Welcome aboard to new subscribers Nus Adirolf, Brenda C. Carr,
Warren Chamberlain, Mario Cordero, Dale Ellis, Carl Johnson, and
Michael Scott Moore. If any reader knows of anyone who should also
be a reader, please do put them in touch. Following the scariest
stock market and US administration in a long time, this month
corrals a bevy of boosts from the press, beginning with Harper's.
See and enjoy more below.
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CONTENTS:
1. Good Press: Harper's, The Age, Radio Times, Chronicle of Higher
Ed, OSU Weekly, The Economist blog, The Market Oracle
2. News: Get oil rent and/or pay airport rent is another way
3. Numbers: US Election Will Cost $5.3 Billion, Center Predicts
4. Movement Progress: IHG, Wessex publishers
5. Letters: Wanted: a course; Wanted: a consultation
6. Corrections: Blogger's address
7. Likable links: Fred's film; Josh's newsletter; UN petition
8. What You Can Do: Download Drake; Get Alanna's book; Write for
journal; Attend conferences
9. At the Margin: Quips and Quotes
10. Publication affairs: Contributors, About the Georgist News
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1a. Good Press: Harper's, a venerable US magazine, November issue
Heather Remoff, October 14, 2008:
I urge you to head to the nearest library or newsstand to pick up a
copy of the Nov. Harper's. Our copy arrived in today's mail. The
cover story is, "How To Save Capitalism: fundamental fixes for a
collapsing system". The other featured authors are James K
Galbraith, Joseph Stiglitz, etc. Michael Hudson's piece is titled
"Tax the Land". The introduction draws on Michael Hudson's last
feature in Harper's. I am well pleased. The timing could not be
better.
Lindy Davies, October 28, 2008:
I read Hudson's contribution and I was pleased. I read it again to
make sure I could actually believe my eyes. Now, maybe I'm a teeny
bit paranoid, but I did notice that the publisher of Harper's, John
MacArthur, when interviewed on Democracy Now, mentioned, I think,
all of the writers in this forum and their topics -- except for
Hudson and his topic.
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1b. Good Press: The Age, Australia's national daily, October 24
by Karl Fitzgerald, Projects Coordinator, Earthsharing Australia,
October 26, 2008
My article was published p2 of Business News section on Saturday,
"Single Renters Miss Out on the PM's Lifeboat"
http://business.theage.com.au/...
You can hear Michael Hudson's devastatingly direct interview
"The Bailout's New Financial Oligarchy" at:
http://www.kpfa.org/archives/index.php?arch=28908
You can also access this interview and many others at:
www.earthsharing.org.au/...
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1c. Good Press: Philadelphia's Radio Times
by Ed Dodson, October 2, 2008
A few days ago, I called in to the local public radio program Radio
Times. The economics advisers to McCain and Obama were the guests,
talking about the economy. At around 37 minutes into the program, I
was able to make a comment and focus on the role played by land
markets. It's at http://www.whyy.org/cgi-bin/newwebRTlookup.cgi?
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1d. Good Press: The Chronicle of Higher Education
by Dr Mason Gaffney, UC Riverside, September 30, 2008
The Chronicle of Higher Ed. sent out a call for answers to a very
good question: "How should teaching economic theory be changed, in
response to the current debacle?" Lead-time: 12 hours! So I dashed
off an answer. It appears Sept. 29, edited down a bit, in a column
by Alexander Kafka (sic).
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1e. Good Press: Ohio State University Weekly news magazine
By Emily Messina: Issue 674 - October 22, 2008 (via Wyn Achenbaum)
John Gianvito's "Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind", an
experimental silent, non-narrative documentary-style film, is a
collection of primarily still frame shots composed of plaques and
gravestones of those historical figures frequently overlooked during
history lessons. "Take Henry George, for example," he says in a 2007
interview with Cinema Scope magazine. "At the time of his death in
1897 he was purportedly the third most famous individual in America,
after Thomas Edison and Mark Twain. How many today recognize the
name, let alone have read or even heard of his book, "Progress and
Poverty"? Why is this history unfamiliar? And who gains by its
suppression?" The film has proved quite successful at film festivals
around the world, and has won numerous awards, including the
National Society of Film Critics' award for Best Experimental Film
of the Year.
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1f. Good Press: The Economist Election Blog. L2A
By Pia Francesca, sagemotherpds at hotmail.com, October 17, 2008
At the Economist (Oct.18 -- Oct. 24, 2008) on their Election
Blog, I wrote something regarding Henry George, L2A: If we Americans
want a fairer tax system, the economic ideas and philosophy of Henry
George should be reconsidered. A land value tax could and would
reduce the behemothic tax system imposed through the IRS. 'Now,
warfare is the negation of {human} association.' {Progress and
Poverty : Book X, Chapter 3}
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1g. Good Press: The Market Oracle - London, UK
The Market Oracle is a free daily online publication that presents
in-depth analysis from over 150 experienced analysts on a range of
views of the probable direction of the financial markets. By Richard
C. Cook, Oct 26, 2008
What Should the Next President Do to Face the Crisis?
An annual citizens' dividend of $1000 per month has been proposed by
Washington, DC, analyst Stephen Shafarman, in his new book,
Peaceful, Positive Revolution.
Editor's note: Another website, Snuffysmith's blog which provides
commentary on foreign and news of the day, also picked up Cook's
article. The cited author, Steve Shafarman, is an old friend and
neighbor who borrows both my coined phrase and monthly estimate.
He'll be in New York in February at the US BIG conference (below),
where Richard Cook, ex-NASA analyst, has also presented.
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2. News: Get oil rent and/or pay airport rent is another way
If reading about fundamental social progress helps you feel hopeful,
try visiting the Progress Report daily, http://www.progress.org/.
A sample story posted there:
Who should get the money for a limited resource like oil or airport
landing slots? The FAA shows the way. "How we allocate land revenue
now stirs up animosity"
David Reed wrote (September 30): Your Progress Report has been put
up on UK's influential House price crash blog today; it will get
scrolled off quickly though it is recoverable from Archive.
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3. Numbers: US Election Will Cost $5.3 Billion, Center Predicts
You can also find all the current indicators in one place, and learn
of mainstream economists who acknowledge the role of land, at the
Progress Report, http://www.progress.org/.
For example:
A pair of academics and the IMF before the debacle both connected
past land bubbles to busts -- this one must worsen. "They note
before and after but do not explain how it got so bad"
Both major candidates are now millionaires, the biggest donor is the
American Banking Assoc, while for the rest recession looms. "As
Economic Storm Brewed, Congressional Wealth Grew 11% Last Year"
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4a. Movement Progress: IHG Nicaragua Update
by Paul A. Martin, Director, Instituto Henry George, Managua,
Nicaragua, director at ceihg.org, October 23, 2008
On the new IHG Managua website at www.ceihg.org/ are our news
stories. Enter and click on the "NEWS and Photos" link on the main
menu to get to the "IHG News as of October 2008" page. There you
will find the following stories and photos.
* Chronic Nicaraguan Poverty Can be Corrected (check out the photos)
* Nicaraguan Government Considering Georgist Policies
(see Nica RE tax bill)
* IHG Publishes New *Progress and Poverty* Edition in Spanish
* IHG Promotes Public Education Outreach
* IHG Organizes and Promotes CE Graduate Participation
* CEIHG Building Construction Advancing
We have also uploaded some of our latest published articles and
updated some pages, notably the IHG's Nicaragua LVT Tax Reform
Proposal page. As always, you can find updated statistics on our
popular "Comprender la Economía" course and post-grad participation,
as well.
September 22, 2008: The first edition of the new Progreso y Miseria
IHG abbreviated text has been published. It took me two revisions
over a period of exactly two years, and it finally is done. The
result is a plastic spine 8½ by 11 inch text edition of 150 pages
of text and chapter head sheets, etc. Actually, this is a trial
edition which I hope to fine tune with the help of student proof
readers. The press release announcing it led to my fourth TV
interview since May.
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4b. Movement Progress: A British academic tome
Sustainable Planning & Development, edited by C.A. Brebbia, Wessex
Institute of Technology, UK, includes a chapter, "Natural designs in
a sustainable economy", by your editor, J.J. Smith (price: US$
30.00), a fact unknown to me until I received the following email
from Vera Bradova on Oct 7: "Thank you for writing back so quickly.
I actually discovered your writing in a fat boring tome called
Sustainable Planning and Development. Human language amidst all that
bureaucratese! :-)" If the publisher would not alert me, it's nice
that a reader did.
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5a. Letters: Courses sought in understanding geonomics
By Vera Bradova, October 5, 2008
I recently found your site and articles, but it's hard for me to
study this without a guide. I am wondering if your book on geonomics
is out yet, and whether you would be so kind to answer a few
questions? It all makes a great deal of sense, but I sure would like
to learn more, systematically. I am concerned that the various
eco-villages out there generally do economics same old same old way.
Building straw houses is not enough... we gotta change the econ part
too... but people shy away from thinking about it. Easier to build a
wind turbine. Could you run an internet class? I would very much
like to take a class (don't care if it's run thru a university or
just via any old web groupware, I don't need credits).
Editor's Note: There are online HG courses offered by the Henry
George Institute which differ from what a course in modern geonomics
might be like but offer a sound grounding in the fundamentals.
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5b. Letters: Assistance sought in proposing tax shift in small
Vermont town By Rob Wagner, saabmaven at gmail.com, September 30
Am interested in proposing a tax rate shift in my small town of
Ripton, Vermont. I could use some help in making my case at our Town
Meeting. Although I was an econ major, I feel that I knew just about
nothing until taking two courses from Lindy Davies at the Henry
George School about fifteen years ago. It would help if I had access
to materials and strategies that others in my position have used in
the past.
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6. Corrections: Blogger based in Berlin
by Yisroel Pensack(writer/editor), October 2, 2008
Written last month: "3g. Good Press: San Francisco blogger, Radio
Free Mike by Michael Scott Moore..."
He's now a journalist/writer based in Berlin, Germany...formerly of
SF.
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7a. Likable link: Fred Harrison's latest film
By Fred Harrison, fred.harrison at talktalk.net October 15, 2008
My latest film appears on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nttuh8oHYw
See also, Spectator article:
http://www.spectator.co.uk/...
Have you seen my other YouTube documentaries? The follow-ups will
now come thick and fast, leading to the presentation of the
"solution". One day's documentary had 700 viewings in less than 24
hours! www.youtube.com/renegadeeconomist
My press conference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y-9tuQ-Lcs
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7b. Likable link: CSE's latest newsletter
By Joshua Vincent, Executive Director, Henry George Foundation
USA/Center for the Study of Economics, October 14, 2008
The new issue of Incentive Taxation is available for online reading
or download.
http://www.urbantools.org/news/new-incentive-taxation-is-online
Be green and sign up for your paperless copy today!
Contact Barbara at UrbanTools.org
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7c. Likable link: UN petition
By Ole Lefmann, October 6, 2008
My good Danish friend Dan Pedersen, now living in Manila, The
Philippines, has made a few flash films promoting the Georgist
message. The latest, called "Welcome to planet Earth" is in Danish
as well as English.
http://www.happiocracy.dk/happiocracy/swf/welcome.swf
Dan has recently signed the IU's UN petition at the IU-website
www.UNpetition.net and encourages his visitors to do likewise.
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8a. What You Can Do: Download Drake
by Chuck Metalitz, October 13, 2008
Bob Drake's audiobook version of his Progress & Poverty
modernization/abridgement is now available for free download. It
will play on pretty much any computer made in the past five years or
so, as well as ipods and all other mp3 audio devices.
Get it from: http://hgchicago.org/audio
The text is also available free at:
http://henrygeorge.org/pcontents.htm
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8b. What You Can Do: Order Alanna's book
by Alanna Hartzok, Co-Director, Earth Rights Institute.
Alanna Hartzok has recently published a new book, The Earth Belongs
to Everyone, which we described in detail last month. A good read
and copies are still available. For more info about the book, and
how to order a copy, contact Alanna at Alanna at earthrights.net
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8c. What You Can Do: Write for new journal
by Christopher Lempa, 8lempa8 at gmail.com, October 26.
A new zine is being planned about the libertarian left movement, a
journal of theory and strategy. I need writers! What is lacking is a
vision for the future. How the hell are we going to improve things?
Photos and drawings are also desired. Short stories and poetry that
cover theory and action are cool and welcomed as well! ALLiance, a
journal of theory and action, will be available in pdf and print. I
would like to release the first issue on 12/12/2008 and then every
three months thereafter. In order to facilitate this I would
appreciate submissions by December 1 (sooner would be better).
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8d. What You Can Do: Attend Peace Through Commerce
Peace Through Commerce: A Global Imperative to Catalyze Multi-Sector
Collaboration, November 13-15, 2008 at George Washington University
Washington, D.C.
Join us for Walter's talk on Thursday, Nov. 13 regarding How We Do
Business Matters: The Case For Conscious Capitalism.
Some featured speakers include:
- Ambassador Shirin Tahir-Kheli - Senior Advisor to Secretary of
State Rice for Women's Empowerment
- Carolyn Woo - Dean, Notre Dame University School of Business
- Roger Dow - President, Travel Industry Association of America
- Steve Killelea - Australian IT entrepreneur and founder of
the Global Peace Index
The conference is hosted by the Institute for Corporate
Responsibility at GWU.
For more information: www.peacethroughcommerce.com
To register: www.peacethroughcommerce.eventbrite.com
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8e. What You Can Do: Attend Eighth Congress of the US BIG
by Karl Widerquist (who now notes Basic Income could be paid from
land rent), October 27, 2008
Georgists, including Alanna Hartzok and Jeff Smith, will be speaking
at the Eighth Congress of the US Basic Income Guarantee Network,
February 27 -- March 1, 2009, Sheraton New York Hotel, 811 Seventh
Avenue at 53rd Street, New York, NY. Come have fun with us!
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8f. What You Can Do: Things to do in Cleveland next summer
By Sue Walton, sns at swwalton.com, October 12, 2008
There are lots of things to do in Cleveland. A partial list of
attractions includes: Hungarian Heritage Museum, the National
Football League Hall of Fame (Canton), the Cleveland Museum of Art,
the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, the Federal Reserve Bank of
Cleveland, the Western Reserve Historical Society and the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is less
than 3 blocks from our hotel. So please plan to bring your family to
the 2009 CGO Conference, August 5-9, 2009. For more information,
please contact us at: sns at swwalton.com
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9. At the Margin: Quips and Quotes
The more I learn about terrorism, the more I understand the phone
company.
I used to have superhuman powers, but my therapist took them away.
-- George P. Burdell
"While US land values have fluctuated in recent years, it is
reasonably clear that investors in the United States (including
producer-investors) are capitalizing part of the returns from
commodity production into land values. It is equally clear that
investors (including producer-investors) are capitalizing part of
the expected government subsidy payments into land values. Likewise,
it is empirically verifiable in virtually all metropolitan areas,
certainly in all metropolitan areas that are expanding horizontally,
that expected economic benefits from development are being
capitalized into land values, well before the conversion in land use
occurs."
-- Neil E. Harl, "Competitiveness in Production of Agricultural
Commodities: What Not to Consider"
www.econ.iastate.edu/faculty/harl/Competitiveness_Production.pdf
(via Ed Dodson)
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10. Publication affairs: Contributing to this issue
Along with those acknowledged above with each blurb:
Editor: Jeffery J. Smith
Assistant Editor: Caspar Davis
Archivist: Stewart Goldwater
Owner: 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 November 25.
The Georgist News, a project of Robert Schalkenbach Foundation, is
an email newsletter brought to you free of charge. Its purpose is to
keep you updated on the latest news, citations, events, and
initiatives of relevance to people who, like Henry George, seek a
world free from special privilege and the causes of poverty.
Do you know someone who'd enjoy reading the GN? Please forward them
an issue and ask them to subscribe, or send us their eddress. As
always, it's free. Thanks.
The Georgist News is also available on line at
http://www.Georgist.com/.
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The Georgist News, Volume Eleven, Number Five, November 1, 2008