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What Will AI Do for Our Happiness?

The West faces a series of serious economic challenges: a demographic collapse that undermines growth; a welfare state that sucks money from the future and dispenses it in the present; a regulatory structure that focuses more on redistributionism and top-down control than on innovation. But, we are told, there is one enormous hope for the future of the global economy: artificial intelligence. AI will skyrocket economic productivity; it will provide us both information and innovation; it will solve insoluble problems and shrink timeframes to the infinitesimal. Marc Andreessen, investor ...

Energy can’t take a back seat to power

The Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit at Carnegie Mellon University was ostensibly, as the name implied, about energy and innovation. In reality, it was about money and jobs. The event provided an opportunity for investors and politicians to get a moment in the sun as they announced a roster of investments in projects in the Keystone State. The bottom line of the list totaled more than $90 billion. Not every company attached specific employment numbers, but those that did totaled more than 40,000 between construction and permanent jobs. It was a lot. Of the 15 companies ...

McCormick’s leadership on energy impressive

We are impressed with the leadership U.S. Sen. David McCormick, R-Pittsburgh, is demonstrating on an issue whose importance our editorials frequently emphasize. McCormick, in only his first year as a senator, organized an energy summit this past week that unveiled vital, private-sector investment in a broad variety of energy-related projects. The investments include natural gas — a sector of energy development that we are fortunate to see create jobs for families and yield revenue for communities throughout our region. It also includes hydroelectric power — a renewable source ...

Faith in 911 system needs to be maintained

We take some things for granted. Turn a faucet, and water will pour out. Flip a switch, and lights will come on. Those can be interrupted by circumstances. Don’t pay a bill, and the water or electricity can be cut off. But there are some services we rely on so much that we really can’t imagine them not being there when we need them. Perhaps the service we depend upon the most is 911. On Friday, Pennsylvania’s 911 system began experiencing what was termed “intermittent outages.” They were reported to the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency around 2 p.m. Around ...

County fairs continue to teach valuable lessons

We recommend everyone takes some time to visit a county fair. It perhaps goes without saying that these fairs offer families a lot of fun and a lot of food. But what’s more important is that they offer people from across the county and the surrounding communities a glimpse into important parts of the fabric of rural living. “Agriculture remains a critical part of our state’s economy and our region,” we noted a year ago. “As the state Department of Agriculture notes, the agricultural sector contributes about $132.5 billion to Pennsylvania’s economy annually and supports ...

Medicaid reform in the ‘Beautiful Bill’

President Donald Trump recently signed H.R.1, aka the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” into law. The basis of the bill is an extension of the 2017 tax relief. Also included in the new law is the first substantial reform to the Medicaid health insurance entitlement. Despite claims that “the sky is falling,” the Medicaid reforms are actually a start at guaranteeing that the program will survive into the future and be available for the country’s most vulnerable people. Opponents decry the “cuts” to Medicaid. In reality, the new law actually reduces an increase in spending ...