Deadline for our February 2005 issue: January 22.
Have you made a New Year's Resolution for economic justice activities? Please tell us your top priorities.
I recently saw this sentence that shows optimism gently warming even those people who are disappointed with the events of 2004: "The more the year 2004 comes to a close, the better I feel about things to come in the new year." Let us learn what we can from 2004, but then leave the past behind so that we can fully embrace the potential of 2005. Make this a great year!
You can always reach the Georgist News at gn@progress.org
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We recently received an issue of the "Land & Liberty Communique," published quarterly by the Henry George Foundation of Great Britain. Do you subscribe?
To find out more, send an email message to office@LandandLiberty.net
We recently received a news update from the Land Research Trust, a Georgist organization in London, UK. Are you on their mailing list?
For more information, contact Fred Harrison at metaman@compuserve.com
Georgist Bill Batt has recently reviewed an important book by Hernando DeSoto, "The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else. We need more reviews of this sort, where economic punditry can be compared to Georgist economics.
You can read Batt's review at: http://www.progress.org/2004/desorev.htm
Many decades ago, Henry Ware Allen of Wichita, Kansas, U.S., compiled a set of 365 quotes from Henry George and arranged them into a calendar.
The Banneker Center for Economic Justice has placed those quotes into a database and will begin offering a "Henry George Quote of the Day" at several of its web sites, starting with January 1, 2005.
To view it, visit
http://www.progress.org/banneker/
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Would you like to see the Henry George quote of the day appearing at other web sites. We certainly would. Get in touch with the Banneker Center at banneker@progress.org to find out how to add this feature to your site. It's a very simple matter to have the quotes appear in the format that you want, automatically changing every day.
GN Comments: Here is an interesting note from Fred Foldvary.
Greetings of the Season from the officers & staff of the Council of Georgist Organizations!
Watch this space for conference updates.
P.S. The answer to last month's trivia question - it was the Fels family, that helped to buy a building on Rittenhouse Square for the Ethical Culture Society.
Green Party of Ontario Leader Frank de Jong announced on December 15 that he is seeking the nomination in the expected Dufferin-Peel- Wellington-Grey byelection. De Jong's party supports Georgist economic policies. Those of you who attend CGO conferences might recall that Frank de Jong was the keynote speaker at the 2002 conference in London, Ontario.
There is a bit of confusion in this election, however. The member of the Provincial Parliament who was to resign, to open up the seat for a special election to be held in February, did not quit on December 16 as expected. A vacant seat is widely anticipated, but no one knows for sure the precise "which" and "when". We will keep you posted.
For more information, visit the Green Party of Ontario web site: http://www.greenparty.on.ca/
GN Comments: In reply to a pessimistic passage in a recent article at The Progress Report, Georgist Leo Foley wrote the following:
Perhaps the major reason for optimism is that we have a refined version of 'proportional representation' voting here. It is called "Hare-Clark" after its inventors. What it means is that a candidate can get elected with 16.66% of the vote. Everyone has a chance! Especially if they have a principled idea. And any Georgist has that.
So, I'm having a go here. Local council elections in 2005, and the State legislature (Tasmanian Parliament) in 2006.
I'll need support, so if anyone has any extra $$ available to pledge, please get in touch. Remember that $100 US dollars becomes $150 Aussie dollars; even better, 100 Pounds sterling becomes $250 Oz. Never will you get better value.
If you think you might like to help, my email is foleo55@bigpond.net.au
I can provide you with as many references from committed Georgists as you wish. In my humble opinion, while education is required, political action is essential - now!
Please help if you can.
Leo Foley
In last month's Georgist News we pointed out that the "weak U.S. dollar" is a big current topic, and sought your help in framing a Georgist message on that subject, asking "Is there a brief but telling statement that we can make in conversation with our friends and neighbors, that sheds light on the 'weak dollar' subject and portrays Georgism as a more sensible paradigm than the current jumble?"
We only received one reply. Many thanks to Roy Langston, who offered this:
by Ed Dodson
One analyst, Laurence Kotlikoff, has put the full picture in focus (at least from a Cato Institute perspective):
"The U.S. fiscal gap is roughly 4 times national gross domestic product (GDP) and 12 times the official debt. While up-to-date figures for European countries are unavailable, it is known that the fiscal gaps across the continent, as a share of GDP, are much larger than that of the United States.
"One way to put the fiscal gap in the United States in perspective is to ask what it would take to pay it off. Such an analysis was performed by the U.S. Treasury and determined that:
"Because such options would be incredibly damaging to the U.S. economy, it is possible that inflationary monetary policy would be the most attractive short-term solution," warns Kotlikoff.
(Source: Laurence J. Kotlikoff, "Fiscal Policy and the Future of the Euro," Cato Journal, Volume 24, No. 1-2, Summer 2004, Cato Institute.)
Now, for those who might be wondering what Kotlikoff means by "inflationary monetary policy," one can speculate on whether the President of the U.S. might choose someone more accommodating to the printing of more Federal Reserve Notes in exchange for government debt than Mr. Greenspan has been.
For anyone with dollar-denominated savings, this might be the time to think about moving some of your assets into British Pounds or EUROs.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), a division of the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, is looking for a few good men and women to serve on its Consumer Advisory Committee. The Commission established the Committee in November 2000 for the purpose of making recommendations regarding consumer issues within the jurisdiction of the Commission and to facilitate the participation of consumers (including people with disabilities and under-represented populations, such as American Indians and persons living in rural areas) in proceedings before the Commission.
The topics to be addressed by the Committee will include, but are not limited to, the following areas:
The Commission seeks applications from interested organizations or institutions, in both the public and private sectors, that wish to be considered for membership on the Committee. Selections will be made on the basis of factors such as expertise and diversity of viewpoints that are necessary to address effectively the questions before the Committee.
Applications should be received by the Commission no later than January 31, 2005, and should be sent to the Federal Communications Commission, Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau, Attn.: Scott Marshall, via e-mail to scott.marshall@fcc.gov or, via facsimile to 202-418-6509.
GN Comments: Our thanks to Ed Dodson for sending this item.
The Community Development Society will hold its 2005 conference, "Linking Community Development Practice to Public Policy," in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S., June 26-29, 2005.
More information is available at the CDS website: http://comm-dev.org
Many of you know Ian Lambert, a globe-trotting Georgist who was keynote speaker at the 1992 CGO conference in Santo Domingo.
We recently learned that Ian's email address does not work and that he left the law firm of Maples and Calder, in the Cayman Islands, more than a year ago.
Do any Georgist News readers have a current postal address or email address for Ian Lambert. Please tell us at gn@progress.org
All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be
undertaken with painstaking excellence.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater.
- Gail Godwin
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