We're still here, and we hope that you are enjoying a productive summer. Please remember that your own reports, remarks, and rejoinders are always very welcome. Deadline for the August issue: July 20.
You can always reach the Georgist News at gn@progress.org
CONTENTS: (to return here just click the headline)
A thousand thanks to those of you who stepped forward to donate funds to the Georgist News.
Your timing was perfect and this newsletter still exists.
And although we have not received renewed funding from our usual sponsor, the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation, we are now cautiously optimistic that they will decide soon to continue support for the Georgist News. Your notes and letters to the RSF have played a role in that, I am certain.
Once again, thanks to every Georgist News reader!
"Land Value Taxation debated in Seoul mayoral election"
South Korea had nation-wide local elections on June 13th. Land Value Taxation (LVT) was debated among the Seoul mayoral candidates on national TV. A candidate for Mayor of Seoul, Won Yong-soo, head of Socialist Party of Korea, adopted Land Value Taxation (LVT) as one of his key campaign pledges. The party announced, "LVT should be introduced immediately. We believe that LVT is the powerful policy measure for desirable land use, social welfare, environment and ecological preservation."
It's the first time ever in South Korea that LVT was mentioned by any candidates in any elections. Korean Georgists are happy with the issue publicized, while worrying at the same time that LVT could be misunderstood as a socialist policy. The Socialist candidate Mr. Won, won less than 1% of valid ballots in Seoul and the Socialist Party won about 1.5% nationally.
(a) Among the things conference participants will be able to do while in London is have use of a free city bus pass.
(b) Transportation options do still include Amtrak, which is running thru September 2002.
(c) Remember the deadline for Registering for the 2002 CGO Conference is July 25, 2002!
If you are a citizen or permanent resident of the US, you do not need a passport or visa to visit Canada. However, you should carry evidence of citizenship, such as a certificate of birth abroad, certificate of citizenship , certificate of naturalization, or a state birth certificate. If these documents do not contain a photograph, you may also be asked for a driver's license or other identification. Permanent residents of the US, who are not citizens, should carry their Resident Alien Card (I-151 or I-551). According to the Canadian Tourism's Chicago office, even an expired passport can be useful when crossing the border.
If you will be traveling with a child, you should carry: identification, similar to that mentioned above, for children of all ages, a letter of permission from the child's parent or legal guardian when traveling with a child who is not legally your own; and copies of legal documents regarding custody rights, if you share custody.
The above information is from "Welcome to Canada-Your Guide" published by the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, page 24.
When you are asked the purpose of your visit, it is "to attend a conference."
Other questions should be directed to your nearest Canadian Consulate.
And of course, between now and the start of the conference, you can always reach Sue or Scott Walton at 888/262-9015 or 847/475-0391; fax: 775/248-8630; email: swalton@surfbest.net
Conference information is also online at http://www.progress.org/cgo
Camp Hank is open! Now there's a retreat for Georgists. A place for all to revive the body, sate the brain and stir the spirit of humanity that is the essence of the Georgist Philosophy.
Near Georgetown, no less, a small gold-rush town in the Sierra foothills of California, David Giesen has acquired 27 acres of pine and manzanita fifteen minutes from the whitewater rapids of the American River, and contiguous with the 50,000 acres of El Dorado National Forest. One can hike (strenuously) on public land clear to Lake Tahoe which crests the great Sierras
The site is dedicated to Georgist educational work. Giesen has directed a Georgist day camp the past three summers at one location and another, but with this title acquisition he'll commence a fixed summer residential and day camp for youths. Moreover, as of this July, he inaugurates a series of three-day educational retreat/get-aways for teachers that include outdoor recreation, massage work, and a hands-on seminar in integrating economic thinking and analysis into the K-12 classroom.
For grown-up Georgists and their families Camp Hank is Giesen's open invitation to visit California. Just an hour east of Sacramento, and situated in the splendor of the Sierra low country, Georgetown (can you beat that name?) is a convenient stopping place for those wishing to make that California trip. It's bare land now, but the three year plan is to build simple cabins, a central hall, install a standalone photovoltaic energy system, erect a sauna and pool, and become a center for discussion of social philosophy in an atmosphere of bonhommie and delight in nature's bounty.
What's more, Camp Hank will serve as a base camp for planning, launching, and sustaining Georgist advocacy. In early summer and mid fall the site will host gatherings of Georgists. These convocations will not be instead of CGO meetings, but serve as riotous, protean conjugations of souls bent on transforming life as THEY, the not-yet-cat-seeing folk, know it.
Giesen iterates you should not come to California without visiting Camp Hank, "It's your Georgist home away from home." Indeed, Giesen welcomes friends and the greater Georgist family to help build this latest Georgist fun-topia. "Any Georgist who can wield a spade, a pruning hook, a ploughshare, a hammer, or any other instrument of civil change can stay till the job's done."
Incidentally, while reading early issues of the National Single-Taxer, Giesen discovered something of a precedent for Camp Hank. It seems a woman (name not here supplied) operated a resort near Haines Falls in the Catskills in the aught and teen years of the twentieth century. Went by the name of The Squirrel Inn. Any East Coasties have any second hand recollections?
Contact David by e-mail: telekosmos@yahoo.com or by phone: 415-948-4265 or by post at: P.O. Box 420664, San Francisco, CA 94142
By passing bill no. L 180, and with the votes of the right wing so called "Danish Peoples Party", the new liberal conservative government in Denmark have, on the 14th May, abolished the near 100 year old principle concerning public property evaluation by impartial property evaluation councils. Future valuation assessments will be made by civil servants and the present 672 valuers are to be replaced by a 75 persons complaint tribunal.
On the surface this could be seen as a mere change of administrative procedure. And the bill is also promoted by the government as a cost saving simplification of the previous system. Nevertheless, it is viewed with concern by Danish georgists, not least because it appears from the remarks to the bill that further "simplifications" over time could include the removal of the separate land value assessment, thereby meeting a long time wish by some of the bureaucrats in the administration to introduce an overall property value assessment for land and buildings.
Another concern for the Danish georgists is that there has been very little public debate on the issue. Furthermore it would, should the present government carry through their intentions, be very difficult, not to say impossible, for a future government to re-introduce a separate land value assessment scheme.
The "Who Owns Scotland" site is is now up and running at http://www.whoownsscotland.org.uk
Already, over 90% of the county of Nairn and 65% of the county of Caithness are loaded and searchable by map or text.
Try the site, and make helpful suggestions to Mr. Wightman.
He says "The function of the Good Society will be to bring together disparate thinking from all points of the political spectrum. We need to find agreement on what the Good Society will be, what is the best route to this ideal, and how we will know when we get there."
For more information, contact Harry Pollard at goodsoc@attbi.com
"In France workers are restricted to a 35-hour work week, a measure inacted by the Socialist government as a way to create more jobs. Unemployment has fallen by 3 percentage points since 1997 but most economists 'say the drop was due primarily to strong economic growth and would have happened without the law.' Meanwhile, workers paid an hourly wage are highly upset because they have experienced reduced earnings (and are voting out the Socialists). Salaried persons have been the primary beneficiaries of the law. 'People suddenly found themselves with two to four extra weeks of paid vacation, bringing the total for some to as much as three months annually.'"
"A publication of the Federal Reserve of Boston should be absolutely vital reading for all georgists and should be reprinted or at least called to everyone's attention. It is called New England Fiscal Facts and is Number 28 winter/spring of 2002. It is by Daniel G. Swaine and is titled 'How Will New Hampshire Solve Its School Funding Problem, Part 3 of 3.' It goes into detail on using property taxes for major revenue needs."
The document, and related materials, can be found at http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/neff/neff28/
Send your best wishes to Marion, won't you?
The conference will take place January 9-11, 2003, at the University of Texas-Pan American, Edinburg, Texas. Conference sponsors include University of Texas-Pan American, University of Wisconsin-Madison Land Tenure Center, Ford Foundation, and the Community Resource Group.
The conference expects to attract participants who are practitioners, policy makers, academics and others involved in land ownership and land regularization issues in the U.S. and foreign countries.
Proposals: If you wish to present a paper, organize a session, or
otherwise participate in the conference, send your proposal (abstract or
description, maximum two pages) by August 15, 2002 to: Marsha Cannon,
Conference Manager, Land Tenure Center, 1357 University Avenue, Madison,
WI 53715. Or send e-mail to:
mcannon@facstaff.wisc.edu
Phone: 608.262.3658; Fax: 608.262.2141
GN Comments: Let's take advantage of this opportunity!
Ben Russell was a frequent contributor to the Baxter Bulletin and wrote to legislators, local and national. He was also a member of the faculty of the Henry George Institute correspondence school. Said HGI director Lindy Davies, "He was an excellent instructor and a perceptive commentator on the state of our civilization."
Condolences can be sent to: Mrs. Ben Russell, 224 Fulbright Dr., Mountain Home, AR 72653.
You can see the impressive scope and depth of Russell's activities by looking at these autobiographical notes: www.cooperativeindividualism.org/georgists_russell_ben_2.html
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter,
and those who matter don't mind.
- Dr. Seuss
Above all, be true to yourself, and if you cannot put your heart in it,
take yourself out of it.
- Hardy D. Jackson
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