Welcome to the December issue of The Georgist News.
Welcome to a dozen new subscribers: David Brooks (Aussie), Lloyd
Churches (Aussie computer whiz), Godfrey Dunkley (South African
activist), John Havercroft (East Fleets, UK), Mary Lehmann (Texas
activist), Chris Lempa, John Kindley, Benjamin Lukoff (Democratic
Freedom Caucus), Emer O'Siochru (Irish housing activist), Alan C
Rollins (below), Alan Sheerins, Business Development Manager, Co-op
Homes, UK; and Karl Widerquist (U of Reading, UK). Have you friends
or co-workers who'd also like to subscribe?
What's in store below are stories on accurate predictions three years
old, the role of land in lifting one out of poverty, an endorsement
by a New York City president, and new activism in Florida. Plus, the
other regular features readers enjoy.
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CONTENTS:
1. Good Press: MoneyWeek, Financial Times, National Catholic Reporter,
Metropolis, and NZ's The Independent.
2. News: All Vietnam on public land; Petrocracy recovers big portions
of rent; Blacks with land get ahead
3. Numbers: All 3 big indexes drop; More at The Progress Report
4. Movement Progress: Manhattan president; eco-tax conference; others
plagiarize us; 5. Letters: Democracy, Florida activist, Vietnam
action, Quiz takers
6. Likable links: Robertson newsletter, Trevor cycle blog, Free Acres
site, Zarlenga update, Land Labour site
7. What You Can Do: Present at Athens conference
8. At the Margin: Quips and Quotes
9. Publication affairs: Contributors, About the Georgist News
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1a. Good Press: MoneyWeek, Nov 2, 2007
By Fred Harrison, author of Boom Bust
House prices: expect the worse. In August 2005, Fred Harrison told
MoneyWeek that the UK's property boom would last for another three
years, before ending in 2008. In the current issue he updates his
forecast.
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1b. Good Press: Financial Times, October 23, 2007
By Carol Wilcox, Labour Land Campaign, carol.Wilcox at talktalk.net
Replace standard rate tax and fix land market as well
Sir, I agree with Prof. Willem Buiter (Letters, October 18) that
simplicity is necessary for a good tax regime in order to facilitate
collectability and economic efficiency aims. However, there are other
criteria for a good system, and it is surely unfair not to distinguish
between earned and unearned income unless or until it becomes possible
to limit income tax to those who can command economic rent.
I am concerned also that Prof. Buiter only sees fit to discuss taxes
on labour and capital while ignoring completely the third factor of
production: land. Rent, as Ricardo demonstrated, is a surplus that can
be collected at no cost to production.
A full annual tax on land rent could replace standard rate income tax,
while at the same time fixing the dysfunctional land market, which
lies at the heart of the housing crisis.
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1c. Good Press: National Catholic Reporter
By Rich Heffern, November 2, 2007
"Another wave of intentional communities happened in the late 1800s,
most notably a rise in "single tax colonies" based on the economic
philosophy of Henry George."
Ed. Note: Google the above for the entire article.
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1d. Good Press: Metropolis, a blog from Metro Philadelphia,
has Josh Vincent by Josh Cornfield,
Metro Philadelphia night news editor, October 29, 2007
This week's Reformers' Roundtable: Noel Weyrich; attorney, Danny
Cevallos; and Joshua Vincent, the executive director of the Henry
George Foundation.
JV: First, nowhere has a reassessment wrecked the marketplace.
Assessments are reflections of the marketplace, not the other way
around. Second, citizens need to see that they are not paying more
than they ought, nor are their neighbors. A perception of fairness
will ensure this works. Third, the land value tax will reduce the pain
of higher values, along with rational alternatives like deferrals and
phase-ins of value.
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1e. Good Press: The Independent, a New Zealand business weekly
By Nick Smith, columnist, Nov 14, 2007, "Adam Smith's cold, dead hand
goes green"
Frank de Jong, leader of Canada's Ontario Green Party, in Auckland,
New Zealand said Greens out of power -- as in Canada and America --
must get practical and bold about economics to win a share of power.
He praised Henry George as the intellectual father of green economics.
Such thinking leads to a new fiscal policy, one of shifting taxes --
and hopefully subsidies; people would pay for the values they take,
not the values they make. Government would make polluters pay while
giving workers a tax cut.
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2a. News: All Vietnam on public land
By Hoang Phuong, Vietnam Edition, November 19, 2007
Since all land is public property in Vietnam, businesses pay land-use
duties; i.e., rents, to the government through the tax offices.
According to a central government decree, rent can be as high as two
percent of the land value, which is decided by local governments.
After renting land from local authorities for years, business owners
in Can Tho, the Mekong Delta hub, woke up in June to rents ten times
what they were used to paying.
* The Motilen Construction Material Company has to pay VND711 million
($44,271) in rent this year compared to just VND44 million last year.
* The respective figures for the Can Tho Beer Company are VND987.9
million ($61,457) and VND41.8 million.
* The Exhibition and Fair Company (EFC) paid VND753 million in land
rent last year. Their rent leapt to VND4.3 billion (US$268,000)
this year and EFC was even asked to pay VND3.6 billion more for
last year.
The Can Tho Tax Office said the hike had been effective since last
year, and the enterprises had not paid the full 2006 rent.
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2b. News: The Perils of Petrocracy
By Tina Rosenberg, The New York Times, November 4, 2007,
via Wyn Achenbaum
One reason President Evo Morales of Bolivia pulled back from his
threats to radically nationalize the country's gas industry is that
Bolivian officials realize they cannot manage the business themselves.
Morales has focused on raising royalties on fields with known
reserves, fields where companies essentially are guaranteed a return
on investment. The royalty had been at 18%. Under pressure from
popular protests, the previous government raised the rate to 50%, and
last year Morales raised it to 82% in some cases. While foreign
investment in Bolivia's natural gas industry has fallen, every analyst
I talked to said it was not because of the royalty hike. Morales's
nationalization rhetoric, not royalty rates, made private companies
skittish. Roger Tissot of PFC Energy adds, "Companies don't have a
problem paying more rent and taxes. They do have a problem giving up
control."
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2c. News: Forty Acres and a Gap in Wealth
By Henry Louis Gates, Jr., a professor at Harvard, author of the
forthcoming "In Search of Our Roots," Op-ed Contributor at the New
York Times, November 18, 2007, via Heather Remoff
I have been studying the family trees of twenty successful
African-Americans, people in fields ranging from entertainment and
sports (Oprah Winfrey, the track star, Jackie Joyner-Kersee) to space
travel and medicine (the astronaut, Mae Jemison and Ben Carson, a
pediatric neurosurgeon). And I've seen an astonishing pattern: 15 of
the 20 descend from at least one line of former slaves who managed to
obtain property by 1920 ...
Editor's note: More at http://www.progress.org/2007/blackpov.htm
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3a. Numbers: S&P: 3Q Home Prices Fall 4.5%
By J.W. Elphinstone, AP Business Writer, November 27, 2007
US home prices fell 4.5% in the third quarter from a year earlier, the
sharpest drop since Standard & Poor's began its nationwide housing
index in 1987. The index also showed that prices fell 1.7% from the
previous three-month period, the largest quarter-to-quarter decline in
the index's history. The S&P/Case-Schiller quarterly index tracks
prices of existing single-family homes across the nation compared with
a year earlier. A separate index that covers 20 U.S. metropolitan
areas dropped 4.9% in September from a year earlier, with 15 metro
areas posting declines. In the five metro areas that showed an
increase -- Charlotte, Atlanta, Dallas, Portland, and Seattle -- the
pace of the rise is decelerating. Tampa and Miami led the index with
the lowest year-over-year declines at 11.1% and 10%, respectively. It
also showed drops in San Diego of 9.6%; Detroit, 9.6%; Las Vegas, 9%;
Phoenix, 8.8%; and Los Angeles, 7%. The S&P's 10-area index decreased
5.5% in September from the previous year.
3b. Numbers: Realtors: Home prices skid 5.1% to March 2005 level;
sales fall
By Noelle Knox, USA Today, November 28, 2007
By a different index (the Realtors'), the median price for an existing
home also set a record, sliding 5.1% last month to $207,800, bringing
values back down to March 2005 levels. Sales of existing homes dipped
1.2% from September to October. Compared to October last year, sales
of single-family homes and condos were down almost 21%. There is now
almost 11 months of homes on the market. It will take up to three
years to work through that glut.
3c. Numbers: Fed HEO: Home Prices Fall 0.4% in Q3
By Marcy Gordon, Associated Press Business Writer, November 29, 2007
US home prices dipped 0.4% nationwide in the July-September period
from Q2, marking a quarterly decline for the first time in 13 years,
according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, the
agency that oversees the big mortgage-finance companies Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac. Compared with the third quarter of 2006, home prices
increased 1.8%, but it was the smallest year-over-year increase since
1995. Many of the cities and states experiencing the sharpest declines
were the same areas that had posted the sharpest increases a couple of
years ago. Price declines were steepest in California, Massachusetts,
Michigan, Nevada and Rhode Island.
3d. Numbers: For more revealing data, please see The Progress Report
By Jeffery J. Smith, November 25, 2007
This month, rather than repeat all the startling statistics that
indicate where we are in the land-price cycle, which drives the larger
business cycle, please see the pertinent article at the Progress
Report under "Happy Thankindians: Packing in the delectables in cozy
homes, we can be grateful for foresight, so to prepare ourselves for
what's coming. Banker expects half of all mortgages written in '05-'06
to default." See: http://www.progress.org/2007/mortgage.htm
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4a. Movement Progress: 2008 conference to have debate
and steamboat tour
By Sue Walton, phone 847-475-0391; efax 775-248-8630;
email sns at swwalton.com, October 19, 2007
The 2008 Council of Georgist Organizations Conference Program Team
members (Greg Young, Paul Justus, John Huebert) and the members of the
CGO Executive Committee (Ted and Toni Gwartney, Pia DeSilva, Ed
Dodson, Lindy Davies, Dan Sullivan) and its staff (Sue and Scott
Walton) are hard at work on what they hope will be a unique conference
in 2008. It's to be held July 9-13 in Kansas City, MO, and will
feature concurrent sessions on Sustainability, Theory and Practice,
Assessment Practices, and Affordable Housing. Lindy Davies and Cay
Hehner will be squaring off for Point-Counter Point, and a bus tour
featuring the National Trails Museum and the Arabia Steamboat is also
planned. For more information, please contact:
Sue Walton ( sns at swwalton.com ) or by phone at 847-475-0391.
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4b. Movement Progress: New York City's Manhattan Borough President
By John Tepper Marlin at his blog, CityEconomist Update,
November 20, 2007
http://cityeconomist.blogspot.com/
2007/11/manhattan-borough-president-stringer-on.html
I was privileged to attend a breakfast meeting sponsored by the Drum
Major Institute. Boston Mayor, Thomas Menino, was the featured
speaker. He spoke about how he surveyed his city for abandoned
buildings and through a variety of creative initiatives, not without
opposition, reduced the number of abandoned units by 77 percent. Scott
Stringer, Manhattan Borough President, said, "We tax buildings.
Imagine if we created a system of incremental land value taxation."
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4c. Movement Progress: Major conference hears LVT
By Paul Metz, metz at integer-consult.com, November 3, 2007
Recently a world conference on Environmental Tax Reform took place in
Munich, Germany. I was a speaker and promoted land taxation in the
spectrum of better tax options and proposed cooperation with other
organizations. Perhaps it will happen sometime, as the awareness of
benefits is also developing among supporters of LVT and citizens
income schemes. Jeff Smith planned to participate, but to our regret,
could not make it. London Transport and Swedish reps presented the
congestion charges in their capitals. Several participants of the
conference have heard of Henry George, geonomics, and LVT, but find
its advocates a sectarian minority. Just like most experts on both
sides, they do not understand its benefits. An Earth Dividend could
gain much broader support for the significant tax raises needed to be
effective.
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4d. Movement Progress: Plagiarism proves popularity
By Jeffery J. Smith, November 25, 2007
To date, a couple of original geonomic articles have been lifted from
geoist websites and reproduced elsewhere, albeit without giving its
author (your editor), credit. One was used as a news story in a Kenyan
daily paper and the other at a Filipino website which engaged in a
healthy, and receptive, debate about the Citizens Dividend --
interesting that both venues were in the Third World. Of course, it is
impossible to track and tally up such interest in our websites, but
the lifting is flattering.
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5a. Letters: Reply to Caspar Davis (CD)
By Ole Lefmann, ole.lefmann1 at virgin.net, November 03, 2007
For years I have argued for expansion of what people in today's
societies believe is democracy. Today's democracies (meaning "reign of
the people") differ from nation to nation, but generally they comprise
equal personal rights and equal political rights for (almost) all
citizens having arrived to majority age. Compared to the lack of
democracy that was common until 150 years ago, this is excellent, but
democracy is not complete before all citizens are also guaranteed
equal basic economic rights to the values of nature and society.
Without this equal right for all citizens, democracy is incomplete,
and a minority of individuals will continue to capture wealth from the
market without delivering satisfaction to other people in return. They
do so by violently abusing the market by force or protected by power.
They spoil or hamper the possibilities of the market, to the detriment
of citizens who are not privileged as are they. They are protected by
the supreme power of the society that ironically, boastfully declares
that this is the highest possible degree of Democracy.
CD: I say, good points. In my view, the right to vote is to democracy
as the right to breathe is to a satisfying life: necessary but far
from sufficient. Genuine democracy requires economic equity, which is
impossible without fair payment for the use of land and other natural
resources.
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5b. Letters: Florida activism
By Alan C Rollins, Tallahassee, FL, 850-386-8504,
alancrollins at embarqmail.com, November 7, 2007
Searching for some thinking material, I came across your web site. I
am reading your article, "Prosperity from Geonomics." Is there any
effort being made here in Florida to consider the environmental and/or
land tax shift? I'm in Tallahassee, the capital. If so, whom might I
contact? If not, what would it take to get the ball rolling? How would
we go about re-allocating land? Or would we? How could land dues be
implemented? How would the amount due be established? Why did
Pennsylvania move away from the land tax? What was the motivation?
What was the opposition able to sell to the lawmakers? In other words,
I need a user's manual or blueprint to see how to go about getting
this idea in front of those who might become allies.
I also believe that we are not getting anywhere pointing fingers at
the haves and the have-nots. I have already contacted FSU's LeRoy
Collins Institute on Public Policy. They are taking up the tax issue
and have invited me to join in. I am going to be asking them to
consider environmental taxes as well. I would need help translating
your proposal into Floridian. I want to be able to speak geonomics
enough not to embarrass you. Anyhow, I am scurrying around down here
trying to keep the sky from falling. Hope your holidays were as good
as mine. Thanks.
Editor replies: A manual is a great idea. In this brief space, I'll
just say, you're right: being able to sum up the message is the first
step. Maybe try, "to reward people for producing sustainably, let's
shift taxes and subsidies. Let's quit subsidizing wasteful special
interests and instead fund everyone equitably. And let's quit taxing
our efforts -- income, sales, and buildings -- and instead tax
pollution, extraction, and locations. That last shift, from buildings
to locations, is especially beneficial, as it lowers the cost of
housing, contracts sprawl, attracts investment and provides jobs. Can
we work together on this revenue shift called geonomics?"
Besides the Collins people, others who might get interested enough to
hop on the bandwagon are "greens," housing advocates, small business
owners, and apartment owners. They might have bigger name recognition
than just us two. Once you get a coalition, then make appointments
with your elected officials, both local and state.
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5c. Letters: Vietnam activist pushes whole program
By Bruno Moser, International Land Economics, Hanoi, Viet Nam,
bruno.moser at gmail.com, November 21, 2007
We suggest lowering taxes in a revenue-neutral fashion accordingly, of
course! And we include the payment of a citizen's dividend, a child of
your efforts! The problem is that taxes are generally collected by the
feds, and the locals make land deals; nasty ones, as you can see.
http://www.thanhniennews.com/society/?catid=3&newsid=33605
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5d. Letters: Corporate Welfare online quiz
Hanno Beck, banneker at progress.org, November 8, 2007
Those various quizzes that you assembled for the Banneker Center's
website continue to be used by visitors. For the last few years we
have had, at the end of each quiz, a little form that quiz takers can
use if they want to recommend the quiz to a friend. The forms provide
the friend's email address, and we send them an invitation with a link
to the quiz.
Well, one fellow did that today, and the person receiving the
recommendation also took the quiz, and sent me this note. "I got a 126
on this test. But to be honest, I guessed a lot, but I guessed right
just by knowing how messed up our country is!!!!"
Ha ha! That is funny, in a cynical way.
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6a. Likable link: Each day, The Progress Report
By Jeffery J. Smith, November 25, 2007
Do you want to know the latest facts that bolster the geoist position?
Then each day you could check out the news stories at The Progress
Report. Some articles from November include:
* "Banker expects half of all mortgages written in '05-'06 to default"
* "Major media, key economist, and cutting-edge party agree on taxes"
* "US Role in Bringing Pakistan to the Abyss"
* "Legal Tender and Illegal Toughness"
Read them and send others to them at http://www.progress.org
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6b. Likable link: James Robertson's Newsletter No 13 for November
By James Robertson, james at jamesrobertson.com, November 14, 2007
My latest newsletter is now out. Here is an item from the contents: 1.
Almost all the post-mortem and commentary about Northern Rock,
sub-prime mortgages, credit crunch, and possible worldwide financial
crisis fails to address one of the root causes. I suggest a possible
solution. Read the full newsletter at:
http://www.jamesrobertson.com/newsletter.htm
A potentially very important new development was announced on 14
November: the launch of a Green Fiscal Commission in the UK. Its
director is Professor Paul Ekins, our old friend and colleague in the
1980s at The Other Economic Summit (TOES) and the New Economics
Foundation. I knew the Commission was being planned. If I had known
the launch was imminent, I would have mentioned it in my newsletter of
the same date. For details see http://www.greenfiscalcommission.org.uk
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6c. Likable link: Land and the Business Cycle
Trevor Acorn, Tacorn at whittakerhomes.com, November 14, 2007
I recently put up a series of posts on a group blog I host showing how
I see land at the root of the business cycle. If any are interested,
you can find them here at http://atomsandideas.thefriars.net/?p=259
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6d. Likable link: Report on the AMI 2007 Monetary Reform Conference
Stephen Zarlenga, AMI, ami at taconic.net, November 14, 2007
Three things: First, a Brief Report on the AMI 2007 Conference.
Second, AMI has launched a blog. Third, you are invited to a talk I'm
giving in Philadelphia on December 5th, 2007. For more, visit:
http://www.monetary.org/
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6e. Likable link: Free Acres, Georgist colony
By Laurel Hessing, laurelhessing at comcast.net, November 1, 2007
Dear Henry: Free Acres in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, which was
founded on the principles of Henry George, has a new website which can
be accessed as Freeacres.org in your web browser. Please note that the
web page is only in the beginning stage, but we already have documents
of interest on the web.
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6f. Likable link: Newish UK geoist website
By Tony Vickers, Chair, Lib Dems ALTER (Action on Land-value Taxation
& Economic Reform), tonyvickers at phonecoop.coop,
http://www.libdemsalter.org.uk, June 01, 2007
We have created a new site that we'd like you to link to - and we'll
reciprocate. It is at www.1909.org.uk and I hope I don't need to
explain the significance of that URL before you go there!
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7a. What You Can Do: Answer Call for Papers for August Athens
Conference
By John Roufagalas, ( atiner at atiner.gr ) Radford University
September 26, 2007
The Economics Research Unit of the Athens Institute for Education and
Research (ATINER) will hold its third International Symposium in
Athens, Greece, August 4-7, 2008, on Economic Theory, Policy and
Applications. Papers in English from all areas of economics are
welcome. Selected papers will be published in a Special Volume of
Conference Proceedings or thematic books. Papers to be included are
blindly peer reviewed. Please send an abstract of about 300 words,
via email, before January 7, 2008 to:
Dr. John Roufagalas ( atiner at atiner.gr ) Radford University, USA
URL: http://www.atiner.gr/docs/Economics.htm
Abstracts should include: Title of Paper, Family Name(s), First
Name(s), Affiliation (Institution), Current Position, an email address
and at least three keywords (or JEL Index Numbers) that best describe
the subject of your submission.
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8. At the Margin: Quips and Quotes
(not too long after ThankIndians)
"All the problems we face in the United States today can be traced to
an unenlightened immigration policy on the part of the American
Indian." -- Pat Paulsen During pilots training back in the Air Corps
they taught us, "Always try to keep the number of landings you make
equal to the number of take offs you make." -- anonymous
"I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and
democracy -- but that could change."
-- Vice President Dan Quayle, 5/22/89
Why are pertinent and impertinent, canny and uncanny, and famous and
infamous neither opposites nor the same? -- Crazy English
People who want to share their religious views with you almost never
want you to share yours with them. -- Dave Barry
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9. Publication affairs: Contributing to this issue
Wyn Achenbaum, Trevor Acorn, Hanno Beck, Laurel Hessing,
Ole Lefmann, Paul Metz, Bruno Moser, Heather Remoff,
Alan C Rollins, John Roufagalas, Tony Vickers, Sue Walton,
Carol Wilcox, Stephen Zarlenga.
Editor: Jeffery J. Smith
Assistant Editor: Caspar Davis
Copy Editor: Enzo Piccone
Archivist: Stewart Goldwater
Owner: The Robert Schalkenbach Foundation
Founder: Adam Monroe
Send your news and other interesting material to the Georgist News at
jjs at geonomics.org or gn at progress.org. The deadline for the next
issue is December 24.
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ABOUT THE GEORGIST NEWS
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The Georgist News, Volume Ten, Number Six, December 1, 2007