Colin McNickle At Large

Oaths, Competitiveness & Bogus Holidays

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What part of the “rule of law” does Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto not understand?

In response to President Trump’s executive orders cracking down on illegal aliens — authorizing construction of wall along the Mexican border and withholding federal dollars from “sanctuary cities” that harbor illegal aliens — the mayor issued a statement talking about how Pittsburgh is “a welcoming city and a diverse city” that “will continue to show everyone the respect and compassion they deserve — regardless of who they are, where they’re from … or how they found their way to our beloved city.”

Even illegally, it would seem.

He also broke out the old boilerplate line about how Pittsburgh was built by immigrants, etc., et.al and blah-blah-blah. Those would have been legal immigrants, Mr. Mayor.

But most striking was Peduto’s claim that the cracking down on illegals “will not make us safer.”

“It will not advance the principles upon which our nation and our cities were founded,” he said.

Since when was our nation, and when were our cities, founded on the notion that the rule of law should be a dead letter? And didn’t this mayor take an oath to uphold the law when he was sworn in? Of course, he did. It’s time for Mayor Peduto to abide by that oath of office.

 
The news out of Harrisburg is sobering:

Pennsylvania’s budget gap now is projected to be nearly $3 billion through next summer. That’s the latest assessment of the commonwealth’s Independent Fiscal Office.

Blamed? Virtually no economic growth. Flat tax collections. Flagging corporate profits. A declining, and aging, population. It’s a familiar story in Pennsylvania.

Fiscal Office Director Matthew Knittel calls the lack of economic growth “puzzling.” Really? That’s usually what happens when layers upon layers of regulations are combined with taxes on top of taxes.

The Republican-controlled Legislature is resisting calls for sales and/or income tax hikes. Tom Wolf, the Democrat governor is, too. So far. He’s been working to cut and/or to consolidate some government services.

That’s all well and good. But Pennsylvania remains in dire need of a regulatory and tax “re-set.”

Consider the shale gas and oil industry. As one wag with whom I regularly confer reminds, it can take more than 200 days to obtain operating permits from the state Department of Environmental Protection. But other states — Louisiana and Texas are cited — have a permitting process of about 10 days.

And Pennsylvania, the wag notes, isn’t even in listed on Site Selection Magazine’s “Top 10 Competitive States.”

That’s pretty damning for a state with such rich shale energy resources.

“Excessive regulation … suffocates a market,” Steve Forbes often reminds. Pennsylvania could be a textbook case.

Kraft-Heinz Co. is spearheading an effort to make the Monday after the Super Bowl a national holiday.

The great maker of condiments, among other things, cites statistics suggesting that 16 million American workers don’t show up for work that day.

“(W)e as a nation should stop settling for it being the worst work day of the year,” says the company, now featuring dual headquarters in Pittsburgh and in Chicago.

Perhaps Kraft-Heinz should dock those who don’t show up, and who don’t have personal or vacation time to take the day.

Kraft-Heinz says all of its salaried employees will be given the day off.

If Kraft-Heinz wants to give some of its employees the day off after the Super Bowl, that’s its business, of course.

As it should be the business of every private enterprise to make its own decision on such matters — sans some national holiday decree from the federal government that had its genesis in a Madison Avenue publicity stunt.

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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