Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources on its Way to Becoming Simply...
A bill in the Pennsylvania legislature has conservationists on high alert. House Bill 2224, some fear, will open the way to sale of public lands without the normal path through the courts. All they...
View ArticleTop Ten European Unemployment Rates
“The unemployment rate is defined as the level of unemployment divided by the labor force. The labor force is defined as the number of people employed plus the number unemployed but seeking work.”...
View ArticleUnemployment Rates in the Americas
“The unemployment rate is defined as the level of unemployment divided by the labor force. The labor force is defined as the number of people employed plus the number unemployed but seeking work.”...
View ArticleMoney and Water Flow Naturally Away From Their Source
I have an electric stream behind my house. Water flows down the rocks, offering a drinking fountain for the dog, birds and wasps that live here, and soothing sound for me. There is a pump submerged at...
View ArticleDiscounting Lives to Maximize Profits
Imitating Sgt. Schultz of “Hogan’s Heroes,” Walmart executives claimed they knew nothing—NOTHING—about working conditions in a garment factory in Bangladesh where 112 workers died and more than 150...
View ArticleFiscal Chicken
Talk show hosts and other bloviators have spent hours giving their versions of the fiscal cliff. In fewer than 750 words, I’ll explain the truth. Taxes and the deficit are intertwined. If Congress...
View ArticleThe Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission: Unsafe At Any Speed
The Pennsylvania Turnpike was a landmark achievement for Pennsylvania motorists when it officially opened on October 1, 1940. Pennsylvanians had greater access to work, recreation, and family. Many...
View ArticleTen Big Tax Deductions
Charitable noncash contributions Charity, as I hope everyone remembers, begins with a tax deduction. Now, let’s say you emptied your closets and gave everything to Goodwill or a similar charity. The...
View ArticleBiggest National Bank Bailouts
Nation Year % of GDP Indonesia 1997 57% Cyprus 2013 56% Argentina 1980 55% Iceland 2008 44% Jamaica 1996 44% Thailand 1997 44% Chile 1981 43% Ireland 2008 41% Macedonia 1993 32% Turkey 2000 32% South...
View ArticleHow the Corbett Administration Is Diverting State Funds to Bail Out Harrisburg
How do you make a state bailout not look like a state bailout? That question is now being answered in Harrisburg, even if in a ridiculous fashion, in part by two words: parking spaces. For months...
View ArticleTop Ten Richest Countries of the World
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) dollar estimates are derived from the purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita of various nations. This list of the top ten richest countries in the world is based on...
View ArticleTom Corbett’s Sizzle has Fizzled
With his popularity about the same as a hairy wart, Gov. Tom Corbett (R-Pa.) had to make some critical changes in his administration if he has any hope of winning a second term in 2014. There are many...
View ArticleJumping Aboard Fracking’s Fossil Fuel Carousel
Two Pennsylvania legislators who have taken money from—and enthusiastically supported—the natural gas industry have teamed up to now praise coal. State Sen. Gene Yaw (R-Williamsport), chair of the...
View ArticleRichard Nixon: The Last Liberal President?
It’s been forty years since Richard Nixon’s obsession with Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers backfired and led to the 1971 landmark First Amendment Decision, i.e., New York Times v. United...
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