Tom Purcell Columns category, Page 11

Tom Purcell: Hey, America! We need another baby boom!

America’s declining birthrate has given me pause. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of babies born in the United States in 2018 was the lowest in 32 years, continuing what NBC News calls “a decades-long trend toward fewer and fewer babies being born each year.”...
Tom Purcell: Time to retire Social Security numbers

Like most people, I didn’t think much about my Social Security number — until I got a bizarre call from a total stranger. “Hello?” I answered suspiciously, because I saw “restricted” on my smartphone screen. “Hello, Tom.” “Who is this? What do you want?” “Who I am isn’t important. I...
Tom Purcell: Honor the fallen, help Pittsburgh Hires Veterans

With your military service complete, you’re eager to return home and get on with life in the private sector. Surely, in a booming economy, you’ll have your pick of jobs? Your training is extensive, after all — the U.S. military’s technology training and educational advancement is among the world’s very...
Tom Purcell: ‘Do over’ proms pursue perpetual adolescence

Prom season is upon us. We all know what that means: More American adults are doing their proms all over again. A New York Times headline about a growing number of adults says they are taking “A second shot to have the best night of their lives.” And carrying on...
Tom Purcell: Mothers caretakers of all that is beautiful & true

I hope to be just like my mother one day. Now in her eighth decade, my ma has arrived at a coveted place: Her “filter” is pretty much gone, and she has no problem telling anyone what’s on her mind. “Ma, please don’t tell us any more details,” my five...
Tom Purcell: Doggone discourse better focused on real problems

Boy, is our political discourse going to the dogs. The Washington Post reports Donald Trump is the first U.S. president in 100-plus years not to have a dog — though others, including Ronald Reagan, didn’t have dogs until their second terms. During a February rally, reports The Post, Trump said...
Tom Purcell: ‘Trading up’: Daughters, sons can build careers debt-free

This Thursday is Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day, the one day every year when young people can learn — in person — about the work world of their parents or mentor. This year, more young people are showing interest in the trades — with good reason. According...
Tom Purcell: Bribing kids’ way into the ‘easy life’ robs them of true happiness

Boy, do I feel sorry for Lori Loughlin’s daughters. It’s been all over the news that Loughlin and her husband allegedly paid $500,000 in bribes to get their two girls into the University of Southern California. The fellow they allegedly bribed is said to have helped them falsely identify the...
Tom Purcell: Hope ‘springs’ eternal for civil discourse

Spring has finally arrived in all its glory. In Pittsburgh, the weather has warmed, the trees are blossoming and the birds are singing cheerfully. Sure, we Pittsburghers get plenty of rain this time of year, but as English poet Thomas Tusser reminds us, “Sweet April showers do spring May flowers.”...
Tom Purcell: At tax time, better to laugh than cry

Tax season is upon us, which gives us a choice: Laugh or cry. I choose to laugh. Dave Barry offers useful advice for getting through this trying time: “It’s income tax time again, Americans: time to gather up those receipts, get out those tax forms, sharpen up that pencil, and...
Tom Purcell: God chose this Little Sister to be a beggar

Sister Margaret Mary didn’t think she was up to the job. Nine years ago, during her 40th year of religious service, she had been assigned the most difficult role of her life: full-time beggar at the Little Sisters of the Poor retirement residence in Pittsburgh. Little Sisters of the Poor...
Tom Purcell: Erasing capitalism? Consider the pencil first

Socialism is back in vogue in some quarters. According to the website of dictionary maker Merriam-Webster, socialism is a political theory that advocates “governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.” The concept is that government central planners can make really smart decisions to distribute...
Tom Purcell: Irish stereotypes no joking matter

Ah, St. Patrick’s Day is upon us — which means it’s time for retailers, and too many other Americans, to perpetuate the “drunken Irishman” stereotype. Here’s what three typical St. Patrick’s Day T-shirts available at Amazon.com say: “Half Irish, Half Drunk” “Irish Today, Hungover Tomorrow” “I’m So Irish, I Bleed...
Tom Purcell: Why ‘springing forward’ takes my dad weeks

Nobody dreads daylight saving time more than my father. He has his work cut out for him this coming weekend, when we “spring forward” by setting clocks ahead by an hour before going to bed Saturday night. You see, my mother loves clocks — so much that he has 14...
Tom Purcell: Donations to pay down U.S. debt pointless

With America’s national debt surpassing a frightening $22 trillion, it makes sense that fewer people are volunteering their hard-earned dough to help reduce it. Since 1961, the Bureau of the Public Debt has allowed Americans to “gift” money to the Treasury Department — on the condition that the money be...
Tom Purcell: Living the cord-cutting dream

I’m so unhappy with my cable TV and internet services that I’m going to do what I’ve long dreamed of doing: Cancel my subscription! I’m not alone in my unhappiness. Consumer Reports says cable providers “have consistently rated below average among services we cover.” A 2014 Consumer Reports survey of...

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