mdsinclair

I think we decided last Monday to talk about the latest developments in Ukraine. Topics might include any of the following:

How long can/will the US and Europe continue to supply arms and aid to Ukraine?

What role is Turkey playing in the conflict – mediator, in the case of the purported agreement to allow Ukraine to export grain? Spoiler, in the case of its repeated threats to veto the admission to NATO of Finland and Sweden?

Is there an end game to the conflict? If so, what is it for Russia? Ukraine? the US? the EU? Or is it still to soon to come up with any?

What lessons are China and the US learning from the conflict in Ukraine that might be relevant to a possible conflict over Taiwan in the near future?

Why do a large majority of Russians seem to support the war (aside from not wanting to risk jail by publicly opposing it)? Although it might be a dubious attempt to analyze the Russian national psyche, I think this opinion piece from the 26 July edition of the New York Times isn’t far off the mark (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/26/opinion/russia-ukraine-putin.html?smid=em-share).

During our 3 January meeting, we agreed to discuss a living wage at our 10 January meeting. There are lots of ways to approach that topic, but here are some suggested questions for discussion:

What is a living wage? I suggest that we not spend much time on how much a living wage should be in Dollars, but instead focus on the economic, social, and political concepts behind the idea of a living wage, and whether and how those concepts might differ from those behind the ideas of a minimum wage or a guaranteed minimum income.

Who would support a mandated living wage? Why? Who would oppose such a mandate? Why?

Who would/should bear the economic burden of paying for a living wage? Employers? Consumers? Taxpayers in general?

Most, if not all, living wage mandates in the US so far have been at the municipal level. What are the economic and political implications of a locally-mandated living wage?

What might be the economic, social, and political implications of mandating a living wage at the state or federal level?

“Jeder nach seinen Fähigkeiten, jedem nach seinen Bedürfnissen.” Karl Marx (and many others)

The Wikipedia entry for a living wage (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_wage) is long, but pretty thorough for our purposes. The following are a few articles I found that might be of interest:

Romeo living wage