The Edward H. Arnold Institute for Policy Studies

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 […]

Preparing Pennsylvania’s Workforce to Make the Most of American Energy

The stable price of natural gas, driven by its abundance right here in America, is helping manufacturers in steel, plastics and chemical sectors revitalize their workforces. The proposed ethylene cracker plant planned for Beaver County is a prime example of how abundant Pennsylvania natural gas will bring new manufacturing and petrochemical jobs to our region […]

The President Misled America About Benghazi Episode

It’s now clear that the events surrounding the lethal Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, qualifies as a defining moment for the president, his administration and this election. The most recent developments center on the assault itself. Last week, Reuters reported that diplomatic officers sent emails during the Benghazi attack and […]

The Civic Education America Needs

All countries seek to inculcate their youth with values that reflect and enhance their national culture—sometimes with horrific results, such as the goose-stepping Hitler Youth or head-nodding madrassas in the Middle East. America used to welcome the contest of ideas against such closed autocracies—fighting not with their forced demonstrations and coerced sloganeering, but by teaching […]

Election 2012: American Exceptionalism

Is America exceptional and perhaps even divinely ordained for peculiar purposes? Across four centuries, many Americans across the political spectrum have thought so. In the last decade, many on the Left have denounced this notion for supposedly fueling America’s aggressive War on Terror. Conservative author and King’s College President Dinesh D’Souza debated American Exceptionalism with […]

State Lawmakers Need to Let Job Creators Know What’s On Tap

In an interview that was published in the Harrisburg Sunday Patriot-News on October 7, 2012, Pennsylvania’s leading brewmaster Dick Yuengling, Jr.,President of D.G. Yuengling & Son, -America’s oldest brewery – (headquartered in Pottsville, PA) said that due to tremendous growth of his company and demand for his products he will have to build another brewery, […]