Leaders of the Senate and House Democrats have a budget agreement to spend nearly $28 Billion. The deal includes $200 Million in taxes from expanded gambling. Yet promises from slots machines have already fallen short for the past five years.

This week, Matt talks with Rep. Bill DeWeese about the budget and his efforts to expand table games, Michael Geer of the Pennsylvania Family Institute about his opposition to them, and with Rick Dreyfuss about the pension “deform” in Philly.

 

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Pennsylvania public employee pension funds are in bad financial shape. The political manipulations and market downturns of this decade have blown multi-billion dollar holes in the state’s largest defined-benefit pension plans.

This week, Matt will chat will pension expert Rick Dreyfuss about how we got in this situation and how much more the taxpayers will have to pay into the retirement accounts of the state’s teachers, judges, state workers, and legislators. They will also discuss the reforms Pennsylvania needs in order to limit future taxpayer liabilities.

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The ongoing budget impasse and the attendant secrecy of negotiations have many asking, What has happened to reform?

This week, Matt will explore what has happened to the commitment to change the way business is done in Harrisburg.




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Unions depend on politics for coerced dues/fees, as well as special legislative privileges. This week, Matt will explore how union politics cost us both financially and in our personal freedoms.



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Congress wants to raise the cost of EVERYTHING. Well, they won’t say that, but the so-called “Cap & Trade” legislation that passed the House and will be considered by the Senate this fall will do just that.

This week, Matt talks with Rolf Hanson of the Associated Petroleum Industries of Pennsylvania about the impact of this legislation. Gene Barr of the PA Chamber of Business & Industry discusses a General Assembly proposal, HB 80, which would further increase energy costs to consumers, while Brian Turk of Alpha Natural Resources shares how onerous and expensive the regulatory process already is even before these bills become law. Then Steve Bloom, a lecturer at Messiah College in Management and Business, discusses what we can expect from these kinds of bad ideas in Washington and Harrisburg.

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President Obama thinks government intervention can solve our health care insurance problems.  Matt talks to Peter Ferarra, author of “The Obama Health Plan: Rationing, Higher Taxes, and Lower Quality Care” about the realities and myths of ObamaCare and its potential impact in Pennsylvania.  Nate Benefield discusses the findings of a new report written by a research team headed by noted economist and former presidential advisor Dr. Arthur Laffer, entitled, The Prognosis for National Health Insurance: A Pennsylvania Perspective. And Frank Dixon of Lebanon County joins Matt to talk about a new nonprofit health clinic he’s helping launch called Volunteers in Medicine.




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Taxpayer-funded projects in Pennsylvania require public entities to pay the so-called “prevailing wage” for construction labor. The result is that taxpayers are forced to pay higher than market rate prices — sometimes 30% higher.

This week, Matt chatted with Ron Grutza of the PA Association of Boroughs and Tom Gentzel of the PA School Boards Association about these additional costs to taxpayers. State Sen. Mike Waugh also joined Matt to discuss some of the remedies he has proposed to rectify this unnecessary taxpayer expenditure.

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This Saturday, Sen. Jeff Piccola will be hosting THE BOX. Give him a call at 717.540.0580.



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Dr. Tom Palmer of the Cato Institute and Atlas Economic Research Foundation will join Matt this week for a discussion about his new book, Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice

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THE BOX is YOUR BOX, once again. Matt and Eric Epstein discussed what’s been happening (and not happening) in Harrisburg.







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