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The energy policy we could have had

Oil, oil, oil. The war with Iran has oil prices soaring. And no thanks, President Trump, for your other war, the one against green energy. As Americans freak over gas prices, they are taking another look at electric vehicles. But guess what? Most domestic automakers dropped ambitious investments toward that end, leaving car lots bereft of these gasoline-replacing vehicles, at least American-made ones. It didn’t have to be that way. Barack Obama and Joe Biden launched serious programs to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Trump trashed those ambitious plans to bring Americans ...

Fact vs. fiction on Medicaid and the wealth tax

I try to be fair to people I disagree with. Emmanuel Saez — the famous UC Berkeley economist who’s considered an architect of California’s proposed billionaire wealth tax — is someone I read carefully, even when I find his income-inequality work unconvincing. So, when I say that his arguments for the wealth tax are not just biased or misleading but egregiously wrong, I’m not being careless. I mean it. In a recent debate at Stanford University, Saez offered his central justification (apart from, you know, “billionaires are unfairly rich”): California’s hospitals need it ...

Dear Annie: When your child becomes the landlord

Dear Annie: I live with my almost-30-year-old daughter. She acquired our place through a lawsuit settlement. She talks to and treats me like I’m a child and tries to control my life. She often reminds me: “This is my place. I run things.” I could go on and on, but the bottom line is that she constantly makes me feel uneasy in what’s supposed to be my home. Now she’s planning to move to Texas. I don’t want to leave where we live now, but I also don’t want to move with her. I can’t handle her demands anymore, yet I can’t afford to live on my own. Rent is too ...

Some antique furniture features painted art

The line between furniture and fine art isn’t always clear. Artist Max Kuehne (1880-1968) is known for both. Kuehne was born in Germany and immigrated to the United States with his family in 1894. He took an eclectic, energetic approach to life, trying several different jobs as a young man ...

Maximizing impact of rural healthcare funding opportunities — PA communities deserve it

Pennsylvania’s healthcare challenges are real and widespread, touching all areas of the state. But they hit rural communities the hardest. Rising costs, limited access and infrastructure, and staffing shortages are creating critical challenges to care, leading to worse health outcomes for rural patients and straining rural healthcare providers. As president and CEO of Geisinger, the state’s largest rural healthcare provider, I see these challenges at our locations every day. A significant part of my job is advancing innovative solutions to address them. These challenges ...

No longer a young man, but still an angry one

During the academic year, I live in a college dorm. The subjects of chats in the dining hall are not too different from what they were when I was in college: classes, careers, sports, movies and dating. When the conversation gets more serious, I tell my dorm mates that no matter how much older than them I look on the outside, inside I am an angry young man — in fact, far angrier than I was back when actually a young man. After finishing my own formal education, I went to work on Capitol Hill where I met the original Mr. Conservative, Republican Sen. Barry Goldwater. Years before, ...