes & Economy

“No room at the inn”

• December 24, 2005

At the heart of the Christmas story rests some important lessons concerning free enterprise, government, and the role of wealth in society. Let’s begin with one of the most famous…

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Remember Mark Sanford?

• December 23, 2005

From Paul Jacob’ Common Sense…. Former Congressman Mark Sanford is a good friend of term limits. In fact, he’s so good that a few years back he wrote a book…

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Taxes & Economy

New Population Data

• Nathan Benefield
• December 23, 2005

The US Census Bureau released their annual population estimates yesterday. Pennsylvania continues to lag behind: Pennsylvania’s population grew by 0.3% last year, slower than the national growth (0.9%) and…

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Education

Myths about Public Education

• Nathan Benefield
• December 21, 2005

Here is short article summarizing a few of the debunked myths about public education spending: National Center for Policy Analysis – Five Myths About Education. For those still looking…

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State Budget

Spending limit fear-mongering addressed

• December 21, 2005

Harrisburg Patriot-NewsLetter to the EditorWednesday, December 21, 2005 Stephen Herzenberg of the Keystone Research Center letter (Dec. 13) criticizes, in a most fascinating way, the proposed Taxpayer Fairness…

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