Scott Miller

At yesterday’s discussion, I mentioned that I had made my first request to The Fact Checker at the Washington Post. And it was, in fact, checked.

Here’s the text of my original form:

Impact of Minimum Wage Hike

And here’s a PDF of the WaPo article. I would have given it three Pinocchios, but reasonably people may differ.

I also sent (in the same email) a request for fact-checking the hourly wage corresponding to the “poverty wage level.” Here it is:

Poverty Wage Level

Made by		Joe Biden
Statement		“Look, no one should work 40 hours a week and live below the poverty wage. And if you’re making less than $15 an hour, you’re living below the poverty wage.“
Source for Statement		Video clip (this comment at 01:32) https://www.cnn.com/videos/media/2021/02/05/biden-covid-relief-bill-minimum-wage-hike-cbs-interview-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/this-week-in-politics/
Comment		Joe’s math is wrong. See the table below. Sen. Joe Manchin, in a recent interview, took the position that someone working 40 hours/week, 50 weeks/year should be able to support a household of three at the poverty level, and that he thought $15.00/hour was too much. By the math below, to meet his standard, a $10.86 minimum wage would meet the test.
		. Poverty guidelines source: https://aspe.hhs.gov/2020-poverty-guidelines; actual worksheet (above) attached.

Although I recognized that my second request (whether $15/hour is the cusp of the “poverty wage”) is closely related and may be getting stale, the [I believe incorrect] statement was reiterated yesterday by Jen Psaki, so I’ll bring that to Mr. Kessler’s attention as well. Repetition breeds belief…(or something like that).

The pandemic has underscored the usefulness (dare I say “utility”?) of Internet access for getting together—and learning—under social distancing restrictions.

But Internet access and, especially, “broadband” speed, is spotty at best in rural and semi-rural Maine. And lots of other areas of the country. Over the years, there have been lots of programs to motivate further build-outs of networks and to provide discounted Internet access pricing to those who cannot afford the “retail” prices.

Monday, we’ll discuss where we stand as a nation, as a state, and as a community. And what can and should be done to accelerate and democratize Internet access.

Study up on the Rural Electrification Administration (formed in 1935)—there are lots of parallels and visit the Peninsula Utility for Broadband site for current, local information.

For this coming Monday, we agreed to discuss the Biden Administration’s posture toward Russia, starting with the poisoning and imprisonment of Alexei Navalny.

• How meaningful (in a geopolitical sense) are the Navalny episode(s)?
• What should the U.S. position be to this event?
• What about all of the other issues that President Biden raised in his discussion with President Putin?
• How should the U.S. work with its allies on this issue?
• Do our allies want to work with the U.S. (at least in the way they have in the past)?

We’ll undoubtedly turn to, or otherwise work into the discussion, U.S. foreign policy in other global arenas.

Here’s an article, “Biden, Blinken and the Blob,” provided by Peter Sly to set the tone. The author is from the Quincy Institute, a seemingly unlikely collaboration between George Soros and Charles Koch.