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Unforgiveable

  By 2016 Presidential race

Given that we are in relentless pursuit of every mistaken political position and illegitimate friendship Clinton and Sanders have taken and made in their lives, I decided to put all my Facebook friends under the same scrutiny. I made a list of the 100 most important issues of my lifetime, starting with the Cuban Missile crisis. And I made a list of the most odious people in national, state, and local politics. I was going to ask all of you to indicate your position on those issues AT THE TIME (anyone can be right after the fact). And I was going to require that you all indicate if you ever had a conversation with the odious people in which you didn’t tell them how horrible they were. My plan was to de-friend anyone who did not score at least a 95%. Because, if you were wrong about the 1994 crime… Continue reading

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Pennsylvania at the Crossroads

  By PA Budget and Policy Center, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Budget

Originally published at Third and State, February 9, 2016 Pennsylvania is at a crossroads. We face a stark and profound choice between two different paths. The first path would build on the broad consensus about public policy that animated our politics for generations. That consensus, forged by both Democrats and Republicans, recognizes that without good public education, our kids won’t succeed and our economy will stall.  It accepts responsibility for taking care of the disabled, ill and aged who, through no fault of their own, need our help. It seeks no more, but also no less, taxation and government necessary to attain these critical goods. And it places the tax burden on those who can afford it most, corporations and the wealthy. The other path, which abandons common sense and is contrary to the experience of most Pennsylvanians, tell us that government never works. It falsely proclaims that our schools… Continue reading

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Which Door Will the Taxman Knock On?

  By Pennsylvania State Taxes, Published op-eds

Originally published in the Allentown Morning Call, February 6, 2016 If we in Pennsylvania are to avoid another billion-dollar cut in education spending plus a billion-dollar cut in spending on health care and human services, the taxman is going to have to knock on someone’s door. It’s time the knock comes on the doors of corporations and the wealthy, not those of the middle class and working people. The state’s Independent Fiscal Office recently projected that if no changes were made to current policy and taxes, the state of Pennsylvania would run a deficit of $318 million during the current year. That deficit would rise to $1.8 billion or more in the fiscal year beginning July 1. And that is the deficit before any new spending. If Gov. Wolf and the General Assembly reach an agreement on education spending, but not on how to raise the revenue to pay for… Continue reading

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On PA Budget: “Declare Victory” and Go Home

  By Budget, PA Budget and Policy Center, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Budget, Public Policy, Published op-eds

Originally published in NewsWorks, February 5, 2016 In 1966, Senator George Aiken returned from a trip from Vietnam with the recommendation that the United States “declare victory and bring the troops home.” It wasn’t entirely clear that the U.S. had won the war at that point, but we also hadn’t yet lost the war (as we would after another eight years of suffering and death). It’s a very different context, but I’m inclined to give the General Assembly similar advice: Finish the work on the bipartisan budget, declare victory, and go home. Last year, an appropriations bill that implements the bipartisan budget framework, SB1073, passed the Senate by an overwhelming vote of 43-7. It was one roll call vote short of passing the House in December, having already been approved by a narrow, yet bipartisan, majority on second reading. The General Assembly should return to that bipartisan approach now and then… Continue reading

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Don’t Stress About 2016

  By 2016 Presidential race

Here’s why I’m not stressing about the Democratic nomination. To win the nomination, Sanders has to do what he needs to do to win the general election: expand the electorate, turn out young people, convince the base of the party, Blacks, to support him, and win over white working class Democrats who sometimes vote Republican while not scaring off moderate Democrats with his tax and spending ideas. And he needs a volunteer base twice the size of Obama’a. If he does all that, he’ll be the next President. If not, Clinton will be the nominee and Sanders will enthusiastically support her and encourage his volunteers to work for her. Most of the people Sanders has energized will do so, if only because of the Republican nominee. And she will be elected president. I don’t see a bad ending here unless the Clinton and Sanders supporters adopt the tactics of Republicans… Continue reading

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Understanding the Numbers in a Budget Crisis

  By Budget, Education, K-12 Education in PA, PA Budget and Policy Center, Pennsylvania Budget, Policy reports

This Reports and Briefing Papers compares the three budget propasls comimng out of Harrisburg: Governor Wolf‰’s budget proposal, the Republican budget, and the bi-partisan budget. The report focuses especially on the differences and similarities among these three budgets with respect to proposed General Fund spending as a share of the state economy and spending on two key components of the budget, Pre-K-12 education funding and human services funding. Click here to print or read full screen.  Continue reading

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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

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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

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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

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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