Re: POV-RED: The Geonomist

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

Hi, Michael,

Many thanks for the excellent answers and clarifications. Hope we all
meet outside virtual space some day. Ciao.

On Thu, 23 Jan 2003 15:19:02 -0500 Mbindnerdc@aol.com writes:
> Hi, Jeff!
> 
> In a message dated 1/23/2003 1:18:30 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
> geonomist@juno.com writes:
> 
> > 
> > 
> > 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.
> > 
> 
> Compensation is only required if you wish to seize the land and 
> offer something akin to a homestead act.
> 
> > 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?
> > 
> 
> The biggest items of welfare for the rich in the US are income caps 
> on social welfare insurance and the payment of net interest on the 
> debt, plus provisions which tax the estates of the dead rather than 
> counting it as income for the living.  Pay off the debt and count 
> inheritance as normal income (unless sold to an ESOP or to tenants) 
> and a personal income tax on the wealthy is no longer necessary.
> 
> > > 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.
> > 
> 
> I meant the working class.  There should be incentives for firms and 
> churhes or government programs to educate all adults without a 14th 
> grade or technical educaiton and to pay them while they do so.
> 
> > > for employee owned firms could be compensated with a mortgage 
> > 
> > By (from) whom?
> 
> The employee-owned firm or cooperative.
> 
> > 
> > > After they learn the equipment, such individuals could even be 
> sent
> > north
> > 
> > By whom?
> 
> Sent was a bad word.  Job opportunities would be made available.
> 
> > 
> > > 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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SMITH, Jeffery J.
President, Geonomy Society, www.progress.org/geonomy
Share Earth's worth to prosper and conserve.

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