Sometimes All Politics Aren’t Local As the President of the Pennsylvania Coal Alliance and a former Pennsylvania State Senator, I have witnessed firsthand the unintended consequences of government policies. Nowhere has this been more evident than in the area of energy policy. The Obama Administration, through the efforts of the EPA, has mercilessly attacked the […]
The Edward H. Arnold Institute for Policy Studies
Death Shouldn’t Kill Family Business Jobs: Ending the Inheritance Tax on ‘Mom-and-Pop Shops’
Family-owned and operated small businesses, our “mom-and-pop shops,” create 65 percent of Pennsylvania’s jobs. Often, mom and pop and their children work long and hard with the sincere hope that these job-growing enterprises will be carried on from one generation to the next. Yet, instead of doing all we can to encourage the continuity of […]
Government Reform Caucus: A Step in the Right Direction
GOVERNMENT REFORM CAUCUS: A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION TO PUT CITIZENS BACK IN CONTROL OF GOVERNMENT A Republican State Representative and a Democratic State Senator have announced the creation of a new Government Reform Caucus in the General Assembly. The ideas they are advancing are state government reform ideas that the Susquehanna Valley Center […]
State Liquor Control’s Coalition of the Ludicrous
The following is a Philadelphia Inquirer editorial from March 26, 2013: ‘Why would you ever vote for something that ludicrous?” State Rep. Mike Sturla’s question last week was an excellent one if turned on its asker, who was engaged in a vigorous defense of Pennsylvania’s deeply ludicrous wine and liquor monopoly. Government liquor control has […]
Liquefied Gas Exports Would Boost Growth
LNG is a commonly used acronym for liquefied natural gas, essentially natural gas that is put into liquid form, often for the purpose of transportation. For international trade, LNG is sent in insulated tanker ships using refrigeration that keeps the liquefied natural gas at a chilly -260 degrees Fahrenheit. Global shipments travel to receiving terminals […]
Debt Ceiling Deal: GOP Win or Loss?
What actually happened last week on the debt ceiling? Did John Boehner and the Republicans cave to President Obama and the Democrats? Or did they wisely re-sequence the whole fiscal debate? There are three big deadlines that face the nation’s fiscal health in the next five months or so. In order, they are first, the […]
Higher Energy Taxes Will Hurt The Economy
York County’s population continues to expand at a steady rate and York County remains one of the fastest-growing counties in Pennsylvania. From 2000 to 2009 the county experienced a population increase of 12.4 percent compared to the state average of 2.6 percent. Take a survey of York County’s industries – manufacturing, construction, transportation and warehousing […]
Examine the Real Fiscal Cliff
In February, the government will again exceed the cap on how much it can legally owe. Government debt has grown by $6 trillion since President Obama took office, and this will be the fifth time he asks Congress to increase the cap. “I will not have another debate with this Congress over whether or not […]
A Solution to the Fiscal Cliff: It is Time for Compromise
“[T]he vast majority of Democrats on Capitol Hill would prefer not to have to do anything on entitlements, would prefer, frankly, not to have to do anything on some of these debt and deficit problems. … And what I’ve tried to explain to them is, number one, if you look at the numbers, then Medicare, […]
Pension Reform: Consolidation Is Not the Answer
Pennsylvania’s pension funding problem didn’t happen overnight, and you can’t fix it overnight. Recently, there’s been a lot of buzz about pension reform, and rightfully so. Pennsylvania is on the fast track to a crisis. The commonwealth’s pension programs for some 800,000 state workers and public school teachers are in the hole to the tune […]