No comments

Rep. Grove’s Diatribe Was Off-Key

  By PA Budget and Policy Center, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Budget, Published Op-Eds

Originally published in the York Daily Record, January 13, 2016 It’s always funny and sometimes sad when national entertainment trends filter down to our local communities. The rapper or metal band in our community may have picked up some of the moves and rhythms of the big stars, but they seem to be pale imitations at our local venues. That’s how Rep. Seth Grove’s diatribe against Governor Tom Wolf comes across. Grove wants to sound like one of the agitated and aggrieved conservative radio stars or Republican presidential candidates (who are hard to tell apart these days). Like them, he seeks to shock us and motivate his followers with personal attacks. Like them, he seeks to create a rhetorical whirlwind that hides inconvenient facts. But his performance seems off-key here in Pennsylvania. (And, to his credit, he doesn’t seem entirely comfortable with it, either.) Gov. Tom Wolf is not some distant, high-handed… Continue reading

No comments

Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way

  By Pennsylvania Budget

Originally published at Third and State Blog, December 17, 2015 Five and a half weeks ago, Governor Wolf and the Democratic and Republican leaders of the Pennsylvania House and Senate announced a bi-partisan “budget framework” designed to end the long impasse over the budget. The framework agreement, like most compromises between parties that are far apart, pleased no one. But it provided enough to satisfy everyone. Or so we thought. In the last two weeks, the House Republicans have backed away from the bi-partisan agreement. In the last two days, Speaker Turzai has been demanding that someone else — the Governor or the House Democrats—come up with the votes to enact the tax revenues that are a necessary part of the budget framework. As I write, efforts are continuing to find those votes, most of which in the House are going to come from Democrats. Speaker Turzai, it appears, won’t… Continue reading

No comments

Why Black Lives Matter Matters

  By Racial Justice

Written for JSPAN and Originally posted on the Jewish Social Policy Action Network website as WHY BLACK LIVES MATTER MATTERS TO JSPAN Prologue In the aftermath of the controversial deaths of Black men and women at the hands of sworn officers of the law in Ferguson, Missouri; Staten Island, New York; Cleveland, Ohio; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Charleston, South Carolina; Baltimore, Maryland; Waller County, Texas; and elsewhere, a national movement called Black Lives Matter has risen in protest against injustice against African Americans. JSPAN’s Aim Black Lives Matter is a diverse, national movement, with many centers of activism across the country that have different goals and purposes. JSPAN cannot endorse every statement, idea, perspective, analysis, or policy proposal that flies under the banner of that movement. But, there is a long history of injustice against Blacks in America, a history that, contrary to the views of many, is not over. And there… Continue reading

No comments

Why Conservatives Can Like Pennsylvania’s Personal Income Tax

  By Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Budget, Pennsylvania State Taxes

Originally published at Third and State, December 14, 2015 Rumors of a sudden interest on the part of Republicans in raising the personal Income tax (PIT) instead of the sales tax to meet the revenue requirements of the budget framework have floated across 3rd Street to our offices at the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center. So I’m going to do something unusual for us—and frankly a bit uncomfortable—and give some conservative arguments for preferring the PIT over the sales tax. First, a PIT increase is for three reasons likely to place a smaller burden on businesses than a sale tax increase. For those goods and services on which the sales tax is imposed, the tax is paid on every purchase. It thus dissuades some people from making purchases. It especially dissuades those who live near a border with a state that has a lower sales tax from buying goods in… Continue reading

No comments

PA Sales Tax can be Expanded in an Equitable Way

  By Budget, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Budget, Pennsylvania State Taxes, Public Policy, Taxation

Originally published in NewsWorks, December 7, 2015 Legislators have been considering raising new — and necessary — revenue by expanding the sales tax base to include more goods and services instead of increasing the sales tax rate. This would be a good way to raise revenue if it is done in ways that make the tax more equitable. Still a broader sales tax would fall more heavily on low-income families. Legislators could limit the burden on those least able to bear it by coupling the sales tax expansion with a new, refundable sales tax credit. The inequity of the sales tax The original budget framework increased the state’s sales tax rate from 7 percent to 8.25 percent (and from 8 percent to 9.25 percent in Philadelphia). This proposal was opposed by many legislators. Some opposed any tax increase. Others worried that businesses near our borders with other states would lose… Continue reading

No comments

The Possibility of President Trump and the Limits of Nate Silver’s Thinking.

  By Elections, Politics, US

Google “Trump could win” and you will find out something I told you about two months ago, Trump has a real chance to win the Republican nomination. Nate Silver is still holding out. But as I’ll point out below, I think he is reasons are specious Why could Trump win? For all the reasons I’ve been saying. 1. His message resonates with a substantial part of the Republican electorate which is motivated by racial and anti-feminist resentment, and fear of a world that seems untethered, not economic issues. His tough guy act gives his angry, scared followers some faith that he will be leader who will protect them and stand up for them. Trump is making a classic fascist appeal and, given the circumstances of American life today, it is finding some resonance in about a third of the Republican electorate. 2. His lead in the polls-which he has sustained… Continue reading

No comments

For City Commissioner: Carol Jenkins and Lisa Deeley

  By Philadelphia, Progressive Politics

Two candidates for City Commissioner stand far above all the others. Carol Jenkins and Lisa Deeley. City Commissioner is one of those row offices that carries out a really important function that is utterly unknown to most people. The City Commissioners are responsible for making sure that the machinery of our elections—from the books that contain the names of registered voters to the voting machines that record our votes—work and work fairly. When that machinery doesn’t work, as it nearly didn’t in 2012, people can be denied the basic right central to democratic politics. When the machinery of our elections is used to help one party or one faction or one candidate rather another—when polling places are moved to help some candidates or you have to know someone on the inside to even get the results of previous elections—then our elections are fundamentally unfair. When the Commissioners do their basic… Continue reading

No comments

Jim Kenney, With Pleasure

  By Philadelphia, Progressive Politics

I’m going to vote for Jim Kenney for Mayor next week. One reason, as I wrote earlier in the week, is to stop the Four Billionaires from electing a Mayor. But there is another reason as well. I think he could be a really good mayor. That he’s even running tells you a lot about why. Kenney got into the race late when the most likely candidate to take up the labor / progressive mantel against Tony Williams, after Darrell Clarke and Alan Butkovtiz declined to run. Clarke and Butkovitz had their own reasons not to run, but certainly one consideration was that Williams had broad support and the promise, which turned into reality, of getting a huge amount of funding from the Three Billionaires. Kenney had that reason to not run, as well. But, when the possibility of getting in late opened up when Ken Trujillo dropped out and… Continue reading

No comments

Council at Large Choices

  By Philadelphia, Progressive Politics

Here’s why I’m voting for Sherrie Cohen, Helen Gym, Bill Greenlee, Wilson Goode, and Derek Green for City Council at Large We have, it seems, almost an embarrassment of good candidates for Council at Large this year including both challengers and incumbents. But look closely and a few stand out above the others, not just because they have good characters and good ideas but because they have the potential to bring something to Philadelphia politics that we have long needed—a connection and commitment to engaging the public, and especially the progressive / labor community,  in politics. When I ran myself for this position in 2007 I said, repeatedly, that politics was broken in Philadelphia. That’s a little less so today in large because of some new voices, and reinvigorated old voices in Council and because of the efforts of Council President Darrel Clarke to make Council more assertive. But one… Continue reading

No comments

What Has to Change and What Doesn’t: A First Look at Klein

  By Environment, Philosophy, Political Organizing, Politics, Progressive Politics, Public Policy

Introduction I’d been planning to read “This Changes Everything (TCE)” for a few months, both because I want to learn more about the climate change issue and because I want to learn more about Naomi Klein’s take on the world. I’ve doing preliminary work on a project of my own on progressive political and policy strategy. (I’m also finishing another book now about sexuality and politics but I always work on two projects at once.) I finally started the book a week or so ago because my friend Cate Poe invited to join an on-line reading group. I’m only about half way through at the moment so this is a preliminary report, some of my initial thoughts on the book. I normally wouldn’t write anything until I was done with a book and spent a good deal of time thinking about it, but I feel some obligation to Cate to… Continue reading