You missed my point Harry. Almost everything that Beethoven, Bach and Mozart wrote was world class but to constantly quote them is derivitive. I suggest that all of the economics programs have failed and that we are in the mess we are in because of everyone's desire to be the next Jesus. I would instead suggest that you do like the dancer who taboos all regular movement and sees what she comes up with. You might find something that would be the key and give us all a life instead of just the 1/2% that can only think about their next mansion. You deal with it. I have to make a living and develop people to undo what you these idiots have done to this society. And Brad, IBM is no soaring masterpiece. It is just commercial product. Sorry guys I can't fight the world. I'm just one person but its your lives not mine.
Ray ----- Original Message ----- From: "Harry Pollard" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, October 05, 2002 8:13 PM Subject: Re: Soaring works? > Lawry, > > As you know, I'm not enamored of modern neo-classical economics. My > discipline is Classical Political Economy, which study has been strongly > influenced by Henry George. Ray suggested that I should promise to avoid > everything that Henry George said or thought. That would be difficult for > George had much to say that was excellent. There have not been many like > him, as said Albert Einstein: > > "Men like Henry George are rare, unfortunately. One cannot imagine a more > beautiful combination of intellectual keenness, artistic form, and fervent > love of justice." > > Said Clarence Darrow: > > "Henry George was one of the real prophets of the world; one of the seers > of the world." > > It's difficult to put him in a corner, as said economist Mason Gaffney > (UC Riverside) > > "George's blend of radicalism and conservatism can puzzle one, until it is > seen as a reconciliation of the two. The system is internally consistent > but defies conventional stereotypes." > > Michael Kingsley, editor of 'Slate' and politically left agrees: > > "George's ideas offer a useful lens through which to look at the world. > What I like best about Henry George is the way he combines radical > egalitarianism with an equally radical belief in free market capitalism." > > If that's a high-faluting way of saying 'justice and liberty' that's all right. > > Mikes friend, William F. Buckley - certainly not politically left, simply said: > > "I'm one of the last surviving Georgists." (He got some correspondence.) > > Others who join Buckley in strong appreciation and support of George's > ideas are people who are known by their surnames, such as Brandeis, > Tolstoy, Kerensky, Churchill, Gompers, Dewey, Roosevelt (T), Huxley (A), > Keller, Sun, Sinclair, Wedgwood, and a host of others. Just a few years > ago, eight Nobel economists wrote to the Russian Duma suggesting they use > George's methods to deal with their hopeless land problem. > > George wrote and spoke "great soaring works of human imagination". His > books are full of examples, which immediately made them unsuitable as > economic texts. (Though "Progress and Poverty" has easily outsold any > other economics book.) > > I included a quote from his "Ode to Liberty" in the August "Good Society". > Its somewhat abbreviated, and you should read the whole thing in "Progress > and Poverty". Here it is. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------ > Liberty! > > It is a word to conjure with, not to vex the ear in empty boastings. For > Liberty means justice, and justice is the natural law - the law of health > and symmetry and strength, of fraternity and cooperation. > > They who look upon Liberty as having accomplished her mission when she has > abolished hereditary privileges and given men the ballot, who think of her > as having no further relations to the everyday affairs of life, have not > seen her real grandeur. > > We speak of Liberty as one thing, and of virtue, wealth, knowledge, > invention, national strength and national independence as other things. But > of all these Liberty is the source, the mother, the necessary condition. > She is to virtue what light is to colour; to wealth what sunshine is to > grain; to knowledge what eyes are to sight. She is the genius of invention, > the brawn of national strength, the spirit of national independence. > > Where Liberty rises, there virtue grows, wealth increases, knowledge > expands, invention multiplies human powers, and in strength and spirit the > freer nation rises among her neighbours as Saul amid his brethren - taller > and fairer. Where Liberty sinks, there virtue fades, wealth diminishes, > knowledge is forgotten, invention ceases, and empires once mighty in arms > and arts become a helpless prey to freer barbarians. > > Only in broken gleam and partial light has the sun of Liberty yet beamed > among men, but all progress hath she called forth. > > Shall we not trust her? > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ > > Obviously, nothing to do with economics and it's not alone. The book > abounds with optimism as it knocks down the dismal science that George > inherited. He was not in the business of allocating scarcity. Certainly not > when the situation was one of abundance. He didn't make the mistake of > assuming scarcity was a problem. > > Rather, he wanted to know where the surpluses went. He asked why: "in > spite of the increase of productive power, wages tend to the minimum of a > bare living." > > In Social Problems he calls our religious leaders to account. > > We are so accustomed to poverty that even in the most > advanced countries we regard it as the natural lot of > the great masses of the people; that we take it as a > matter of course that even in our highest > civilization large classes should want the > necessaries of healthful life, and the vast majority > should only get a poor and pinched living by the > hardest toil. There are professors of political > economy who teach that this condition of things is > the result of social laws of which it is idle to > complain! There are ministers of religion who preach > that this is the condition which an all-wise, > all-powerful Creator intended for his children! If an > architect were to build a theater so that not more > than one-tenth of the audience could see and hear, we > would call him a bungler and a botch. If a man were > to give a feast and provide so little food that > nine-tenths of his guests must go away hungry, we > would call him a fool, or worse. Yet so accustomed > are we to poverty, that even the preachers of what > passes for Christianity tell us that the great > Architect of the Universe, to whose infinite skill > all nature testifies, has made such a botch job of > this world that the vast majority of the human > creatures whom he has called into it are condemned by > the conditions he has imposed to want, suffering, and > brutalizing toil that gives no opportunity for the > development of mental powers -- must pass their lives > in a hard struggle to merely live! > > And he was ahead of Keith with regard to education. It was an open secret > that he was to be offered the chair of Economics at the University of > California. He didn't want it (which was a pity) but he was invited to > speak to the faculty and students. There, he came down severely on the > universities who, he said, were in the business of producing "monkeys with > microscopes" and "mules carrying libraries on their backs". > > Ouch! He wasn't offered the job. > > I've made some important changes to George. Practical rather than > philosophical changes that make the science easier to teach and understand > (he says modestly). And why shouldn't I? > > As I pointed out to Keith, George said: "In nothing trust in me." > > He asked his readers to think for themselves. He told them they didn't need > great universities, and mammoth libraries. They could work things out for > themselves. All they need do is to observe people and note how they behave > - then extend their reasoning from there. > > His speeches were superb. Shaw heard him once and was converted. (There's > another single name celebrity.) His ideas and arguments spread across > continents to Europe, Africa, Russia, China, Australia. > > Not only will I decline to omit George from my thinking, but I think for a > brief shining moment he offered us the opportunity to build Camelot. It was > hardly his fault that we didn't take it. > > Harry > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > http://www.abelard.org/e-f-russell.htm#chapter1 > > > > > > > > > > > > > Lawrence DeBivort wrote: > > >Good morning, everyone, > > > >Still struck by Ray's powerful language, "creating great soaring works of > >human imagination," I wonder whether we might not on this list take a shot > >a describing what such soaring visions might be in our view, and what that > >then might mean in terms of "building economies around such...." > > > >Would you be interested in doing this? > > > >Best regards, > >Lawry > > > ****************************** > Harry Pollard > Henry George School of LA > Box 655 > Tujunga CA 91042 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Tel: (818) 352-4141 > Fax: (818) 353-2242 > ******************************* > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- > > --- > Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. > Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). > Version: 6.0.393 / Virus Database: 223 - Release Date: 9/30/2002 >
