Featured Commentary category, Page 76
Bloomberg editors: Thanks to FTX, regulating crypto should be easy
As the demise of the FTX crypto empire unfolds — on Twitter, in bankruptcy proceedings, in congressional hearings and potentially in criminal court — lawmakers and regulators are grappling with a question: What, if anything, should they do to civilise a market so rife with abuse? A few simple fixes...
Cal Thomas: An old debt carries over to a new year
”Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt.” — Herbert Hoover “Rather go to bed without dinner than to rise in debt.” — Benjamin Franklin Eighteen Republican senators voted for the monstrosity known as the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill, thus forever relinquishing their claim to belong...
Paul Muschick: Is your New Year’s resolution to make more money? Here’s one idea.
If you’re looking for a resolution to make for the new year, here’s a suggestion. We’d all like to find a way to bring in some extra cash, right? So check to see if you have unclaimed property in your name. The Pennsylvania Treasury is holding more than $4 billion...
Peter Morici: Degrowth solutions won’t solve global warming
Climate change, pandemics, Putin’s madness and China’s ambitions threaten humanity with droughts and floods of biblical proportions, nonnavigable rivers and disappearing island nations, fractured global supply chains and shortages of vital resources like commercial fertilizer, and famine and mass migrations. Much of this has been enabled or exacerbated by industrialization...
Sarah Green Carmichael: What we learned about hybrid work in 2022
This was supposed to be the year of returning to the office. The same could be said for 2021, and even the second half of 2020. The office seems to have become a place where we’re always “returning” but never quite “arriving.” Although office occupancy rates have risen meaningfully, they...
Joseph Friedman: Finally, some promising news on opioids for patients in severe pain
The U.S. remains in the midst of an ever-worsening drug overdose crisis. Because prescription opioids drove its earlier phases, the nation responded by drastically reducing access to those drugs — with prescriptions dropping by nearly 50% over the last decade. But it’s now clear that approach was ineffective at combating...
Tom Ruscitti: Pittsburgh lost a treasure in Franco Harris
I grew up in Aliquippa, the son of a steelworker and a Steelers fan as long as I can remember. Franco Harris transformed an entire city in nine seconds — the “Immaculate Reception” gave an entire city hope, hope that we could be more than a dirty, smoky mill town...
Brian Backe: Use your head, not just your heart, when making charitable donations
It is that time of year when a little voice in our head reminds us that it is time to start thinking about giving to charitable nonprofits doing good work in our community and world. Sometimes there is another voice in the background asking, “How do I know they are...
Carl Kurlander: Franco Harris, a true hero
There already was going to be much written about Franco Harris, the legendary Pittsburgh Steeler who 50 years ago caught a deflected pass off his teammate at the last minute of a game against the Oakland Raiders in a play that would be known forever as the “Immaculate Reception.” Now,...
Sheldon Jacobson: Tech meltdown will help the economy — eventually
Technology companies are shedding jobs at disturbing rates. Those with experience in computing are being laid off, sometimes with little warning. Freshly minted computer science graduates are facing employment headwinds not seen for well over a decade. Is this the next dot-com bubble burst, which could send the economy spiraling...
Paul Muschick: Drug addicts, drivers will benefit from new Pennsylvania laws
The Christmas season is a time to be cheery and celebrate the good things in life. So I will take a break from my running criticism of our overpaid state legislators to note some of the positive work they’ve done recently that should make Pennsylvania a safer place to live....
David Lenga: As a Holocaust survivor, the most important thing I can do is share my story
From Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., antisemitism is once again on the rise, being echoed by celebrities with wide audiences such as Kanye West and Kyrie Irving. To Jewish people who remember the Holocaust — or those, like myself, who survived it — this shameless bigotry is nothing new. Although...
Aubrey Kirchhoff: What we should and should not do about kids and social media
Chances are if you’ve read the news in the past year you’ve seen a headline like these: It’s time to go nuclear. Mark Zuckerberg is choosing profit over children. We need to ban kids from social media … . And who could disagree with them? After all, you must be...
Theodore J. Kury: What social media regulation could look like — think of pipelines, not utilities
Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, and his controversial statements and decisions as its owner, have fueled a new wave of calls for regulating social media companies. Elected officials and policy scholars have argued for years that companies like Twitter and Facebook — now Meta — have immense power over public...
Elwood Watson: Right-wing media’s reaction to Griner’s release telling
It sure didn’t take long for right-wing media figures to criticize the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner. Griner was released Dec. 8 by the Russian government as part of a negotiated prisoner exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, nicknamed “the merchant of death.” Since the deal was made...
Marie DeMarco: Speaking up for cleaner air
As a health educator in Southeastern Pennsylvania, I’ve seen firsthand just how harmful methane pollution from the oil and gas industry can be to our health. That’s why I am relieved that the Biden administration and the Environmental Protection Agency recently proposed new federal safeguards to curb methane pollution from...
Carolyn Kuranz: Why fusion ignition is being hailed as major breakthrough in fusion
American scientists have announced what they have called a major breakthrough in a long-elusive goal of creating energy from nuclear fusion. The U.S. Department of Energy said Dec. 13 that for the first time — and after several decades of trying — scientists have managed to get more energy out...
Jarrod Hayes: A tortured and deadly legacy — Kissinger and realpolitik in US foreign policy
In 2023, Henry Kissinger will mark a century since his birth and more than 50 years of influence on American foreign policy. Kissinger’s centennial represents an important opportunity to reflect on not only his influence, but also the effects of the vision of foreign policy he has espoused. When Kissinger...
Tim Hartman: The joy and agony of a mall Santa
I used to be a mall Santa. From the ages of 17 to 27, I dressed up as a hairy, overweight elf to bring joy to children throughout the Pittsburgh area. It was good honest work. OK … it was honest work. For three to four hours a day, seven...
Ken Ho: Mpox, AIDS, covid-19 show challenges of targeting public health messaging without causing stigma
During infectious disease outbreaks, clinicians and public health officials are tasked with providing accurate guidance for the public on how to stay safe and protect themselves and their loved ones. However, sensationalized media coverage can distort how the public perceives new emerging infections, including where they come from and how...
D. Brian Blank: Fed hiked interest rates for the 7th time — so why are mortgage rates coming down?
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by half a percentage point Dec. 14 to a range of 4.25 to 4.5%, the seventh increase this year. So far in 2022, the Fed has lifted its benchmark short-term rate, which influences most other borrowing costs in the economy, by 4.25 percentage points...
Bruce Yandle: How tariffs are raising the cost of Christmas presents and more
This time of year, most inflation-weary Christmas shoppers — and perhaps even the inflation-fighting Fed — would welcome an end to our government’s effort to raise the prices of the goods we buy in high volume. In this year’s third quarter, the federal government collected tariffs on imported goods, putting...
Zach Kennedy: The Trump effect in Pa.
A blue wave drowned the Keystone State on Nov. 8, flipping contested state House and Senate districts, delivering every tossup congressional seat, and elevating Attorney General Josh Shapiro to the governor’s office in one of the largest statewide landslides in the country, complimented by a decisive win for Lt. Gov....
David Thornburgh: In Pa., independent voters take center stage
Living and working in Pennsylvania this past election cycle has been reminiscent of a 1985 Sally Field Oscar acceptance moment: “You like me. Right now, you like me.” With Florida now a deeper red, Pennsylvania looms as perhaps the most important swing state in the 2024 election. Native Pennsylvanians like...
Bert Spector: Trump Organization tax fraud convictions show downsides of private companies having no independent oversight or outside accountability
Donald Trump’s family business was found guilty of 17 counts of tax fraud and other financial crimes on Dec. 6 in a case prosecutors said displayed a “culture of fraud and deception” at the Trump Organization. Allen H. Weisselberg, the company’s former chief financial officer, had previously pleaded guilty to...
