Is it hot there? In our corner of the universe (Pacific NW), it's so
hot it's hard to think, even to think about global warming - but never
too hot to Geonomize! If any reader knows of anyone who should also be
a reader, please put them in touch. Meanwhile, enjoy discovering a
legislative victory, a center opening, and lots of press from around
the world.
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CONTENTS:
* CGO Conference
1. Movement Progress: Connecticut bill; Minnesota study
2. Good Press: Forbes, ISIL, Pittsfield Berkshire Eagle Online
3. News: Zimbabwe and Personal Change
4. Numbers: Aging Boomer Criminals
5. Letters: SCI
6. Letters: Zimbabwe
7. Likable links: EarthSharing Australia's E-newsletter
8. What You Can Do: Read Harvard Dissertation
9. At the Margin: Quips and Quotes
10. Publication affairs: Contributors, About the Georgist News
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* CLEVELAND OHIO, August 5 to 9, 2009, Council of Georgist
Organizations Conference
A note from Sue Walton & Ted Gwartney, sns at swwalton.com
Are you coming to the 2009 CGO Conference yet?
Questions: please contact Sue or Scott Walton at:888/26-9015
or via email at: sns at swwalton.com.
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1a. Movement Progress: Connecticut Governor Rell Signs LVT Bill
by Joshua Vincent, Executive Director, Henry George Foundation
USA/Center for the Study of Economics,
http://savingthecity.blogspot.com; 215.545.6004; June 9, 2009
Read all about the latest LVT victory, this time in Connecticut!
www.urbantools.org
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1b. Movement Progress: University of Minnesota releases study of
"value capture" for transportation finance
by Ryan Mathre, University News Service, and Michael McCarthy,
Center for Transportation Studies, 07/07/2009 (via Wyn Achenbaum)
The University of Minnesota's Center for Transportation Studies (CTS)
has released its research report on the use of value capture for
financing transportation projects, which was requested by the
Minnesota Legislature. Value capture is a type of infrastructure
financing in which increases in private land values generated by
public investment are in part "captured" through a variety of
approaches to help pay for infrastructure projects. The full report
can be found at http://www.cts.umn.edu/research/ValueCapture
Josh Vincent adds (July 7): Our movement's own Rich Nymoen of St. Paul
gathered LVT info from many sources, and was present for and spoke at
the public hearings. Many of us were gratified at researcher Jerry
Zhao's enthusiasm for hearing about LVT, and incorporating our ideas
into the final product. I know that Jeff Smith's bibliography on value
capture was employed as a source.
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2a. Good Press: Forbes on "Radical Development"
by Bruce Upbin, 07.22.0
Paul Romer, economics professor at Stanford University, proposed the
idea of setting up charter cities, scaled projects that would use some
of the vast tracts of available land in Cuba, Africa and elsewhere.
They could be financed by leveraging the increasing property values of
the land being developed. This is how Singapore could afford its
incredible development. The key is creating the right rules: for land
rights, profit-sharing and the law.
www.forbes.com/2009/07/22/charter-cities-water-technology-...
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2b. Good Press: International Society for Individual Liberty (ISIL)
ISIL Celebrates Jonathan Gullible's 20th Birthday.
"The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible: A Free Market Odyssey," has now
been published in 58 editions in 43 languages.
This project has not only been supported by the SBH Entrepreneurial
Education Foundation, but by more than two dozen international public
policy institutes and endorsed by such free market luminaries as Mark
Skousen, Milton Friedman, Walter Williams, and Fred Foldvary.
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2c. Good Press: Pittsfield Berkshire Eagle Online
By Al Hartheimer, letter-to-editor, on or before July 11
(via Alanna Hartzok)
This idea - land value taxation - is used in many places around the
world. Twenty cities in Pennsylvania use it and recently a law was
passed in Connecticut to ...
http://www.berkshireeagle.com/letters/ci_12818394
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3. News: Zimbabwe and Personal Change Not Enough
To keep up with the latest in the world of economic justice, try
visiting the daily news site, the Progress Report. You'll find such
articles as:
In Zimbabwe, inflation exceeded one million percent. Unemployment,
95%. As a cure, some want a tax a State has passed. "Connecticut's new
law for a pilot tax on land value"
http://www.progress.org/2009/zimbabwe.htm
Are we taking the easy route? Changing light bulbs wouldn't have won
suffrage. Composting wouldn't have ended slavery. "Why Personal Change
Does Not Equal Political Change"
http://www.progress.org/2009/personal.htm
Sending the progress.org link to friends, family, neighbors, and
co-workers is a great way to establish a shared frame of reference for
a discussion about how to solve economic issues.
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4. Numbers: Aging Boomer Criminals
Want all the current indicators in one place? Periodically, The
Progress Report publishes just such an article. To give readers
greater breadth, depth, and the most salient facts, many articles at
the Progress Report are not single articles but compilations on one
theme, offering data on one sector:
Granny get your gun -- over the past 10 years arrest rates for those
over 50 have shot up 85 percent. "Is America on the Verge of a
Geriatric Crime Wave?" http://www.progress.org/2009/elders.htm
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5. Letters: School of Cooperative Individualism update - July 2009
By Ed Dodson, ejdodson at comcast.net, July 16, 2009
www.opednews.com/articles/Geonomics-what-ever-...
To learn the latest at the SCI, contact Ed above.
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6. Letters: Where did we go wrong?
By Eddie Cross, egcross at africaonline.co.zw, Bulawayo, July 11, 2009
(via Godfrey Dunkley, landtax at telkomsa.net)
I am someone who was involved in the whole process of transition from
Rhodesia to Zimbabwe and I am now deeply embroiled in the subsequent
transition from tyranny to democracy in the new Zimbabwe. As Nelson
Mandela said in his autobiography, it was the whites that decided how
power was to be transferred. In failing to recognise the basic
realities, we created the conditions for the armed struggle and in
doing so we created the coterie of leaders who would eventually take
over power and rule in their stead... (Contact either author above for
a complete copy.)
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7. Likable link: EarthSharing Australia's E-newsletter
By Karl Fitzgerald, k2 at earthsharing.org.au, July 12, 2009
EarthSharing Australia's E-newsletter for June, featuring "An Anatomy
of Our Wallets", is out. Email us Aussies for a copy. Or visit
http://prosperaustralia.createsend1.com...
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8. What You Can Do: Read Harvard Dissertation
by Nic Tideman, ntideman at vt.edu, July 2, 2009
Those of you who attended the CGO conference last summer may remember
Joe Mazor, who was writing a dissertation in the Harvard Political
Economy program, on the idea that all people have equal rights to the
earth. He has now finished that dissertation, and he has invited me to
offer an electronic copy to anyone who would like to read it. He is
especially interested in getting comments as he prepares to turn it
into articles and a book.
I believe that this dissertation, "A Liberal Theory of Natural
Resource Property Rights" (595 pages), is the most extensive treatment
ever of the idea of equal rights to the earth. The mode of the
dissertation is that of political philosophy, which has its particular
style.
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9. At the Margin: Quips and Quotes for hot weather
You should not confuse your career with your life.
- Dave Barry
Never put off the work till tomorrow what you can put off today.
- Anon.
Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now.
- Larry the Cable Guy
After he had finished a concert and had gone backstage, violinist
Fritz Kreisler heard someone say, "I'd give my life to play as you
do!" He turned and looked at the lady and said, "Madam, I did."
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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,
jjs at geonomics.org or gn at progress.org. The deadline for the next
issue is July 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 Twelve, Number Two, August 1, 2009