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December 12, 2011 | Commentary by DAWN MELING
PLCB Must End Costly Mission Conflict
In high school, I threw the javelin in track and field, badly wanting to be recruited by a college athletics program. My dad would joke that he never had to worry about high school boys and unwanted attention towards me because I could out bench press almost every guy in my school. And that was my attitude too - nothing to worry about.
Recent Blog Posts
FEBRUARY 7, 2012
Stop the Fiscal Inferno!
Burn, baby, burn, it's a fiscal inferno!
Okay, perhaps that's not exactly how the old disco song goes, but that's certainly how some politicians are singing it in Harrisburg. Pennsylvania's fiscal house is about to catch fire and they need to change their tune.
While bell bottoms and leisure suits have long since gone out of style, it has taken Pennsylvania far longer to snap out of the Seventies tax-and-spend mindset. Before Gov. Corbett and the legislature cut spending last year, state spending had grown for decades, far outpacing inflation and population growth. This built a budgetary bonfire that will soon reduce Pennsylvania families to ashes if we don't put it out now.
Yet, too many in Harrisburg continue to cling to a disco-era mentality, failing to create jobs, modernize antiquated "prevailing wage" mandates, privatize liquor stores, or save children from failing and violent schools.
Worse yet, a new, job-killing tax was revealed yesterday that just passed the Senate - a tax that would not put out the fiscal inferno, but instead would feed it. This came suddenly after a handful of legislators and staff struck a deal behind closed doors. As the fiscal inferno grows, we will watch thousands of jobs and affordable home energy go up in flames. Burn, baby, burn.
Don't stand by and watch the fiscal inferno destroy our financial future. Click here to ask your legislator to protect Pennsylvania's economy from the four-alarm inferno and click here to ask them to vote against a tax on Marcellus Shale drilling. It will take just a few short minutes; please take action right now! It's time for Harrisburg to snap out of the Seventies and for overgrown government and tax-and-spend attitudes to go the way of platform shoes and polyester double-knits.
posted by DAWN MELING | 03:31 PM | 0 comment
JANUARY 19, 2012
Want to Help PA's Kids?
With the 10-year anniversary of No Child Left Behind recently passing, the $20.7 million bailout for Chester-Upland School District, and students in Neshaminy sitting at home while their teachers strike, the timing of School Choice Week (Jan. 22-28) seems especially timely here in Pennsylvania.
Please join us at the following two School Choice Week events to show your support for education in Pennsylvania that best serves the child, not the system.
- School Choice Legislative Briefing - Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 10 a.m. in the North Capitol Building in Harrisburg. Matt Brouillette will be joining a panel discussion on the need for school choice in PA.
- Restoring American Exceptionalism Townhall - Saturday, Jan. 28 at 2 p.m. at Hershey Lodge. Featured guest speakers include: Dick Morris, Bob Bowden, and Chris Freind
posted by DAWN MELING | 10:27 AM | 0 comment
DECEMBER 27, 2011
Marcellus Drilling Rescues Williamsport
Earlier this month, I visited Williamsport, home of the Little League World Series and a growing economy. Clearly it's not just baseball that brightens this central Pa. city – Williamsport has seen unemployment drop almost 20 percent in the past two years, representing jobs desperately needed in a city that last year had a poverty level 14 percent higher than the state average. One of the major reasons for this growth? According to the executive vice president of the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce, it's Marcellus Shale.
Now, Williamsport and Lycoming County certainly aren't the only beneficiaries of the natural gas boom, we see these stories throughout the state. What struck me is that it's not just the natural gas industry and those involved that benefit from Marcellus Shale – it's everyone working in Williamsport! As more people move into town to take natural gas-related jobs, foot traffic is increasing at the mall, sales are going up, and more retail jobs are being created.
According to the Department of Labor and Industry, retail hirings reached 200 in the Williamsport area, which increased the number of retail jobs to 6,700. In October, that pushed retail above its previous year's level for the first time since October 2008.
But it's not just job creation that's perking up in Williamsport, it's overall job improvement throughout the city. As a local resident pointed out to me, as new, well-paying Marcellus jobs come into town, employers in all industries throughout Williamsport have had to up their game, treating and compensating employees better because they have to compete to retain and attract good workers. In the past two years, average hourly earnings in Williamsport have gone up 16 percent.
While Williamsport still has plenty of room to grow, this is great news for a city that had a median household income that was nearly 45 percent lower than the state average in 2010. And it's great news for our state, as the benefits of natural gas drilling continue to touch more and more Pennsylvanians.
posted by DAWN MELING | 00:35 PM | 0 comment
