Sec. 1 - NOTE FROM THE EDITOR Sec. 2 - RECENT EVENTS Georgist Emissaries Return Optimistic: Russia to "leave the West behind" Cuba, Libre? UK Update Lincoln - Georgist Gestures? "I read the news today... Oh, boy!" And the Best Eco-Justice Book of 1998 is... Sec. 3 - ADVANCE WARNING Georgist Spring Seminar at Scranton U. Global Institute for Taxation (GIFT) Land Reform Scotland Going Electronic Sec. 4 - SUPPLICATION & OPPORTUNITY New Georgist E-mail Discussion List UN/World Bank Hungry for Info Citizens' Public Trust Treaty Vote for Earth Trustee Web Sites Banneker Survey Georgist Cultural Society Sec. 5 - REMINDERS Sec. 6 - PERSONAL NOTES Sec. 7 - COMMENTS ON THE GEORGIST NEWS Credit Due Corrections Mumia Abu-Jamal Langston Denies GN Allegations
Dearest Georgists,
The Georgist News is settling into new environs we hope will enable us to provide you better than ever with the news and networking of the Georgist Movement. Technical difficulties with the transition were labor intensive, but the extra time wrought extra(-)Georgist news!
I hope our format changes are helpful. Please, continue to send us ideas for improving this newsletter. And remember to keep the rest of the Georgist Movement up to date on yours and your groups' efforts through the Georgist News.
Press releases, potential news items and story references for The Georgist News should be sent to: gnewsdesk@aol.com
Four of the Georgist Movement's best have just returned from Russia with some extremely hopeful news!
As in Scotland, it seems very possible the year 2000 will bring a wave of genuine land reform for the people of Russia. The degree to which this is the result of Georgist activity is unknown, but we can be assured the most organized, equipped and responsible Georgist organizations are pursuing such major opportunities. In both cases, the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation has been the Georgist vanguard.
In this instance, Fred Harrison, Ted Gwartney (RSF Director) and Profs. Nic Tideman (RSF President) and Mason Gaffney were sent to speak at hearings of the Duma Sub-Committee on Natural Resources. Attendance was greater than the hall could bear with over two hundred interested Duma members, government officials, public advocacy representatives and others pressing to hear and talk about the land tax shift.
In addition to RSF's fab four, both the Conference Chair, Vyacheslav Zvolinsky, and Dmitry Lvov, Chief Economist of the Russian National Academy of Sciences (in Russia, an important group), strongly urged the shift to land tax.
Other powerful individuals and populist organizations are also giving the land tax shift their seal of approval. Georgist envoys agree Russia may even be ready for the single tax.
The Georgist General on the Russian front is Fred Harrison, Editor of Land & Liberty, the world's premiere Georgist magazine. Reports are stirring rare excitement among Georgists and with good reason. Read the latest issue. L&L is available from the Henry George Foundation of Great Britain or through the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation.
Henry George Foundation of Great Britain
The London Fruit Exchange, Suite 427
Brushfield Street, London E1 6EL
Tel: +44-171-377-8885 Fax: +44-171-377-8686
E-mail: hgf_igu@compuserve.com
Robert Schalkenbach Foundation
149 Madison Ave. #601, NY,
NY 10016, USA
Tel: (212) 683-6424 Fax: (212) 683-6454
E-mail: schalkenba@aol.com
Dissident Swedish economist Bruno Moser has just returned from Cuba with a list of important contacts for promotion of Georgist reform there. While making the rounds of influence, Mr. Moser circulated an open letter to Fidel Castro urging him to collect land rent to protect Cuba's people from the ill effects of globalization. It is yet unknown if the Cuban President has seen the letter, but the inroads Mr. Moser has made could be helpful in many ways to the Georgist Movement in Cuba.
Several of Mr. Moser's contacts are influential in the Cuban political hierarchy and many Cuban newspapers also received copies of the letter. Moser credits well-known Georgist Richard Biddle for his help in writing it. To get a copy of the letter or of Bruno's Cuban contact list, write to Bruno Moser at: beyourself99@hotmail.com
The programme for a seminar on 5 March in Edinburgh (final agreed title "Funding Multi-layer Democracy") has just been published. We hope Mayor Stephen Reed of Harrisburg, PA will come across to speak (thanks, Robert Schalkenbach Foundation, for sponsoring visit). Reed is trying to re-schedule existing commitments to enable him to come.
Whoever comes, though, can expect a full 5-day programme, even if it's over a weekend, because interest in the subject has never been higher for 50 years here.
The (Neo-Georgist) School of Economic Sciences in London had record enrollment in their basic course this Spring. They mainly run philosophy courses but their Head of Economic Faculty, Ian Mason, Editor of the bimonthly "Economic Monitor," has agreed to advertise HGF's activities more widely. HGF hopes, therewith, to recruit volunteer workers from among SES graduates. (HGF here does not currently envisage running its own courses but provides speakers to outside organisations.)
A letter of mine was published in the "New Statesman," a weekly journal owned by Labour Party millionaire and, until December, Government Minister, Geoffrey Robinson. Meanwhile reaction to a letter I had published in the property professionals' "Chartered Surveyor Monthly" in July was slow but worth waiting for. Early this month a post-grad student who'd spotted my letter wrote to tell me about his research into the effects of 'Green Field Development Tax' (an idea being talked about by both Labour and Liberal Democrats here). Basically it's just a one-time tax on developers who dare to ruin green fields! (Been tried before here and failed of course—but runs well with the voters because it sounds eco-friendly and nobody likes developers.) My friend was puzzled because he had found not a single government official prepared to say GFDT would work. What did I suggest?!
Could anyone out there tell me if other administrations use or have used a one-time tax on land development?
I wrote to Nick Falk, Director of an organisation in London called URBED (Urban and Economic Development Group). I'd heard he advises the Labour Government on Town/City Centre Redevelopment issues, was in favour of reform of local taxes, especially business taxes. I mentioned the two-rate tax in PA and the South African studies by Dunkley. He's written to ask for source material on both, so I've copied him the chapter in Dunkley's book. He also wants to subscribe to *Land & Liberty.
Another guy close to Tony Blair is international architect Lord Richard Rogers, who chairs an 'Urban Task Force.' It has just published an interim report calling for all sorts of tax breaks in cities. Clearly he hasn't heard of Henry George! When I've read his report, I'll write to him. Meanwhile any overseas correspondence he gets may be influential; write to him at House of Lords, London, SW1. Evidence of the effect of taxing land values is what he needs.
There should be news of Liberal Democrats' direct from Owen Dumpleton soon. He's taken over from me as electronic news provider for ALTER (Action on Land Taxation & Economic Reform).
The Campaign Chief of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Donald Gorrie, is a member of ALTER. He is also a Member of Westminster Parliament for Edinburgh West and a candidate for the Scottish Parliament. He is scheduled to speak alongside Mayor Reed on 5 March.
Henry George Foundation of Great Britain
The London Fruit Exchange, Suite 427
Brushfield Street, London E1 6EL
Tel: +44 171 377 8885 Fax: +44 171 377 8686
Email: hgf_igu@compuserve.com
Urban and Economic Development Group: http://www.urbed.co.uk
Referred by Chuck Metalitz, Henry George School/Chicago - The Winter issue of the respected "Journal of the American Planning Association" contains an article by Tom Gihring on hypothetical testing of incentive taxation in Washington State. He reported on this at the 1998 Portland Conference of the CGO (Council of Georgist Organizations) last year.
The American Planning Association: http://www.planning.org
Speaking of Chicago's Henry George School of Social Science, you can read an insightful and concise essay by Sam Venturella, Director, called "Why Study Henry George?" (from the latest issue of the Georgist Journal) at HGS-Chicago's web site: http://pages.ripco.com:8080/~taxpayer
The Henry George School of Social Science - Chicago
417 South Dearborn St. #510
Chicago IL 60605
Tel: (312) 362-9302 Fax: (312) 362-9303)
Email: taxpayer@ripco.com
Jeffery J. Smith - President, Geonomy Society
1611 SE Nehalem St., #2 Portland, Oregon 97202-6700, USA
Tel: (503) 236-1968 Fax: (503) 760-4932
Email: geonomist@juno.com
http://members.aol.com/geonomy/geonomy.htm
Mr. Dodson's web site, the School of Cooperative Individualism, meanwhile, has some new and exciting documents Georgists will highly appreciate. They include a magnificent analysis of World Bank's recent "Landecon" forum and an entire chapter from the new book, Losses of Nations.
School of Cooperative Individualism:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/5148
Edward Dodson: ejdodson@msn.com
The small, but powerful book, by Neil De Mause and Joanna Cagan, about publicly funded sports stadiums doesn't just expose corruption among city officials and sports team owners, but the collusion of local newspaper owners.
The Progress Report's original review of Field of Schemes:
http://www.progress.org/archive/revschem.htm
The Field of Schemes web site:
http://www.fieldofschemes.com
Field of Schemes was published by Common Courage Press:
http://www.commoncouragepress.com
Ever heard of the "Spring Henry George Seminar" at the University of Scranton? Each Spring, to coincide with the induction of new members of Omicron Delta Epsilon, the International Economics Honor Society, an economist is invited to present a paper and give a talk on it.
Though it has been held each Spring since 1992, many Georgists were aware of only the annual Fall "Henry George Lecture," past speakers at which have included Dr. Alfred Kahn, Dr. Robert Solow, Alice Rivlin and Paul Krugman.
For more information about the University of Scranton's surprisingly large
"Henry George Program," try this URL:
http://academic.uofs.edu/faculty/nguyen/georset.htm
A conference sponsored by GIFT (Global Institute for Taxation) on "Taxation Alternatives in the 21st Century" will be held in Washington, DC in the Summer of 1999. GIFT is focused on "the search for innovative taxation systems, techniques and philosophies..."
GIFT's Board of Advisors will meet for the first time in just a few days (Feb. 8). Two of them are extremely knowledgeable Georgist activists, Patricia Aller and Ted Gwartney, so GIFT shouldn't have far to search for the answers they seek. Stay tuned for details. Global Institute for Taxation: http://www.stjohns.edu/libraries/centers/gift
Land Reform Scotland may soon be on the Internet!
Peter Gibb, Executive Director
Tel: +44 1542 841 842
Email:
landreformscotland@cali.co.uk
New land reform oriented and related e-mail discussion lists are cropping up, such as "LAGER" (Land-Axiology-Government-Economics-Reasoning). What's "axiology"? Definition: the study of the nature, types, and criteria of values and of value judgments, esp. in ethics.
What makes LAGER different than a lot of e-mail discussions is that adherence to Socratic dialogue (sound logic, factual reasoning, etc.) is a requirement for retaining one's ability to post to the list (anyone can receive it, though). It's meant to be an evolution from more chaotic e- mail discussion lists, by stressing quality over quantity.
Robin Robertson is the technical administrator of the list and Fred Foldvary is the "logic-watcher," so you're bound to turn find it well-maintained in both ways.
To get on the list, send a brief introduction of yourself, including the
philosophies with which you at least somewhat identify, whether Georgist,
liberal, conservative, etc.). Only your ideological info is requested,
though; educational and other background isn't necessary.
Try it! E-mail Robin Robertson at:
robrob13@aol.com
Fresh from their courteous annihilation of Neoclassical economics in the Internet Land and Real Estate Forum sponsored by World Bank, Georgists are now cordially invited to share their glowing wisdom with another prestigious international online conference about land.
For the next 8 weeks, the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) of the United Nations Department of Sustainable Development and the Netherlands Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries will hold an electronic forum on "The Multifunctional Character of Agriculture and Land."
Insiders will tell you that UN institutions are more socially responsible than international financial groups such as World Bank. If this is true, Georgist participation may yield even better results than in our World Bank foray, which Mason Gaffney described as "amazingly overwhelming."
To participate, send an e-mail to:
mailserv@mailserv.fao.org
Leave the subject field blank and on the first line of the message, put:
Subscribe Ag-Success-L
Meanwhile, though, World Bank wants another go at us with an email discussion list called Attacking Poverty. This time, however, the public is being invited to participate. A larger group could either help disseminate Georgist thought or drown it out, depending on who shows up. Find out here: http://www.globalknowledge.org/worldbank/wdr2001/current
(Editor's Note - Thank you, Alanna Hartzok, for referring us to the UN item and Robin Robertson for WB information.)
As representatives of the Global Compliance Research Project, Joan Russow
(head of the Canadian Green Party) and Caspar Davis (Georgist activist in
Victoria, BC) urge Georgists to sign the Citizens' Public Trust Treaty. Read
it here:
http://www.gn.apc.org/negreens/cptt.htm
Send signatures to:
Paul Swann, 14 Beacon Hill, LONDON, N7 9LY, UK
Promote the Georgist method of environmental protection by voting online
for Earth Trustee web sites at:
http://www.earthdream.org
Do you ever take the Banneker Center Monthly Survey? It's always
thought-provoking. The results of last month's survey are among the
most interesting yet produced from that long running project. See for
yourself at this URL:
http://www.progress.org/banneker/sur38res.html
There's a section in the latest edition of Land & Liberty called "Cultural Landscapes," containing an article entitled, "Art: Of Mind and Money." Georgists sometimes talk of such a thing as Georgist Culture. Is there a "Georgist 'Cultural' Society"? If you know of any such groups, related information and/or if such a focus group interests you, write your editor at: georgist@aol.com
Register for the Annual Conference of the Council of Georgist Organizations. The benefits of attendance are tremendous, so if you've never been to one... (Annual fees for member organizations of the CGO are due now also.)
Contact - Sue Walton:
swalton@interaccess.com
Council of Georgist Organizations:
http://www.progress.org/cgo
Immediately following, there'll be a Georgist Educational Conference in
Arden, Delaware, the land tax community.
Contact - Lindy Davies:
lindy@henrygeorge.org
Jim Zwick is amazing. I want Georgists to take a look at his work at the Mining Co. I receive his Mark Twain newsletter and think most Georgists would truly appreciate it. His site at Mining Co. and his personal site are among the best the Internet has to offer, seriously. You will bookmark them.
Look at what I just learned there about what happened 100 years ago today:
Jim Zwick's personal web site:
http://home.ican.net/~fjzwick
The Mining Co. Mark Twain site:
http://marktwain.miningco.com
Jim Zwick:
marktwain.guide@miningco.com
Correction: Geonomy Society President, Jeffery J. Smith, has written in to complain that the most recent edition of the Georgist News was inaccurate to credit him so specifically for the accomplishments of the Geonomy Society for 1998.
Smith wants it known that the help of GS VP, Kris Nelson, has been crucial and that the Geonomy Society is a growing organization, the accomplishments of which are a credit to all its members.
Consider that correction made, Mr. Smith and thank you, all!
Correction: The Pennsylvania Borough Bill passed their Senate 48-0 not 50-0,
as reported in GN#12. Look for the full story in the next issue of GroundSwell.
To receive a complimentary copy, email Nadine Stoner of Common Ground-USA at:
nadstoner@aol.com
Common Ground-USA:
http://www.progress.org/cg
Correction: Alex Godden is not 'head' of LVTC (Land Value Taxation Committee) as reported in GN#12, he's their webmaster. Roy Douglas is Chair of the LVTC Committee.
From Mark A. Sullivan -
It was good of you [in GN#12] to point out Gov. Ridge's homicidal refusal to allow a new trial (which is clearly called for by the evidence and conduct of the first trial).
You might mention in your next GNSreport that Mumia Abu-Jamal has been a volunteer Henry George Institute correspondence course teacher from inside death row.
Mumia has done heroic deeds for social justice and human understanding in his life. But, of course, he is opposed by the vested interests who benefit from a permanent black underclass. This, I think, is the main reason he was not given a fair trial, and is being denied a new one—and perhaps why media attention seems to be murderously minimal. If Georgists acquaint themselves with the details, I think many would join with others who value social justice in calling for a new trial and the saving of Mumia's life.
From Roy Langston -
Thanks for mentioning my participation in the World Bank's landecon maillist... Just a note of clarification, though; you wrote, "Roy Langston, a former decliner of Georgist reform, who has seen the light..."
"I am not now nor have I ever been..." a Georgist, because I do not accept the Georgist principles that 100% of land rent must be recovered in tax, that no other tax is acceptable or defensible, and that private ownership of land (as opposed to the land value created by government and the community) is not defensible. I also do not subscribe to Georgist beliefs concerning the broad economic effects of the private retention or public recovery of land rents, the sufficiency of land rents alone to support the entire budgets of modern governments, and the idea of LVT as a panacea (i.e., as a sufficient condition for freedom, justice and prosperity).
Yes, LVT must be the largest component of a just and economically efficient taxation system, because land is where the lion's share of the asset value created by government and the community ends up. But both justice and economic reasoning dictate that the bulk of all additional asset values created by government and the community rather than the private asset owners should be recovered for the support of said government and community, not just the land values.
I would appreciate it if you could publish this clarification of my position in the next issue of the Georgist News, lest some Georgists who have crossed rhetorical swords with me get the wrong idea. Thank you.
And BTW, thank you very much also for your efforts in publishing The Georgist News. It is very beneficial to have a steady flow of this kind of information on hand, to counteract the constant barrage of disinformation from the other side.
My pleasure, Mr. Langston; thank you. (But, I still think you're a Georgist...or, at least, "Georgish." {= )
The Georgist News is grateful to the following web sites for providing their visitors with a link to our home page.
The EarthSharing Home Page: http://www.earthsharing.org.au
The Georgist Educational Association: http://www.multiline.com.au/~georgist
We rely heavily on volunteer correspondents and writers.
Potential news items, press releases and story references for The
Georgist News should be sent to: gnewsdesk@aol.com
There are many ways you might be able to help this project grow and improve. If you'd like to become further involved or if there is any way The Georgist News might be of greater use to you or your related projects, please, contact Adam Monroe at: georgist@aol.com
Web site suggestions can be sent to Scott Kroyer at: kroyer@scc.net.
The Georgist News is grateful for support received from