Merry May Day, the middle of spring (or fall, if you're Down Under). Besides Forbes magazine opining geoistly, check out all the likable links. Enjoy yourself. And if you know anyone who'd happily be a reader, please put them in touch. --------------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS: * Full information on the 30th North American Conference of the Council of Georgist Organizations 1. News: Border disputes over; Land cycle gives & takes 2. Numbers: Homes are cheaper, but not necessarily affordable 3. Good Press: Forbes Asia Magazine, Westminster Hall debates 4. Movement Progress: Flat Tax Event at IPI; Frank Walker's reality check; HGF and the CSE in transition 5. Letter: Henry Report 6. Likable link: New at henrygeorge.org; Great Geoist Links; Fred Harrison's new book reviewed; Private property?; The Neo-Geo Song 7. What You Can Do: Attend AMI Conference 8. At the Margin: Quips and Quote|s 9. Publication affairs: Contributors, About the Georgist News ---------------------------------------------------------------- * 2010 CGO conference in Albany NY -- program and registration info by Ed Dodson, April 7, 2010 The 30th North American Conference of the Council of Georgist Organizations July 12-16, 2010 in Albany, New York Extending Our Reach: New Tools, Strategies and Partnerships This year we'll gather in the capital of New York State to share and enjoy today's "best practices" of education, advocacy and activism for economic justice. For rates and reservation information: www.cgocouncil.org/conf10_prices.htm More information on OUR SPEAKERS: www.cgocouncil.org/speakers.htm Full Schedule (subject to late changes): MONDAY, July 12th Welcoming Reception, 6-8 PM Welcome by Ed Dodson, CGO President, and Bill Batt, local host Video Message by Frank deJong Georgist video presentations TUESDAY, July 13th 7:30 AM / Registration begins 8:30 - 10:15 Rent as Revenue in New York State: History and Potential Plenary session introduced by the conveners of breakout sessions: * Albany's Gilbert Tucker and The Self-Supporting City - Bill Batt * Revenue from Wind Farms: Realistic or Not? - Jeff Freedman, Ph.D., Wind Power Consultant * NYS Property Tax: Evolution & function - Jim Dunne, Director, Policy Unit, Office of Real Property Services 10:45 - 11:45 Breakout sessions will be repeated 12:00 - 1:15 Lunch CGO Member Reports after we dine 1:30 - 3:10 Desperately-Needed Answers to Real Problems Plenary session moderated by Ted Gwartney, followed by breakout sessions: * Issues in Carbon Pricing and Trading - John Polimeni, Ph.D.; Erich Jacoby Hawkins, respondent * UN Global Land Tools Network Online Course - Alanna Hartzok * The Public Trust Doctrine: Its Relevance Today - Paul Bray, J.D., Nic Tideman, respondent 3:30 - 4:30 Breakout sessions will be repeated 5:00 - 5:20 Roundtable session and Open Mike 5:30-7:00 Dinner on your Own 7:00 - 8:00 Toastmaster-style Speeches / Moderator: Dan Sullivan 8:15 - 9:15 Film & presentation on the Erie Canal WEDNESDAY, July 14th 8 - 8:20 Open Mike 8:30 - 9:45 CGO Business Meeting 8:30 - 9:45 During the Meeting: Breakout sessions for other attenders: * Making Our Case with GIS Mapping - Bill Batt, Bob Breglio * Georgist Internet Resources - Wyn Achenbaum 10:00 Old Erie Canal Excursion We'll choose a box lunch from the hotel's menu, and then board our trusty carriage and head to the Watervliet Army Arsenal Museum www.wva.army.mil/museum.php The Arsenal was built here to take advantage of the Erie Canal's transportation and water power. Near Lock #2 www.tug44.org/erie.canal/waterford-flight/ We'll stop and watch the boats go through as we dine. Then we will go through the Waterford Historical Canal Museum www.waterfordmuseum.com and tour the city of Cohoes with its canal-powered textile mills www.www.spindlecity.net before heading back to our hotel. 5:30 - 7:00 Dinner at the hotel Sprawl Development in World Cities - Ray Bromley, Vice Provost of International Education, SUNY-Albany 7:15 - 7:45 Toastmaster-style Speeches / Moderator: Dan Sullivan 8:00 - 9:30 Georgist Jeopardy / With Your Host, Ed Dodson THURSDAY, July 15th 8 - 8:20 Open Mike 8:30 - 10:30 Making Our Case in the 21st Century Plenary session moderated by Ed Dodson, followed by breakout sessions: * Seeking Clarity on Economic Terms - Kris Feder, Cay Hehner, Lindy Davies * Reaching Younger People - John Kuchta * Compelling Presentation of Data - Josh Vincent 11:00 - 12:00 Breakout sessions will be repeated 12:10 - 1:20 Lunch CGO Member Reports after we dine 1:30 - 3:00 Roundtable on Movement-Building / Moderated by Ed Dodson 3:30 - 5:00 Reaching Academia A brainstorming session with Nic Tideman, Mason Gaffney, Polly Cleveland & Kris Feder 7:00 - 9:30 Gala Banquet - Speaker: Lindy Davies Thirteen Ways of Seeing the Cat FRIDAY, July 16th 8:30 - 9:50 Networking with Diverse Groups Plenary session moderated by Dan Sullivan, followed by roundtable sessions on working with: * Progressives and Liberals * Conservatives and Libertarians * Religious groups 10:00 - 11:00 Farewell Brunch Toasts & Farewells The Law of Rent never changes, but our schedule may - without notice. The 2010 CGO Conference program (as always, subject to changes) is now available online at: www.cgocouncil.org. The deadline for early bird registration is June 1st. Let us know if you are willing to provide scholarship funds to enable others to attend who can use financial assistance. HELP WANTED: The CGO Audio Video Team needs people who like to video to help us with our conference archiving. We need 3 or more people to help us with these tasks. Although we would like to offer some level of expense reimbursement to volunteers, funding this year is not available. For more information, please contact: Paul Justus: geoark2000 at yahoo.com or Scott Walton: sns at swwalton.com Contacts: Scott & Sue Walton, conference administrators PO Box 57, Evanston IL 60204 Phone: 888/262-9015 toll free in the USA or 847/475-0391 Fax: 775/248-8630 e-mail: sns at swwalton.com ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. News: Border disputes over; Land cycle gives & takes Two pairs of nations settle their border disputes peacefully, one pair not by choice, the other to advance eco-ploitation. "Disputed isle in Bay of Bengal disappears into sea" www.progress.org/2010/undersea.htm A few scored big off high land value. Most hope to do so next time around. Yet socially-generated value belongs to ...? "The Homeowners Whose Loss Was Paulson's $1 Billion in Gain" www.progress.org/2010/deceit.htm To keep up with the latest in the world of economic justice, visit the daily news site, the Progress Report, where such articles appear. To establish a shared frame of reference for a discussion about how to solve economic issues with friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers, try sending them the progress.org link, see how it goes. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Numbers: Homes are cheaper, but not necessarily affordable Want all the current indicators in one place? Periodically, The Progress Report publishes just such a digest. To give readers greater breadth, depth, and the most salient facts, many articles at the Progress Report are not single articles but compilations on a particular theme, offering a compendium of data on one sector: While some foreigners find US homes cheaper, many American workers and commuters find housing more expensive. "Dollar parity keeps Canadian buyers in US real estate" www.progress.org/2010/median.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------- 3a. Good Press: Forbes Asia Magazine by David Zetland, UC-Berkeley, in Forbes Asia Magazine, Apr 12 Water in many nations is owned by the people. Individuals are entitled to shares. We can divide this property right into inalienable "need" rights that cannot be traded and "want" rights that can be. Tradable rights could be rented, but not sold. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 3b. Good Press: Westminster Hall debates By Stewart Goldwater, April 8, 2010 Property Taxation [John Cummings in the Chair] Westminster Hall debates, 24 February 2010, 2:30 pm David Drew (Stroud, Labour) I do not know if he mentioned this before I arrived, but his namesake Henry George would have said that the answer to this issue was to have land value taxation in this country. I know that the Liberal Democrats are not unsympathetic to that argument. Does the hon. Gentleman agree with me that we can sort these problems out by moving to a form of land value taxation? www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?gid=2010-02-24a.112.0 And the response: Andrew George (St Ives, Liberal Democrat) That opens up a much wider area of debate. Perhaps we should reserve some time for a further debate on that. I have much sympathy for that argument, having kept in touch with my namesake through the Henry George Foundation, which regularly debates pushing this issue.... www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?gid=2010-02-24a.113.0 ---------------------------------------------------------------- 3c. Good Press: Course Student Writes Article by Alanna Hartzok, earthrts at pa.net, April 6, 2010 Rebekah, one of our online course students based in Santa Fe has taken elements from the course and written a fabulous article (dedicated to me!) in the April issue of Green Fire Times, a local monthly. The article is called is "Kidnapped by the House: Affordable Housing, Land, and the Green Imperative," and is just Part One of 3-4 parts in total. http://greenfiretimes.com/ ERI Course Student Abdul-aziz Abdulatif wrote a powerful Land Grab assignment response, very informative and extremely sobering, on the topic of "Land grab: a violation of human rights and disregard for the basic essence of governance. It will be posted in the course's Land Grab Forum, where you may give your response. Also, I have recently written two articles. One, "Land Value Taxation: Panacea or Placebo?", is in The Land 8, Winter 2009/10, a publication of This Land is Ours, in the UK, The other, "Earth Rights and the Next Economy", is in the Space of Love publication, Winter 2010. www.spaceoflovemagazine.com Ed. Note: More endorsements of Georgist ideas from all media appear throughout the month at The Progress Report. If you see an article you want the world to read, send it to us, we'll reprint it, and since we get over a million readers a year (the first Georgist website to achieve that plateau), major search engines such as Google will find it yet again. Use the news site that exists to serve you! ---------------------------------------------------------------- 4a. Movement Progress: Flat Tax Event at IPI Robert Ross, robertaross at covad.net, Apr 14, 2010, via Sue Walton I just wanted to report on tonight's event at the Illinois Policy Institute on the Flat Tax with Cato Institute's Dan Mitchell. First, let me say that every person I spoke with about the single tax was interested. I collected 8 business cards from three financiers, an export guy, an engineer, and three folks involved with political think tanks. All of them asked that I send them information about the Single Tax. Second, I had the opportunity to ask Dan a question about the relative merits of a Single Tax v. a Flat Tax, and he answered that he knew the Single Tax was an idea from Henry George but that was the extent of his knowledge. Later, we spoke and he said that his only contact with Georgist ideas was through a contact in Australia. I then asked him what the Georgist movement could do to start a dialogue with Cato, and he said he'd love to see a two or three page primer on the Single Tax, how it works, and why it is a good idea. "Just laid out simply, without a whole bunch of jargon," he said. I met a lot of people tonight who were very interested in Georgist ideas. Where would I send them for an overview of Georgism that explains what it is, why anyone should care about it, or how it relates to existing political interests? I think that a primer would be a fantastic idea. Does one exist? Would anyone like to collaborate on one? Also, I was invited to address the University of Chicago Republicans on the LVT. I told them I'd get someone more qualified to speak. I'll keep you posted. Ed. Note: Frank deJong has published a Green Economics Primer that might fill the void nicely. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 4b. Movement Progress: Frank Walker's reality check by Frank Walker, frank_walker at mac.com, April 14 & 15, 2010 Prosper California is the tax-exempt political organization I founded to advance the LVT initiative I drafted. A successful petition drive to qualify such an initiative requires (a) thousands of volunteer signature gatherers, or (b) at least $3 million in order to hire paid signature gatherers, or (c) some combination of (a) and (b). I have not been successful in obtaining this level of support gather nearly 700,000 signatures of registered voters in the allotted 150 days from the date of release of title & summary. Those signatures must be submitted to county registrars for verification no later than April 16, 2010 in order to qualify for the Nov. 2010 ballot. If submitted thereafter, the initiative could qualify for the June, 2012 ballot but not for the Nov. 2010 ballot. Also, to allow for invalid signatures, we will need to gather at least 800,000 signatures, or 200,000 signatures a month during a four month period. In the absence of significant financial support and a dedicated state-wide organization of signature gatherers, I have suspended efforts to qualify for the Nov. 2010 ballot and am now focusing on qualifying for the ballot in 2012. However, I do not plan on resubmitting until such time as an organization & support is in place. For a $200 filing fee and my time spent in drafting the initiative, we were able to obtain a written opinion by California's nonpartisan fiscal advisor that the tax reform proposal embodied in the initiative will raise approximately the same amount of state and local revenue as does California's current system, or over $150 billion annually. My complete re-write of the tax article of the California constitution also survived legal scrutiny by the Attorney General's office (AGO), indicating that the AGO saw no conflict with any other provision of the state constitution or with any provision of the US Constitution. In other words, the AGO deemed my initiative to meet all legal requirements for a constitutional amendment to be put before California's voters. My effort in drafting and submitting the initiative was a worthwhile investment of my time and resources for these two reasons alone in my view. Also, reducing my ideas -- and those of several others -- into a form capable of being enacted into law by voters resulted in opportunities to speak to groups and to many individuals about LVT and the specifics of the proposal that I never would have had but for the initiative. A statewide organization of apartment owners briefed its members on my initiative in meetings around the state. I heard from an old friend who was present at one such meeting. After a lengthy chat about the initiative, my friend left with a much different view about the reform proposal than he had originally formed. This was only one of many, many such positive conversations I had people about the initiative. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 4c. Movement Progress: The HGF and the CSE in transition by Joshua Vincent, Executive Director, Henry George Foundation USA/Center for the Study of Economics joshua at urbantools.org, April 13, 2010 Around July 1, 2010, the Henry George Foundation will legally dissolve, and will put its assets into the Center for the Study of Economics. It makes sense for us, as these are hard times for all non-profits, and the inefficiencies of two sets of books, tax returns, etc. became too much. We need to spend all we can on program, especially in light of weakened institutional support from larger organizations. We have already downsized and cut costs to the bone, so this seemed a more permanent and positive solution. HGFA will survive in mission and perhaps in name as a "DBA." This is big news, and it's also CSE's 30th anniversary. Therefore, some talented people have been mulling a new logo. Contact us to view the choices thus far and tell us what you think, what grabs you most. Give us a vote to whichever figure you like best. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Letter: Henry Report by David Brooks, davidsb1 at bigpond.com, April 19, 2010 Serious - Not so serious. Comment & input invited. Contact me for demystification. --------------------------------------------------------------- 5c. Letter: Most Practical Way to Advance by Paul Martin, Director of the IHG Managua Nicaragua, ceihg at ceihg.org, April 19, 2010 The IHG Managua may have something to offer on the most practical way to advance Georgism. After more than a year on hold for the construction of our new facility, we are about to get back into the fray. One of our pending projects is to propose to the Managua municipal government a tourism/business park. We will get some creative architects and engineers to design and build an attractive 3-D model. That will be exciting to the business and gov. people here. But then they will ask: Who and how to pay for it? That's where George comes in. Our proposal will be for the government (with initial donated or loaned funds from the intl. community) to invest in the construction of basic foundations with electricity and plumbing necessary for construction around and into the rim. Then the gov. will put up lots for long-term lease, subject to yearly adjustments. At the same time, the government will take advantage of existing investment stimulus laws (Free Trade Zone and Tourism) to exonerate private business investors from all taxation. Now, if the Georgist community got behind and materially supported such an initiative, it might have a chance at creating that Georgist poster child example that we all want to be able to point at. For instance, if we had some of you in Managua at key moments to lend us the power of your expertise, experience and credentials, we could open more doors and make alliances more easily and get more official and press attention. --------------------------------------------------------------- 6a. Likable link: New at henrygeorge.org by Lindy Davies, April 7, 2010 The HGI's home page has gotten an overdue facelift, and a cool new feature: on "online seminar" that promises to give the visitor the gist of our ideas (a new version, basically, of the class Mike Curtis Law O'Rent seminar) in 30 minutes time. It's a ppt translated into html, with clickable (streaming) voiceovers for each screen. Kinda cool, if I say so myself. Check it out - www.henrygeorge.org and tell me all about the mistakes! --------------------------------------------------------------- 6b. Likable link: Great Geoist Links by Scott on the Spot Baker, April 18, 2010 I set up a new page in our Common Ground Group http://groups.google.com/group/common-ground-nyc devoted to links promoting Geoism/Georgism. The first two are from a great speech, with Geoist characteristics, given by Paul Romer of Stanford University, and second, a list of 28 case studies of cities over about 200 years where some version of Georgism has also worked, put together by Jeff Smith of the Progress Report. Can you add more? Click on http://groups.google.com/group/common-ground-nyc/web/great-geoist-links --------------------------------------------------------------- 6c. Likable link: Fred Harrison's new book reviewed by Ed Dodson by Ed Dodson, ejdodson at comcast.net, April 16, 2010 Fred sent me an advance copy of his new book (being carried by Amazon) documenting his efforts to warn the government of the crisis in the making. The review is now up online in the SCI library. My review is easily reached at the following link: www.cooperativeindividualism.org/index-page-2.html --------------------------------------------------------------- 6d. Likable link: Private property? By Stewart Goldwater, April 20, 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-ouf_gmA5o --------------------------------------------------------------- 6e. Likable link: The Neo-Geo Song Slashdot Daily Headline Mailer, April 13, 2010 from the old-school dept. posted by samzenpus on Tuesday April 13, at 14:05 (Games) http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/04/13/1711237/The-Neo-Geo-Song Ed. Note: The game they play is, apparently, to win tokens for hanging out the most at certain locations. Even among youth with too much time on their hands, it's still true: location, location, location. --------------------------------------------------------------- 7. What You Can Do: Attend AMI Conference by Stephen Zarlenga, Director, American Monetary Institute, ami at taconic.net, April 26, 2010 The 6th Annual AMI Monetary Reform Conference will be at Roosevelt University in Chicago. A great lineup of speakers is taking shape now, including some surprises. The Conference will focus on what participants can do to make a difference. The normal registration fee of $395 is reduced to $225 for early registrations postmarked by April 30th. (Please see the registration form at www.monetary.org/2010conference.html) To understand how truly great our conferences are, take a look at the talk given by William Black in 2009. He is certainly destined to become a key player in gaining justice contra the financiers. www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4v9nf0oBsk It's an exciting time. Congressman Frank and Senator Dodd have introduced regulatory reforms that do not come close to solving the problem. Special monetary privileges have been given to a tiny segment of our citizenry allowing them to benefit from the monetary harm they inflict on the rest of the society. We'll discuss whether this is just stupidity; or because economics removes considerations of justice from its "science;" or because financial elements are prominent among their campaign contributors. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 9. At the Margin: Quips and Quotes I once spent a year in Philadelphia, I think it was on a Sunday. -- W.C. Fields It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. -- Theodore Roosevelt, April 23, 1910 (via Bill Frambach) --------------------------------------------------------------- 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 the 25th of this month. 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 online: www.Georgist.com/ ==================================================================
The Georgist News, Volume Twelve, Number Eleven, May 1, 2010