Beyond Labels

A 360° Discussion of Foreign, National and Local Policy Issues

Scott Miller

TPP and Mankiw

Having (perhaps) whetted folks’ appetites with my quick reading of Harvard Econ professor Greg Mankiw’s “The Economy is Rigged, and Other Presidential Campaign  Myths,” we’ll turn to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (Good or Bad for the U.S.) next week.

You’re obviously free to do your own research. But here’s another piece by Mankiw on the subject:

Economists Actually Agree on This: The Wisdom of Free Trade

Think I’m only selecting one side? Here’s a bit of a rebuttal, courtesy of Google:

Greg Mankiw is Everything That’s Wrong with Economists

Who is this Greg Mankiw?

As you know, I always like to do a bit of research on my sources, and Wikipedia is a good start. As I mentioned on Monday, he’s well known for his activity on the Bush Council of Economic Advisors and his authorship of an introductory Economics textbook that is in very wide use today—so his is a very familiar name to recent college grads who’ve taken Econ.

I like to follow him mostly because he’s articulate, funny, thoughtful and accomplished. But I also admit that I tend to agree with him a lot (whether that’s because he’s convincing or because we just see the world in similar ways is a subject for future debate).

Reminder: No Beyond Labels Meeting Monday

For those of you who might not be aware of our arrangement with the Blue Hill Public Library, Beyond Labels does not meet on days the library is closed.

Since the library will be closed on Monday in observance of Memorial Day, our next meeting will be June 6, 2016.

See you then!

Letter to Senator King

I promised to send a letter to Sen. Angus King to inquire about the background and format of the recent North Woods monument meetings. Since the Senator’s web site has an email “form” instead of an email address, here’s a copy of what I sent:

A couple of questions about the North Woods Monument

Senator King:

First of all, thank you for hosting National Park Service Director Jarvis in the two meetings to discuss the possible designation of Katahdin region land as a national monument. I think it is important for those most affected by the proposal to have a voice in the decision.

Two questions about the format of and publicity surrounding the meetings:

1) From your May 13, 2016 press release, it seems as if the format for the two meetings was also quite different, in that the general public was not invited to speak at the E. Millinocket meeting and, instead, only certain public officials were allowed to participate in the discussion. As indicated above, I’m very interested in hearing what the local folks have to say about the proposed monument, not just their elected officials. And, if the argument is to be made that these elected representatives are an adequate voice for the citizenry, it seems most fair to have adopted the same format in Orono.

What drove the choice of format for the E. Millinocket and Orono meetings? Was it done at the request of the local officials, Director Jarvis, your office or some other group?

2) I note that only the Orono meeting is available as a YouTube webcast. From what I’ve read, the attendees at the Orono meeting were of a substantailly different “composition” than those attending the E. Millinocket meeting–at least that’s what the op-ed writers seem to think–with E. Millinocket being attended mostly by people who live in the region and Orono being attended by a much broader swath of Mainers. In that light, I’d be very interested to see a video of the E. Millinocket meeting to see what those closest to the proposed monument had to say.

Is such a video available? If not, a transcript of the meeting? If not, why not? It would be unfortunate to stifle the publicity available to these (E. Millinocket attendees’) voices in the public dialogue.

Thank you again for fostering local dialogue on this subject and connecting those with an interest in the subject to the corresponding Federal government organization.

Scott Miller
Blue Hill, ME

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