You sir, are an astounding writer. I would read you even if you wrote about sea mollusks. Georgists are exceedingly fortunate that you write on our favorite subject.
I have been saying I’m a Georgist for decades now, ever since my son introduced me to the ideas. It seemed intuitively right to not pay taxes on something that is not a created asset. Land should be everybody’s birthright and the value of land should be divided equally between us all. But I admit I never found a home built on this philosophy and when I brought it up with others I could never defend explain how it could work in the modern world. So I was happy to see this article and hope it means that this idea really does have relevance to our present moment. It
definitely coincides with my growing understanding as an 87-year-old that it makes sense to be humble when trying to help others understand what I think I understand.
So thank you for lifting up both banners. Or at least the more modest logo.
I have a suggestion. Australia is a big country with a small population. In Western Australia we have 150 km of continuous urban sprawl along a strip of coastline on either side of the Swan River where Perth sits. It's a product of the availability of cars for personal transport, cheap fuel and developer convenience. Today its choked by traffic, it lacks vegetation and is a heat sink. Once the allotment for a house was 2000 square metres. Now its down to 240 square metres. You can imagine what that means for public transport options and traffic density. on the roads.
The same planning formula is applied to rural towns.
There is plenty of green space but its beyond the frontier of what's possible because its zoned 'rural'.
Therein lies the opportunity, but we must have the wit to imagine something different. Walkable, mixed use, combine home, commerce and work and keep the cars away for the sake of the kids. Imagine what it would be like if the main street of ones town was a dirt road where kids can play hopscotch or marbles as my grandmother did in Hay Street, in the centre of Perth in 1880.
I also like to think that the only way we can get from dystopia (now) to utopia (down the line) is if the path is downhill.
To this end I keep thinking of ideas, systems, plans, formulas, knowledge, etc. that will make the default direction be the one where we want to go. If we have to push uphill while fighting entrenched interests it will take millennia. If the obvious easy thing to do gets us there it may happen in our lifetime.
I like to promote my own version of UNCONDITIONAL (irrevocable) Basic Income.
I call it Adult Resident Citizen Dividend (ARCD). It is almost exactly like the Norwegian sovereign fund except it includes all of the revenue that the country earns (interest, reserve bank loans,mineral taxes, forestry taxes, watershed gains (hydro power), land taxes) as input and divides it amongst the ARC as a dividend equally. Then any economic activity that occurs in the county (salary, share dividends, corporate tax, value added) that was enabled by the country pays (hopefully) a flat rate of tax to balance the budget. So all money is spent via the citizens then all those who benefit pay to fund the country. The reason economics is a mess is because it is deliberately complicated to hide the theft and loopholes.
ARCD Will incentivise citizens to stay or return home unless they have a better offer abroad. It will provide a basic social security to everyone without stigma or means testing (the few edge cases can be handled with means tested benefits).
Citizens will learn where their money comes from and where it goes. Citizens will want to increase government efficiency in making more money (promoting university patents, getting the best deal on mineral resources) and they will want to increase efficiency with spending, cutting back on bureaucracy and military and FRAUD because it affects their tax rate directly every year.
A UNIVERSAL (conditional) Basic Income is not recommended as it will get tied to a CBDC with Social Credit score and be a slave yoke for ever.
You sir, are an astounding writer. I would read you even if you wrote about sea mollusks. Georgists are exceedingly fortunate that you write on our favorite subject.
Sea mollusks are kind of awesome!
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/mar/28/alien-intelligence-the-extraordinary-minds-of-octopuses-and-other-cephalopods
Adding more sea mollusk content: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_(clam)
Humility is key. We see too little of it, today; narcissists of the left and right shout right past one another.
I don't really have anything useful to add but I think this is really nice.
This is a wonderful speech. It really does encapsulate the georgist thesis.
My had is off to you sir.
It always wonder why the Georgist symbol also appeared as one of the many "things" you can acquire in the video game Katarami Damacy. Now I know!
I have been saying I’m a Georgist for decades now, ever since my son introduced me to the ideas. It seemed intuitively right to not pay taxes on something that is not a created asset. Land should be everybody’s birthright and the value of land should be divided equally between us all. But I admit I never found a home built on this philosophy and when I brought it up with others I could never defend explain how it could work in the modern world. So I was happy to see this article and hope it means that this idea really does have relevance to our present moment. It
definitely coincides with my growing understanding as an 87-year-old that it makes sense to be humble when trying to help others understand what I think I understand.
So thank you for lifting up both banners. Or at least the more modest logo.
Great post. Eminently readable.
I have a suggestion. Australia is a big country with a small population. In Western Australia we have 150 km of continuous urban sprawl along a strip of coastline on either side of the Swan River where Perth sits. It's a product of the availability of cars for personal transport, cheap fuel and developer convenience. Today its choked by traffic, it lacks vegetation and is a heat sink. Once the allotment for a house was 2000 square metres. Now its down to 240 square metres. You can imagine what that means for public transport options and traffic density. on the roads.
The same planning formula is applied to rural towns.
There is plenty of green space but its beyond the frontier of what's possible because its zoned 'rural'.
Therein lies the opportunity, but we must have the wit to imagine something different. Walkable, mixed use, combine home, commerce and work and keep the cars away for the sake of the kids. Imagine what it would be like if the main street of ones town was a dirt road where kids can play hopscotch or marbles as my grandmother did in Hay Street, in the centre of Perth in 1880.
Very nice article, well written, thanks.
I like the logo.
I also like to think that the only way we can get from dystopia (now) to utopia (down the line) is if the path is downhill.
To this end I keep thinking of ideas, systems, plans, formulas, knowledge, etc. that will make the default direction be the one where we want to go. If we have to push uphill while fighting entrenched interests it will take millennia. If the obvious easy thing to do gets us there it may happen in our lifetime.
I like to promote my own version of UNCONDITIONAL (irrevocable) Basic Income.
I call it Adult Resident Citizen Dividend (ARCD). It is almost exactly like the Norwegian sovereign fund except it includes all of the revenue that the country earns (interest, reserve bank loans,mineral taxes, forestry taxes, watershed gains (hydro power), land taxes) as input and divides it amongst the ARC as a dividend equally. Then any economic activity that occurs in the county (salary, share dividends, corporate tax, value added) that was enabled by the country pays (hopefully) a flat rate of tax to balance the budget. So all money is spent via the citizens then all those who benefit pay to fund the country. The reason economics is a mess is because it is deliberately complicated to hide the theft and loopholes.
ARCD Will incentivise citizens to stay or return home unless they have a better offer abroad. It will provide a basic social security to everyone without stigma or means testing (the few edge cases can be handled with means tested benefits).
Citizens will learn where their money comes from and where it goes. Citizens will want to increase government efficiency in making more money (promoting university patents, getting the best deal on mineral resources) and they will want to increase efficiency with spending, cutting back on bureaucracy and military and FRAUD because it affects their tax rate directly every year.
A UNIVERSAL (conditional) Basic Income is not recommended as it will get tied to a CBDC with Social Credit score and be a slave yoke for ever.