Re: POV-RED: The Geonomist

[Jeffery J SMITH <geonomist@juno.com>]

Hi, Michael;

On Wed, 22 Jan 2003 13:38:31 -0500 Mbindnerdc@aol.com writes:
> Jeff,
> 
> Two approaches are possible.  One is to tax the land and the other is
to take it by eminent domain and pay off the landowners
> (who should of course be subject to progressive income taxes for all
other income 

Besides taxation, there's also fees for use of land and land dues,
similar but subtly different, each variant more or less useful depending
on cultural context. Once in place, we might evolve to public ownership
of land (as in Hong Kong, much of the US West, etc) without the expense
of compensation.

As for income taxes, for how long would we need them if we were to quit
the privatization of natural rents and the shelling out of corporate
welfare and all the other subsidies that concentrate wealth?

> There is another radically different approach, and it is not as
futuristic as it sounds,
> provided there is a commitment to universal education of both children
and adults.

Commitment grows ever more necessary as education grows ever more boring.
Make it interesting, and you couldn't keep people from learning.

> Workers 

Focusing on workers leaves out those who're not working, reinforces the
Protestant Work Ethic, and implies the cause of poverty lies with
insufficient production, not inequitable distribution. Perhaps we could
extend any benefits to everyone.

> for employee owned firms could be compensated with a mortgage 

By (from) whom?

> After they learn the equipment, such individuals could even be sent
north

By whom?

> to teach the art of farming to those of us for whom that knowledge is
lost.

As one who lived on an organic farm and knows the work never ends, I'd
certainly welcome them.

> That would be an interesting switch, from being exploited by
northerners to teaching them how to farm.

Hear, hear. The hungry know how to farm. They just don't have their own
land to farm.

Besides exporting a green revolution, we need to set a better example and
in the north share land and more importantly share land value, by paying
land dues and getting back land dividends, a la Alaska's oil dividend.
Oil-rich Mexico, Venezuela, etc, could easily do the same. And more
important than sharing oil revenue is sharing the rental values of city
centers, far more valuable than most oil fields and the object of most
speculation that corrupts business, banking, government, and the
citizenry. Educate everyone that all of us deserve a fair share of
Earth's worth.

SMITH, Jeffery J.
President, Geonomy Society, www.progress.org/geonomy
Share Earth's worth to prosper and conserve.

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