Scattered Acres

My wife and I treated ourselves to a ride in the car down the Pemaquid Peninsula yesterday. On the way we stopped for a dip at the Biscay Pond beach. It wasn’t crowded and social distancing was easy. We carried on to Round Pond to see how a friend was progressing on a renovation project and to drop in on another friend whom we hadn’t seen all summer - with masks and social distancing out doors. We checked on our favorite lobster co-op shack; it was operating. We’ll be back. Next we went to New Harbor, a favorite of ours. It’s where the Hardy Boat leaves for Monhegan Island.  Heading for home, we passed a sign with an arrow, Evacuation Route . And we wondered why anyone would need to evacuate the peninsula. It’s on rugged high ground not to be flooded by a hurricane surge. What else could cause us to evacuate? We couldn’t fathom what it could be - or how it would be better anywhere else. But maybe the Evacuation Route signs are pointing the wrong way. Could it be a route f...

Maine, Vacationland , is a case study in the tradeoffs between keeping COVID-19 under control and keeping the economy running.  Maine is a beautiful state with a variety of draws for vacationers and tourists - the rugged sea coast with tidal rivers, sandy beaches, a myriad of pristine lakes, wildlife, challenging mountains, and a foody scene in Portland second to none. These attractions generate a lot of income. Tourism is a mainstay of the Maine economy.  And it’s partially shut down to the chagrin of those dependent on the industry.  Maine is second only to Vermont in having the lowest number of new coronavirus cases per capita in the last week. It is among the three lowest states in total cumulative cases per capita. And that’s the way we want to keep it.  How does Maine do it? First, it has the geographical advantage being at the “end of the line”, with the Canadian border closed. (But so does Alaska with a much high infection rate.) Second it has a ...

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said on Fox News, “It wouldn’t be fair to use taxpayer dollars to pay more people to sit home than they would get working ...” The Washington Post noted that “Part of the problem stems from a push by administration officials and GOP lawmakers to reduce a $600 weekly payment of enhanced federal unemployment benefits.” $600 for a forty hour week amounts to $15/hour; for fifty weeks of work it comes to an annual income $30,000. Curiously enough, $15/hour has been cited as a living wage. So why would anyone seek out a minimum wage job if you can get twice as much doing nothing?  At present, the federal minimum wage is $7.25/hour and 20 states hew to this standard for jobs falling under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Ten of these are states in the old Confederacy. The District of Columbia is the only jurisdiction with a $15.00 minimum wage; others are headed that way in the future. California comes in at $13.00 followed by Massachusetts at $12.7...

The coronavirus, COVID-19, is on a rampage spreading pestilence throughout the land. Our defenses are meager and porous before the onslaught. We have already lost many of the best and the brightest, but many more proportionally among the disadvantaged. The fatalities exceed those from every war back beyond the Korean conflict; exceeding those in World War I. We have more than forty 9/11 losses and counting.  Why is it that the USA is on a par with the Brazil caseload and along with Russia, barred from the European Union?  The single most harmful act by American leadership was Trump's refusal to wear a mask. Thus he became a model for behavior for his followers and others alike. From the beginning of the pandemic, the Trump administration has promulgated mixed messages and contradictory policies. It has not mobilized the country for war. It is little surprise that there is no national will to combat the coronavirus....

I’ve been mulling over vice president candidates for some time now. I think there are two factors at work. The first is what it takes to win the election. The second is what it takes to govern.  There is much talk in the Democratic party about diversity on the ticket. Diversity includes gender, race, age, and perhaps political positions. Joe Biden has committed to having a woman as his running mate - check off gender - and that’s important because roughly half of the voters are women. With the rising consciousness of racial injustice, there is much pressure to have a Black woman on the ticket. With Joe Biden in his late seventies, there is an implicit desire to have a younger person ready to take over the presidency - just in case.  If Joe Biden is elected president - and I certainly hope is will be - he’s going to have a hell of a time trying to dig out of the wreckage that Mr. Trump has inflicted on the country. The federal government’s role and responsibilities are...