|
Ed, I was going to get rid of this as being out of date, but I realized you
apologized for something you thought you had done – but didn’t. So, I wrote . . . . . No apology required or wanted. Do you really deny that the price mechanism controlled free market is
the best allocator of goods? Would you also deny that the Pax Britannica in the last half of the 19th
century originated in the complete free trade policy of I’m sure that red ochre came in duty free. Not that this was enough. Free trade multiplies production but it
doesn’t distribute it justly. The analysis of Henry George got through to
the British and they were close to adopting his land value tax as a just method
of distributing Wealth before WW I. Actually, about 50 years earlier, Richard Cobden of the Anti-Corn Law
League – responsible for the move to free trade – showed he
understood when he said: “You who shall
liberate the land will do more for your country than we have done in the
liberation of its commerce.” This was long before George – but
then the argument for taxing land goes back at least 5000 years to Mencius.
This is not to acquire revenue but to prevent the holding of land from proper
use to drive up the price. At the time of Cobden, fewer than 2,600
landholders owned The gap between rich and poor was mammoth.
If you were not among the privileged, you were less than dirt. Our impression
of those times is “Upstairs and Downstairs” – but the reality
was horrible. Perhaps a choice between slavish obedience and prostitution for
the downstairs maid. As I’ve mentioned, nothing important
has changed. Now 1% of the population own 70% of Similar concentrations of land ownership
are apparent in the Anyway, the Classical Analysis is clear
and simple. Raise production to its highest by
removing restrictions on the production and distribution of goods. Place a 100% land tax on the value of land
to ensure that land enters the market place and no longer enjoys monopoly
status with its privilege of “taxing” producers for private gain. Harry ******************************* of 818 352-4141 ******************************* From:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
Behalf Of Ed Weick Harry, I owe you an apology for ending my
last posting to you rather snarkely by thanking you for reminding us of the
economics of the 19th Century. So, forgiveness please, but you do tend to
carry on about the superiority of the free market as in "The free market
(when it exists) tosses out the companies which fail to supply the best service
at the cheapest price." I note, however, that you very wisely
covered yourself with the little bracketed phrase "(when it exists)",
which suggests that you too recognize reality. My own view of free markets is that, like
the Garden of Eden, they are a beautiful idea. They may have existed
long ago when, as Ed |
_______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
