Month: August 2021

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An Open Letter to State Representative Russ Diamond

  By COVID-19

Dear Representative Diamond, The other day you publicly shared an article about the possible dangers of the mRNA vaccines against COVID-19. I read it and the underlying scientific article. While one can raise some quibbles about the scientific competence of computer scientists writing about viruses and vaccines, I actually think it is an excellent example of the kind of hard questioning that is central to the process of scientific inquiry. The article draws on some established and new theories to raise questions about whether the mRNA vaccines could have negative consequences. Without that kind of questioning and the research it generates, it is possible to miss unintended consequences of medical treatments. (I believe that some people with scientific expertise think that some of the theories put forward in the article are misunderstood or quite wrong. But I don’t have the expertise to make that judgment. My conclusions here presuppose that… Continue reading

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STATEMENT: The Shortfall in Rental Assistance Is a Policy Choice

  By Housing, PA Budget and Policy Center, PBPC Blog posts, Statements

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, 45,000 households have applied for rental assistance as of Friday, August 6. But the City of Philadelphia only has enough funding to provide help for half of them, and more applications are coming in every day. No one should be surprised by this devastating result. In June, a PA Budget and Policy Center policy paper showed that the General Assembly had distributed federal funds for rental assistance in a way that shorted urban counties, which are also counties that have a higher share of Black families. The Pennsylvania General Assembly distributed emergency rental funds based on county population. At first glance, that may seem reasonable. But there is enormous variation in both the share of households that rent their homes in each county and in the cost of housing in each county. So, a population-based formula for distributing emergency rental funds short-changes our state’s urban… Continue reading

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Small Businesses and Workers Need Help From the State—And Each Other

  By Economic Development, Economic Justice, PBPC Blog posts, Small / Local Business

Thanks to the American Rescue Plan enacted by President Biden, we’re seeing the economy recover faster than people suspected was possible when we were in the depths of the pandemic recession nine months ago. But that recovery doesn’t include everyone. Small businesses and many working people are still hurting. They need Pennsylvania’s government to help them by using the 7.5 million dollars of our tax money the General Assembly refused to spend in June. Fifteen months after the beginning of the pandemic, small business revenue in Pennsylvania is still down 28% relative to pre-COVID levels. It has continued to decline in the last two months. As of June 21st, the number of small businesses open in Pennsylvania was below that at the start of 2020 by about 37%. The last two months have seen a decline of roughly 10 percentage points. Many workers remain in trouble, too. As of May 2021,… Continue reading

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PA Republican Logic: Reject The Needs of Pennsylvanians and Democracy As Well

  By PA Budget and Policy Center, PBPC Blog posts, Pennsylvania, Politics

Flush with $10 billion in $7.3 billion in federal funds and a $3-billion, current-year surplus—all of which comes from our taxes—the Republican majority enacted a budget that neither provides much relief from the pandemic nor includes public investments to reduce our state’s glaring economic and racial inequity. And while ignoring those problems, the Republican majority passed legislation to make voting more difficult. The inaction on the budget and the actions taken to make it harder for people to vote are connected. An overwhelming majority of the public, including a substantial number of Republicans, want American Rescue Plan funds to be invested in the people of Pennsylvania. There are many opportunities for such investment: One-tenth of the funds available this year could have been used to fund Governor Wolf’s bold $1.3-billion proposal to take a major step toward reducing our worst-in-the-nation inequality in K-12 school funding. (The $300 million in new education… Continue reading