Uh-oh. The news just keeps getting worse and worse for the Pittsburgh cheerleaders who keep telling us “Just you pay no never mind” to the critical metrics that keep tanking in Greater Pittsburgh.
To wit, part the first:
The U.S. Census Bureau reports that Allegheny County saw its population drop by more than 12,000 people in 2022, one of the sharpest drops in the nation.
As the Allegheny Institute’s Frank Gamrat succinctly told the Post-Gazette last week, “Less population means less people available to spur economic growth which further dissuades people from moving to the area.”
Which continues to belie the “official” and rosy narrative that too many government types ‘round these parts like to spiel.
As Gamrat further told the P-G, a languishing job market is “the spiral that keeps going. Because you’re seeing this lack of a labor force, you’re seeing this lack of economic growth.”
Which brings us to part the second.
Reported the P-G on Monday:
“More than 50,000 jobs have been lost in Allegheny County in the past five years — five times more than any other county in Pennsylvania —as the region recovers from the COVID-19 downturn, according to state employment data gathered by a Green Tree nonprofit.”
Continues the story:
“Allegheny County’s economy was the worst performing urban core county of any major metropolitan region in Pennsylvania and Ohio, the report from Pittsburgh Works Together Inc. found.
“Moreover, using federal employment criteria, the Pittsburgh area ranked last in economic competition over the past five years when compared to the counties containing Philadelphia, Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati.”
But, but, but, weren’t we told two decades ago that publicly financed new sports stadiums, arenas and conventions centers would lead to a third “renaissance”?
But, but, but, weren’t we told that a light-rail connection to the North Shore would be the next best thing since sliced bread and soft butter?
But, but, but, weren’t we told that a $40 million taxpayer subsidy to help build PNC Bank a new office tower was a sign of great economic “progress” for Pittsburgh?
But, but, but, and aren’t we now being told that a taxpayer-subsidized new $1.4 billion (and counting) terminal at Pittsburgh International will help pace Greater Pittsburgh to a grand economic explosion?
And the but, but, buts go on and on.
The co-chairman of Pittsburgh Works Together, Mike Huwar, also president of People’s Natural Gas, told the P-G that “ideological polarization will not solve the issues [that Allegheny County] must deal with.”
But that’s a copout given the long history of facts on the ground, as newly buttressed by the aforementioned reports.
Decades upon decades of liberal and “progressive” policies have left Pittsburgh in a world of hurt. Government robbing taxpayers in an attempt to pick winners that make everyone losers keeps biting back and biting hard.
There is a correct economic prescription in this debate, one driven by markets and not governments, one driven by low tax rates and few onerous regulations. That generation after generation continues to buy the same old snake oil that the usual suspects have been forcing down the public’s throats for years no longer is acceptable.
This is no ”ideological debate” but one of the facts versus fiction. There is absolutely no equivalence between the two. And until our leaders stop living in a Fantasyland that insists there is, our disastrous economic metrics will only grow worse.
Colin McNickle is communications and marketing director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).
