Recent editorials of statewide and national interest from Pennsylvania’s newspapers:
Address increasing US debt
Altoona Mirror
April 16
COVID-19 is focusing attention on another epidemic in the United States. It is the national debt, now at approximately $24.3 trillion. To that, of course, will have to be added the at least $2 trillion in federal funding to save the economy from being another victim of the virus.
Think about that number. Even at $24.3 trillion, it amounts to more than $72,000 for every man, woman and child in the nation.
What do we get for that? Nothing. It represents money the federal government has spent already, without revenue to cover it.
Some critics of big government argued that the $2 trillion CARES Act should not have been enacted, because it adds to the national debt. That would have been a ridiculous stance, of course. COVID-19 is the kind of emergency in which deficit spending is imperative to safeguard the economy and thus, future revenue for government.
Very little of the national debt was built up in response to real emergencies. The debt is primarily a function of “entitlement” spending for programs such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc.
Receipts from such programs are nowhere near covering their costs. Somehow, we have to find a way to get the scales nearer to balance.
Now is not the time to be worrying about the national debt, some argue. They are wrong. Now is precisely the time our unpaid bills should be on our minds - or, more precisely, those of our elected representatives in Congress.
COVID-19 has made it obvious that the United States has not been doing enough to prepare for and combat emerging diseases. An effective mechanism for doing that needs to be devised.
Fans of big government will see that as an opportunity. In the wake of the pandemic, they will seek massive new funding for many purposes that have little or nothing to do with battling disease.
For once, they need to be told to get lost. We Americans cannot afford to throw money indiscriminately at our problems. New funding for science simply must be laser-focused on that purpose, not on more entitlements, more crony capitalism and more bureaucrats.
Online: https://bit.ly/2Vfw2Ml
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Thumbs up to state leaders
The York Dispatch
April 16
Thumbs up to the governors, including Gov. Tom Wolf.
On Monday, Wolf joined five other Northeastern governors announcing a deal - spearheaded by New York’s Andrew Cuomo - that created a council aimed at safely reopening the region’s battered economy, shuttered in an attempt to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
West Coast governors, led by California’s Gavin Newsom, announced a similar agreement late Monday.
The deals came after President Donald Trump forgot that there are no kings in the U.S. and claimed he could order states to re-open businesses at any time.
It was a bizarre claim from a Republican president, standard bearer of a party that for decades has proclaimed the supremacy of federalism and state’s rights.
But while Trump has flailed and fibbed his way through the worst public health crisis in a century, it’s the governors that have made the difficult, fact-based decisions required to save thousands of American lives.
And it’s the governors who - under authority granted by the U.S. Constitution - will be deciding when their states can again ramp up economic production.
Reopening the economy amid the pandemic requires a slow, coordinated and fact-based approach. It’s something the governors have shown they can deliver.
Thumbs up to the countless York County residents and not-for-profits stepping up throughout the cornavirus crisis.
Food banks have grappled with long lines and increased demand. Multiple business - themselves facing significant financial strain - have transitioned to making protective equipment for medical professionals. And residents themselves have started making masks in an effort to help.
And, by and large, local elected officials have treated the pandemic with the seriousness with which it deserves.
These are trying times. No one has gone untouched by the coronavirus outbreak. More than a million Pennsylvania residents are out of work thanks to the mitigation efforts. Countless more workers have taken pay cuts.
Nurses and physicians are put in harm’s way every day. So, too, are employees manning the cash registers at grocery stores.
But many continue doing it out of a sense of duty. Many others keep working because it’s the only financial option.
And religious leaders throughout the county acted responsibly during the week of Easter and Passover, using webcams and parking lots to exercise responsibly their First Amendment rights.
Regardless, the community’s response has been something that we all should be proud.
Thumbs down to President Trump’s latest red herring, defunding the World Health Organization.
Always keen to find someone or something to blame for his own shortcomings, Trump announced this week that the U.S. would withhold funding from the United Nation’s panel of medical experts.
And he’s doing it in the midst of a global pandemic. As Microsoft founder Bill Gates said, “it’s as dangerous as it sounds.”
But Trump can’t accept that any global organization doesn’t work directly for the U.S. and, thereby, in his mind, him.
He’s threatened and undermined NATO. He’s thrown tantrums at the G7. Now, he’s blaming the WHO, even after he ignored and downplayed warnings about the coronavirus for more than two months.
Trump didn’t cause the outbreak. But he’s mishandled it about as poorly as one could imagine.
So much for the “buck stops here.”
Online: https://bit.ly/3creVgu
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It’s Democrats’ time to rally - for Joe Biden and for solutions
The Philadelphia Inquirer
April 13
The coronavirus that shattered life as we know it has also exposed a deep awareness of the profound fissures in American society around income and economic inequality, the failings of the health-care system, and education inequities.
In ending his bid for the presidency last week, Sen. Bernie Sanders - who has spent years pushing these very issues to the forefront of political discourse - has to believe that the universe has a cruel sense of irony.
Sanders’ campaign wasn’t necessarily a victim of the health crisis that ground campaigning - and every other aspect of life - to a halt. As a candidate, he was both galvanizing and divisive. Though his campaign is over, he still has work to do in helping energize the Democratic Party to embrace its presumptive candidate, Joe Biden - and to continue pushing the arguments and policy proposals that will address the country’s profound problems even after coronavirus dims in importance. Those problems will remain and require massive work to fix.
But with the need for big structural change, this moment has also led to a deep yearning for normal - against the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s multilevel failures to operationally manage this crisis, and communicate honestly and clearly about what it demands. For many in America, and the vast majority of Democrats, the competencies of the Obama-Biden White House was the good kind of boring. Biden’s personal life story, buffered by loss and pain, also makes him uniquely situated to be the empathetic leader that America lacks.
With no ability to campaign in the near feature, and with a lot of disadvantages against an incumbent, Biden’s work to unite the Democratic Party and expand the coalition beyond his primary voters base needs to start immediately, and with concrete action:
Next generation: Biden beat Sanders in almost every demographic, except people under 40. The future of the Democratic Party is not excited by Biden. Sanders can help by making the case for Biden, but ultimately, it is on Biden and his campaign to reach out and listen. The earlier he can bridge the gap between his platform and the agenda of younger Americans, the faster his campaign will grow.
Climate/Energy: America was very ill-prepared for the coronavirus pandemic. But the looming climate crisis will require a much bigger, more coordinated response. It is imperative that we transition away from fossil fuels, but how is key, especially for Pennsylvania workers. The better Biden can articulate a plan, the more likely he is to build a broad coalition in this critical swing state.
Economy: The so-called thriving economy that Trump has taken full credit for collapsed virtually overnight, in part because it was built on a weak foundation that favored corporate wealth over collective benefit. If elected, Biden’s job will not be to rebuild the old economy, continuing a patch job, but take bolder actions for transforming it.
One resounding lesson from the current crisis is that we will not survive unless we pull together for the greater good. Biden, Sanders, and the Democratic Party must take that to heart - as a matter of survival.
Online: https://bit.ly/2VbWkPC
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Workers in health care deserve better
Reading Eagle
April 14
In the war against COVID-19, they are our front-line troops. They need reinforcements. And our help. A group of nurses is pleading for basic but crucial equipment as they battle a faceless enemy.
We are talking about the essentials - the bare minimum, really - that health care professionals need to protect themselves and their patients.
They are in dire need of masks, face shields and gowns.
“We’re putting everybody at risk,” said Maureen May, a registered nurse at Temple University Hospital and president of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, or PASNAP. She said critical shortages of personal protective equipment, or PPE, have led to rationing and even reuse of materials.
May was joined on a conference call last week by U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle, a Philadelphia Democrat, to lay out just how dire the situation is and to urge President Donald Trump to fully implement the Defense Production Act.
Boyle commiserated with the struggles of those on the front lines in the health care field.
“It’s disturbing the number of unnecessary risks that they have to go through,” the congressman said. He offered as an example something that would have been unfathomable just a month ago, reusing PPE. What would have been a tremendous violation of protocol a month or so ago has become standard practice due to severe shortages, and that’s unacceptable
Boyle argued that the nation needs a mandate for mass scale production of PPE.
Exactly how critical the situation for health care professionals in the state is became crystal clear when Gov. Tom Wolf issued an executive order allowing Pennsylvania emergency management officials to commandeer equipment deemed critical to health care professionals in their battle against COVID-19. That includes N95 face masks, ventilators and other key medical equipment.
Much like the way he handled the closing of schools across the state, and non-essential businesses, Wolf is not asking; he is ordering.
His latest edict requires private and public health care facilities, manufacturers and other companies to tabulate their supplies of personal protective gear, drugs and other medical equipment, and provide an inventory to the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency in five days.
PEMA then has the authority to seize those items in order to make crucial supplies available to areas of the state hit hardest by the coronavirus outbreak.
“Combating the pandemic means we all have to work together,” the governor said during his afternoon video conference. “That means we need to make the best use of our medical assets to ensure the places that need them the most, have them.”
He’ll get no argument from Robin Schwartz. She works at Geisinger Community Medical Center in Scranton and is a vice president of PASNAP.
She offered a stark view of the conditions on the front lines of this fight.
“We wear our masks for a week,” Schwartz said. “These masks are designed for one day, throw it away, get another mask. We are now using it for a week.”
Peg Lawson has worked as a registered nurse at Philadelphia’s Albert Einstein Medical Center for 30 years. She echoed the critical nature of the dwindling supplies of key PPE supplies.
“I’ve been doing this for 30 years and I’m terrified that my co-workers will be exposed and get sick because our supply stock is being so stringently monitored.”
Over the past few weeks, many have offered plaudits for the people who represent our first line of defense against the coronavirus.
Now it’s time to put those words into action.
Wolf was right to issue his order. No health care provider should be lacking the proper equipment, or be afraid to do their jobs.
They are putting their lives on the line for us.
The least we can do is give them a fighting chance.
Online: https://bit.ly/2ypjIzZ
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Hospital loans could save lives
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
April 15
We need our hospitals.
Right now, they are all busy with other things. Emergency departments are taking care of the victims of the coronavirus pandemic. Health care workers are testing to identify those with covid-19 symptoms. Intensive care units are struggling with the task of trying to save lives - and the stress of seeing so many lost.
The pandemic seems like it will never end.
But it will. And when it does, we will still need our hospitals.
The American Hospital Directory lists 176 individual facilities in Pennsylvania. They range from arms of the largest octopus in the tank - UPMC dwarfs all other systems in the state - to more modest regional groups like Excela to tiny standalone hospitals that have just 20 beds or less.
They represent about 1.5 million patients spending more than 6 million days per year recovering from illness or injury, having babies or having surgery. They also represent a $208 billion economic engine for the state.
We need them on so many levels. We need their help when we are hurt. We need their partnership in keeping us well. We need them to be there in an emergency. And we need the paychecks that they generate and the business that they do.
The pandemic threatens that, not only by overwhelming some areas but cutting out others.
“Our hospitals have risen to Gov. Tom Wolf’s call to suspend non-emergent services and prepare for a surge of covid-19 patients in Pennsylvania; however, doing so has placed unprecedented stress on their finances,” said Andy Carter, president of the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, in a statement Wednesday.
Hospitals, especially the smaller systems and individual facilities, balance on a tightrope that is stabilized by care they can’t provide right now.
That makes the $450 million in loans promised by Wolf and the $117 billion assistance included in the federal $2 trillion bill lifesaving for more than the hospitals that will receive them.
They will save the lives of heart attack patients and accident victims and premature babies who will need those hospitals next week and next month and next year.
“Hospitals across Pennsylvania should be focused on saving lives, not worrying about how to make ends meet until federal relief funds arrive months from now,” said state Treasurer Joe Torsella.
And Pennsylvanians need the reassurance that the last casualty of the coronavirus won’t be the hospitals they depend upon.
Online: https://bit.ly/3eqLlJv
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