Featured Commentary category, Page 77
Peter Morici: The Fed should keep hiking rates, but talk about it less
Federal Reserve policy makers should not waver in their pursuit of 2% inflation but talk less about it. As measured year-over-year by the consumer price index, inflation slowed from 9.1% in June to 7.7% in October but the Fed faces tough challenges beyond the reach of monetary policy. Sanctions on...
Cal Thomas: Congressional lame duck quackery
There is little Republicans and Democrats in Congress agree on these days, but spending (and borrowing) money is as nonpartisan as it gets. House Democrats apparently have decided to leave their majority with a spending spree. They’ll do it the way they usually do. In a script familiar to an...
Jonathan Zimmerman: University rankings spur a revolt. What we need are more meaningful evaluations
In the beginning, God created the heavens, the Earth and American higher education. We lived in a bucolic state of nature until an evil serpent, U.S. News & World Report, tempted us to partake of the Tree of Knowledge — namely, college rankings. A fall from grace ensued. That’s what...
Liz Terwilliger: Power of listening can produce better candidates
Election Day is behind us, but as of this writing, the election is far from over. Races around the country remain contested, heading for a run-off or likely to wind up in the courts. I can say only one thing for certain about this election: A lot of voters are...
Ellen Glover: Congress can prevent more overdose deaths
We all want our homes to be filled with joy, comfort and the people we love the most during the holidays. But many of us will miss someone at the holiday table, because our country’s overdose crisis now touches almost every family and community. Overdoses took over 108,000 lives in...
David Osborne: Shapiro should follow Tennessee’s lead on dealing with unions
After contributing nearly $11 million to Governor-elect Josh Shapiro’s campaign, executives of Pennsylvania’s biggest labor union will surely expect a return on their investment. But for Shapiro, fulfilling those expectations would be a grave mistake, as the incoming governor can learn by studying contrasting examples from Illinois and Tennessee. During...
Edward Cunningham: Jiang Zemin propelled China’s economic rise in world, leaving successors to deal with massive inequality that followed
By the summer of 1989, a series of problems were threatening China’s stability. Soaring inflation was undermining the economy at home while the violent suppression of Tiananmen Square demonstrations had left it largely a pariah state abroad. Yet, within a few years the nation rebounded — beginning two decades of...
Teresa Wright: Protests in China are not rare — but the current unrest is significant
Street protests across China have evoked memories of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations that were brutally quashed in 1989. Indeed, foreign media have suggested the current unrest sweeping cities across China is unlike anything seen in the country since that time. The implication is that protest in China is a rarity....
Lisa Jarvis: That blockbuster Alzheimer’s drug? It’s not a cure.
Biogen Inc. and Eisai Co. caused a stir in September when they announced positive results in a late-stage trial for a closely watched Alzheimer’s drug, lecanemab. Doctors tempered their excitement, though, until they could scrutinize the full peer-reviewed data. That data arrived Tuesday night. And while it is stoking enthusiasm...
Cal Thomas: On turning 80
“Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures.” (Psalm 90:10) A TV ad for a dietary supplement features a woman who says, “Age is just a number and mine is unlisted.” Mine is not unlisted and a simple internet search can reveal it, so I...
Jessica Poitras and Daryl James: Ugly deal for Pa. beauty workers
Pennsylvania code enforcers caught a criminal on May 21, 2021, but not the dangerous kind. The outlaw’s offense was braiding hair with a lapsed occupational license. Her penalty: $250. Many other Pennsylvania beauty professionals remain on the lam. Since 2009, anyone guilty of twisting, wrapping, weaving, extending, locking or braiding...
John L. Micek: Mass shootings prompt new calls for assault weapons ban. Will it happen?
There was no mistaking the anger in President Joe Biden’s voice on Thanksgiving Day as he once again decried America’s fatal love affair with guns. “The idea we still allow semi-automatic weapons to be purchased is sick. Just sick,” Biden said, according to the Associated Press. In the wake of...
Cal Thomas: Biden’s misplaced emphasis on one gun
We now know at least one of the priorities of the Biden administration during the remaining weeks Democrats control the House of Representatives. The president says he would try to “get rid of assault weapons.” Speaking to reporters at his Nantucketholiday house, Biden said: “The idea (that) we still allow...
Peter Morici: Sunak’s ideas won’t fix what’s broken in Britain. Here’s what will work.
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is looking to cut spending and raise taxes to appease financial markets, but that won’t give Britons a renewed path to growth and prosperity. From 2010 to 2016, David Cameron led the U.K. out of the global financial crisis with taxes at a fairly stable...
Sheldon H. Jacobson: TSA faces ethical limits in use of AI, but improvements must persist
Artificial intelligence has become a disruptive force in society. Terms such as machine learning, deep learning and neural networks have become commonplace among mainstream media, elicit ing visions of innovation that has the potential to change our lives. At its core, AI attempts to mimic the capabilities of the human...
Jennifer Bertetto: Why Trib Total Media is nixing negative political ads
A letter to readers from Jennifer Bertetto, president and CEO of Trib Total Media • Like you, we’re sick and tired of political attack ads. So, we’re getting rid of them. All Trib Total Media publications now have a new policy for political advertisements: They can be about the candidate,...
Jillian Peterson and James Densley: Rampage at Va. Walmart follows upward trend in supermarket gun attacks
A gun rampage at a Walmart in Virginia is the latest amid a rise in mass shootings in general in the U.S., and mass shootings at grocery and retail stores in particular. Multiple people including the gunman were killed in the incident Nov. 22 at a Walmart in Chesapeake. It...
Jeannine Bell: Suspect in the Colo. LGBTQ shootings faces hate crimes charges — what exactly are they?
The 22-year-old suspected shooter at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colo., who allegedly killed five and injured dozens faces five counts of murder and hate crimes charges. Hate crimes are known as “bias-motivated” crimes in Colorado. The charges against the shooter are still preliminary, although Colorado Springs Mayor John...
John Hinshaw: Will Pa. GOP change course? Probably not.
This was not the midterm election Pennsylvania Republicans were expecting. The New York Times reveals that voters in the Keystone State trended leftward, while across the border in New York, the opposite was true, despite the reelection of a Democratic governor. As it stands, the state GOP is trying to...
Cal Thomas: Thanksgiving to whom?
Merriam-Webster has announced it is adding about 500 new words to its seventh edition of the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary. I doubt most people will ever use them in conversation or in writing, but they will be beneficial when playing the board game. Meanwhile, the corruption of the English language...
Andrew Chew: Outdated property tax assessments result in unfair tax burdens
One of the most significant sources of revenue for public schools and local governments in Pennsylvania is property taxes. As homeowners across the commonwealth know, property tax bills greatly affect the budgets of many households, from middle-class families to single parents to older adults on fixed incomes. Despite the huge...
Greg Fulton: Count your blessings and pray for Ukraine this Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a time for us to be thankful for the gifts bestowed upon us. We may be worried about making it to Grandma’s house on time for Thanksgiving dinner or ensuring that the turkey is cooked perfectly, but these concerns are trivial compared to those faced by others in...
Kyle Sammin: One cheer for Josh Shapiro
If you believe President Joe Biden, democracy itself was at stake in the midterm elections earlier this month. This theme was more than just a new variation on the “most important election of our lifetimes” line that politicians trot out every two years. It was a cynical attempt to distract...
Dr. Andrew Smolar: Teaching kids to cope in social media world
I was a student for 32 years. That time was spent in classrooms, labs, hospitals and quiet offices. Countless hours spent learning the language of medicine and the mysteries of the mind. Such was the pathway for a psychiatrist who became a psychoanalyst. But I wasn’t introduced to psychology until...
Aaron Chapin: PSERS has delivered for school retirees — and Pa.’s economy
In a job interview, a good human resources manager will ask about your professional experience — all of it, not just the past six months to a year. When considering contractors to fix your roof, you’re going to look at how well customers rate them — not just now but...
