Business Perspectives

Something Happened on the Way to That Place – From Allentown to Aliquippa, Billy Joel Found the Voice of the Rust Belt.

Billy Joel’s “Allentown” gave voice to Rust Belt communities facing mill closures, lost jobs, and the human cost of America’s industrial decline.

Matthew Quay and the Roots of the American System

Matthew Quay’s defense of tariffs and American industry connects Hamilton and Clay’s economic vision to Beaver County’s manufacturing future.

You Mad, Bro? A Brief Life of General Anthony Wayne

Anthony Wayne’s legacy was built not on madness, but discipline, forged at Legionville in Beaver County before the Battle of Fallen Timbers.

The Valley That Made Washington

George Washington’s 1753 journey through Beaver County reveals how the Ohio Valley shaped his leadership and America’s future.

The State That Almost Missed Its Own Birthday Party

Pennsylvania nearly skipped a national celebration before private sponsors, businesses and volunteers stepped in to showcase the state.

Relax, People. AI Isn’t Going To Take Your Job

AI is more likely to transform jobs than eliminate them, rewarding workers who learn new tools, increase productivity, and adapt to change.

What an 87-Year-Old Billionaire Thinks We’re Getting Wrong

Jeremy Grantham warns about AI speculation, chemical exposure, inequality and the limits of using markets and GDP to measure a healthy society.

A Sunday Morning Walk

A reflective Sunday walk through Bridgewater with Seamus the Newfoundland reveals home, memory, ordinary beauty, and the wisdom of returning with fresh eyes.

Four Days, Twenty Minutes, and No Couch Required

Explore expressive writing, a four-day journaling practice that may help organize difficult experiences, reduce stress, and bring emotional clarity.

How Butler County Got Mixed Up in 250 Years of American History

Explore Butler County’s remarkable role in 250 years of American history, from George Washington and Lafayette to Frederick Douglass, oil, Jeeps, and Amelia Earhart.

The Consequences of Clicking

In an age of scrolling and sound bites, Beaver County’s legacy of literacy reminds us why books—and deep reading—still matter. Civilization depends not on screens, but on sentences.

Mortgage Myopia: Mistaking Drywall for Growth

Beaver County’s housing boom reflects—not drives—its economy. Real growth comes from production, innovation, and paychecks, not rising home prices or mortgage-fueled illusions.

Hugh Henry Brackenridge and His Western Pennsylvania Don Quixote

Hugh Henry Brackenridge, the Princeton-educated lawyer who hauled a printing press over the Alleghenies, became Western Pennsylvania’s first great satirist. His comic masterpiece Modern Chivalry turned the frontier towns of Beaver County into a stage for democracy’s growing pains—complete with tavern debates, ambitious servants, and a weaver nearly elected to the legislature.

Annals of True Romance: The Rolling Pin Wars of Ambridge

Beaver County’s history of matrimony comes with equal parts love and chaos. From rolling-pin assaults in Ambridge to entrepreneurial brothel dreams in Beaver Falls, the county’s archives prove that for every vow exchanged, someone probably ducked soon after.

Everything Must Go!

At MAC.BID, Beaver County’s online auction house of returns and regrets, Seamus and I found comedy in consumer chaos—where America’s unwanted gadgets, gizmos, and impulse buys get one last shot at redemption, fifty cents at a time.

Diet Coke At The Helm: Trump’s Energizer Presidency

By Rodger Morrow, Editor & Publisher Listen to a podcast discussion about this article. Energy in the Executive Alexander Hamilton,

A Natural (and Occasionally Unnatural) History of Beaver County

From tribal wagers at Logstown to smartphone betting apps, Beaver County’s long dance with gambling has never really stopped—only changed forms. Three centuries of vice, from riverboat dice to gray machines, prove one enduring truth: in Beaver County, the house always wins.