Colin McNickle At Large

Of Steelers, shale, soda & economic sobriety

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The Pittsburgh Steelers are complaining, publicly, that they don’t have a very good working relationship with their Heinz Field landlord, the Pittsburgh-Allegheny County Sports & Exhibition Authority (SEA).

In fact, Steelers president Art Rooney II tells the Post-Gazette it is “not a functioning relationship.” It is a claim the SEA disputes. The authority’s solicitor insists the agency is simply doing its job.

Rooney says the supposedly poor relationship means the franchise will have a difficult time competing for such marquee events as the NFL’s Super Bowl, for which it soon is expected to formally bid, or the NHL’s Stadium Series, which featured a game last month at the North Shore stadium.

Indeed, the Steelers and the SEA have had a sometimes-rocky relationship. That’s because the SEA, which owns Heinz Field on behalf of taxpayers, oftentimes has refused to be a rubber stamp for the football franchise’s physical plant demands, to be covered by ticket surcharges.

Now, there’s a pretty simple solution to this:

The Steelers can put in a bid with the SEA to purchase Heinz Field and do what it wants with the complex. After all, it’s not as if the franchise doesn’t have the money.

Can you say “Antonio Brown,” class?

For all the talk of “rapid growth” and “efficacies” of renewable energy sources, here’s a stark fact:

“(T)he impact of new technologies in fossil fuels, specifically those developed to produce shale oil and shale gas, has been larger than that of the renewables.”

Those are the words of Carole Nakhle, director of Crystol Energy and noted foreign energy lecturer, writing for Geopolitical Intelligence Services.

“Shale technology has been by far the more powerful force, fundamentally altering the global energy markets and challenging the existing order, with serious spillover effects on the global economy and geopolitics.”

Keep that in mind as envirocrats continue to dis shale energy as unsustainable — as they continue to collect federal subsidies for “renewable” energy that, in too many cases, appears to be renewable only as long as taxpayers subsidize the unsustainable.

Actions have consequences, of course. And Philadelphia is getting an all too predictable dose of that lesson.

Pepsi says it will lay off up to 100 workers at three distribution plants that serve the City of Brotherly Love, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer. The beverage maker blames a new and onerous tax on sugary drinks, in effect since January, for cutting sales by 40 percent.

Just as predictably, Philadelphia “leaders” continue to blast those who have the audacity to adjust their workforce to best reflect government-perverted market conditions.

Pepsi it not alone in adjusting to Philadelphia’s deteriorating soda market. Canada Dry and and the ShopRite chain have said they will lay off 35 and up to 300 employees, respectively, because of business losses directly tied to the soda tax.

It’s shocking to think that so many of our “leaders” have virtually no understanding of basic economics. Such ignorance in public office is unacceptable.

Pennsylvania House Speaker Mike Turzai makes a most pertinent point — one that eludes far too many of our “leaders” — in a Philadelphia Inquirer commentary:

“For decades, Pennsylvanians have heard officials assure them that we’re only one more tax increase away from solving our budget problems. Every time the taxes are increased, the spending increases in commensurate amount and then some. We heard that when the personal income tax was first introduced. This system is not sustainable.”

That quote should be printed in large red letters, framed, and placed on the wall of every state legislator’s office — preferably right by the door so they see it every time they exit and won’t forget it.

Colin McNickle is a senior fellow and media specialist at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).

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Colin McNickle
Colin McNickle

Colin received his B.G.S. from Ohio University. The 40-year journalism veteran joined the Institute in October 2016. That followed a 22-year career with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 18 as director of editorial pages for Trib Total Media. Prior that, Colin had a long and varied career in media — from radio, newspapers and magazines, to United Press International and The Associated Press.

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