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Price controls ignore basic economics

Vice President Kamala Harris wants to make groceries cheaper. However, her vague proposal to ban “price gouging” will have the opposite effect. Economists, not known for consensus, agree on one thing: Price controls don’t work. By mandating price ceilings, government price controls always lead to shortages. And this isn’t some abstract economic theory; instead, it’s a real-world observation of their historically bad track record. Anybody who bought gasoline in the 1970s can attest. To curb high fuel prices and inflation, the U.S. government instituted price controls on ...

The perfect storm for dictatorial rule

Three recent political realities have come together to create the conditions that dramatically increase the potential for a transition from democratic rule to dictatorship in the United States. The convergence of these elements threatens the very existence of our constitutional republic. First, in Donald Trump, we have a candidate, neck-and-neck with his opponent in the presidential race, who has promised to act like a dictator. He has publicly threatened, if elected president, to implement policies heretofore considered unconstitutional and illegal. Second, we now have a permission ...

Nuclear energy gets reboot as electricity demands surge

PITTSBURGH -- What if we began looking at nuclear energy in a different way? What if those new perspectives worked and brought people from all sides of the energy equation together for the first time in a generation? That is the genesis behind Kentucky-based energy group The Nuclear Company, which brought its vision on a bus to Pittsburgh, one of dozens of cities across the country the company will visit, to share its plans to build a 6-gigawatt fleet of nuclear power stations in the United States. Juliann Edwards, the chairwoman of Women in Nuclear, said industry leaders in energy ...

Loving free trade more than we realize

In the ongoing debate over America’s trade policy, politicians and pundits often claim that the public supports tariffs and other protectionist measures, such as those given to us by the Trump and Biden administrations. A new Cato Institute poll, however, reveals a more complex picture: Americans might like the idea of tariffs and “Buy American” policies, but their support shrinks when confronted with higher prices and other negative consequences. This disconnect -- between abstract preferences and real-world actions with concrete downsides -- challenges the protectionist ...

A new age of flooding

On August 9 a flood delivered by Hurricane Debby clobbered the community of Trout Run, just north of Williamsport. Nine inches of rain flushed muddy water into low-lying homes while torrential currents made Highway 14—as photographed in the Sun-Gazette—look like the San Andreas Fault, gaping and ugly enough to eat a car. Lycoming County was not alone. The storm wreaked damage from South Carolina to Vermont. Governor Shapiro declared a disaster proclamation for one-third of the state. That released $2 million of taxpayer money for relief, which will be a drop in the bucket needed to ...

Shapiro won’t be VP — and he only has himself to blame

Earlier this month, all signs pointed to Gov. Josh Shapiro joining Vice President Kamala Harris on the Democratic presidential ticket. After all, Shapiro sits atop high approval ratings in the nation’s largest and most important swing state. He seemingly had a home-field advantage with Harris’s announcement scheduled for Philadelphia. However, life served Shapiro a healthy helping of humble pie when Harris picked Minnesota Gov. Tom Walz as her running mate. So, why Walz instead of Shapiro? Speculation about why Harris didn’t pick Shapiro is rampant –including blowback from ...