“I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary,” Thomas Jefferson wrote to a correspondent in 1824; “too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious.”
Witness the continuing mess that is Allegheny County’s continuing use of more expensive “reformulated” (RFG) summer blend gasoline.
Long story short, local, state and federal bureaucracy have colluded to still force the county to use the gasoline between June 1 and Sept. 15 – never mind that its use has been waived in every surrounding county.
Simply put, the summer fuel has outlived its efficacy. That is, today’s vehicular engines are less-polluting that they were when the reformulated gas was first used in 1990.
But “The Bureaucracy” – think of those at each level crossing their arms with index fingers pointing in opposite directions – is doing its best impression of molasses on a frigid winter day.
The bottom line: The mandate could – could – be lifted before the seasonal requirement ends on Sept. 15.
But, in the interim, the summer blend is being shipped to Allegheny County stations and prices already higher than surrounding counties could rise, by some estimates, to 30 to 50 cents per gallon higher.
Those per-gallon prices could end up being nearly $1 higher than found a short hop, skip and drive to neighboring West Virginia and Ohio. Even should the EPA “expedite” its review and waive the requirement, that fuel shipped and in the retail pipeline will have to work its way through the system – at that premium price, of course.
It’s another sad example of that Jeffersonian “too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious.”
In response to the coda on Wednesday’s At Large column taking Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Anthony Hamlet to task for his poor grammar, this from an email correspondent:
“Hi! I don’t have a dog in the fight about the Pittsburgh Public Schools. But I had to laugh at Anthony Hamlet telling the TV news reporters that ‘Right now, I can’t make no comment on that.’”
“I wanted to see if that guy was for real, so I Googled his social media postings on Twitter, Facebook and the Pittsburgh Public Schools website. They are every bit as humorous as his TV comment.
“Take this post from April 30:
‘Students should be a positive leader, a true representation of the school, shows respect for self and others, communicates well, considers others’ ideas, and solution-focused.’
“The Facebook page is like a ‘Where’s Waldo’ for grammatical errors. In Googling for more, I ran across your web article.
“If you need material for another article, check out Hamlet’s postings on the sites I mentioned above. I only hope that I’m not laughing at someone with CTE from years on the football field.”
To add context to that last comment, Hamlet, as The Associated Press reported it, “was a defensive end for the Seattle Seahawks and Indianapolis Colts in the early 1990s. He later played for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Canadian Football League.
The Tribune-Review, as it often does, publishes op-eds written by the Allegheny Institute in support of the think tank’s Policy Briefs. And, more often than not, readers respond on the Trib’s website (triblive.com).
One, in particular, caught this scrivener’s eye. It was a response to Tuesday op-ed addressing Greater Pittsburgh’s continuing population decline.
The commentary sadly noted how the region’s leaders continue to write the same tired old public policy prescriptions that, decade after decade (and most predictably) fail to work.
Which prompted the below response:
“Same tired dog-eared conservative bs!
“Lower taxes, prohibit strikes, eliminate prevailing wages, blah, blah.
“You forgot to throw in the mimimum (sic) wage ‘argument’!
“Republicans like their libertarian counterparts love cheap labor and don’t want to pay for anything.
“Funny how other real newspapers are lauding the benefits of the Pittsburgh area.”
Blinders worn never have been so opaque.
One can only wonder if the writer is referring to the City of Pittsburgh’s crumbling water and sewer infrastructure, it’s failing public schools or the failure of taxpayer-funded this, that and the other things to produce the Utopia its leaders have repeatedly promised.
Of course, the mindset of the reader comes into better context with a visit to his Facebook page. It prominently features what appears to be the writer driving the Public Works snowplow of a local municipality.
Colin McNickle is communications and marketing director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).
