by Pat Aller
New York, NY
The International Union for Land Value Taxation and
Free Trade held its 24th conference in Madrid, Spain, 27-30
May, 2004. This was exactly 91 years after Georgists from
all over the world met at a conference sponsored by the
Spanish League for the Single Tax in Ronda, Spain, partly
financed by industrialist Joseph Fels, who had supported
major land value tax drives in the United States before
World War I.
Unlike most previous conferences, arranged by IU
headquarters staff in London, this was prepared by AEPERS
(Asociacion Espanola para el Estudio del Regimen del Suelo
y los Recursos Naturales), under the direction of Fernando
Scornik-Gerstein, attorney and former advisor to the
Argentine government, who lives and works in Spain and the
Canary Islands, and serves as AEPERS president. Although
the number of Spanish Georgists was decimated during
Spain's civil war, Scornik has helped to rebuild the
movement there. He also attracted Argentine Georgists to
the conference. More than 50 people attended, from
Argentina, Australia, Canada, Denmark, England, France,
Scotland, South Africa, Spain, and the United States.
Simultaneous translation was provided in Spanish and
English.
Scottish Parliament Sends Greetings
The Scottish Parliament sent the following message,
signed by ten members of Scottish Green, Scottish
Nationalist and Scottish Socialist Party groups in the
Scottish Parliament:
"We send you our best wishes and support in your
deliberations in Madrid this year. Some of us enjoyed and
took part in your last conference in Edinburgh in 2001.
"Scotland is in the throes of releasing itself from
the shackles of a historical inheritance of landed
privilege. You will know that the Parliament has committed
itself to 'investigating the contribution land value
taxation might make to the cultural, economic,
environmental and democratic renaissance of Scotland.' We
believe that the private appropriation of the value of our
common resources--such as land-- is a privilege which can no longer be justified.
"On a global scale, the failure to share equitably
the value of our common birthrights can grow awful
grievances, which bring terrible consequences, such as was
visited upon your host city. Our sorrow rests with the
heavy hearts of Madrid's citizens going about their daily
business around you today.
"But we must make practical changes to our social
systems. We believe that the taxing of land values will be
a key policy reform for the twenty-first century. Scotland
must adopt it. We as Scottish Parliamentarians will be
endeavouring to bring about this fundamentally just and
badly needed reform."
Speeches and discussions ranged from the pragmatic
to the philosophic. The tragic history of Georgism in
Spain in the 20th century was a conference highlight.
Alannna Hartzok, IU's main Non-Governmental
Organization (NGO) representative to the United Nations,
Council of Georgist Organizations vice-president, and
Earth Rights Institute co-director, opened the sessions on
27 May with "The Need for an Earth Rights Democracy." This
was an incisive examination of local and national
socioeconomic issues in USA and a hard look at the same
globally.
Jeff Smith (Forum on Geonomics founder/director and
The Geonomist editor) spoke on the history of speculation
and corruption in America, including privileges and tariffs
for the elite, now that government can no longer give them
land.
Spanish Ministry of Finance
Before the conference, Smith had arranged to meet
Professor Pedro Herrera Molina, of the Spanish Ministry of
Finance, and other department officials. He and Hartzok
presented them with the advantages of land value taxation.
They showed great interest and one was able to attend the
conference. Following the conference, several Georgists,
including two from Spain, met with the officials again.
Smith later conferred with the supervisor of those
officials, Isabel Especjo Poyato, who asked for a copy of
his speech and more specifics on how LVT could benefit
Spain. While in Madrid, he also met with Spanish
architects and a computer programmer.
The next day Scornik formally welcomed IU members,
other Georgists, and visitors, and introduced IU
president, Tatiana Roskoshnaya, UN-Habitat Inter-Regional
Adviser on Eastern Europe and Economies in Transition,
stationed in Nairobi, Kenya. (During later IU business
meetings, she was re-elected, and many other IU business
topics were discussed, including site and time of the next
conference, as yet undecided.)
Roskoshnaya led a panel on the global crisis and
housing. She stated that the former Soviet Union nations
now had the highest poverty growth rate in the world,
ranging from 20 to 80% of each nation's population. She
recalled for the audience the UN Millennium Development
Goals, which include reducing the number of people in
extreme poverty and also reducing the number of slum
dwellers by 100,000, by 2015. A project is underway in
Nairobi, Kenya, to provide housing for a giant slum from
which landlords collect pure rent, because they provide no
infrastructure. If residents get new housing, they're
likely to sell it, further enriching landlords.
Roskoshnaya and a colleague have introduced the idea of
researching the land values in the slum.
Fred Harrison and other Georgists, she added,
introduced LVT to the nation of Russia, even if it's
misunderstood. As a result, President Vladimir Putin is on
record in favor of collecting resource rents. She added
that the UN, through covenants and other documents, has
declared a universal right to housing.
Peter Gibb (chief executive, Henry George
Foundation, UK and one of Land Reform Scotland's directors)
cited figures showing that housing costs have risen much
faster than wages. Home ownership is out of reach of many
middle-income and nearly all low-income people. At the
same time, more high-income people own two homes. He
foresees Japanese-style intergenerational mortgages unless
the situation improves. Many empty houses in UK are
untaxed. But he expects the Scottish Ministerial Review to
include LVT in its recommendations.
Scornik, discussing the situation in Spain, stated
that housing costs rose twice as much as salaries in the
last 20 years.
Dave Wetzel (Labour Land Campaign chair and London
University Transport Studies Society former president)
described United Kingdom housing tenure varieties and
believes housing experts are finally looking at LVT. He
likened Georgism to a ball on a giant snooker (billiards)
table. If it's hit right, it could cause a ricochet among
the others. In addition to housing, UK needs more green
space, he declared.
Bill Powell (Liberal Democrat official and local
council housing advisor) said the mortgage system is part
of the problem. Using slides, he demonstrated how renters
can't afford to buy when they retire at reduced incomes.
Perhaps, he suggested, people should share risks with
banks, as some religions have done. An individual could
pay rent and buy ownership shares in the same monthly
check, "purchase in partnership." This could be Rent/Own
or Rent/Maintain, as the person prefers. At any rate, this
benefits the individual and is not a subsidy.
Dark Picture of Russia
A dark picture of contemporary economic failure is
painted in "Twelve Years of Liberal Reforms in Russia," by
Galina Titova, UN consultant on water and fisheries, from
Russia. (Roskoshnaya summarized or read parts of the
paper, as Titova was unable to attend.) Titova blames
perverse or ignorant economics and laws for catastrophic
decline in production and quality of life since 1990.
"These laws," she said, " allowed new Russian oligarchs and
transnational corporations to enrich at the expense of
natural rent."
Titova castigated both her fellow citizens and the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank for policies
of "shock" economics that enabled overnight privatization
of Russia's natural resources, which, by rapid
exploitation, became the source of the new export economy,
cutting jobs in infrastructure and light industry and
leading to higher poverty and death rates. It further
damaged the economy by frightening prudent foreign
investors, while adding Russian capital--seeking safe
havens or riches--to the export list.
"Government is ruled by copybooks of monetarism.
Its main task now is to service the foreign debt and to
protect interests of large-scale business," Titova
explained.
The ordinary Russian was cheated by vouchers to buy
their state-owned dwelling or make other purchases, because
these sank in value. Budget shortages have caused drops in
the quality of education and scientific research, both
needed for modern economic growth. Teachers' and
professors' salaries average $70 and $200 monthly,
respectively. Fisheries concentrate on luxury fish for
overseas markets and have largely abandoned processing
catches for both domestic and foreign consumption, losing
more than 190,000 jobs, many then created in importing
nations.
Titova compared Russia's downward economic spiral
since 1990 with changes in China since 1978. China
adopted a "double track" method, taking into account its
historic interests and cultural traditions, thus avoiding
an economic collapse. GDP has increased each year, while
Russia's has declined.
Likewise, Poland avoided catastrophe by rejecting
IMF advice. "Success in market reforms in Poland are also
a result of delin[ing] of Washington consensus
doctrines....The main task of reforms is to create
conditions for sustainable and dynamic economic growth,"
she explained, and called IMF/World Bank economics
"bankrupt." She cited Joseph Stiglitz, former WB
economist, and five US Nobel Prize economists of the
"Economic Transition Group" who opposed "shock" reform.
Yet today Russia's economy is still measured by IMF
indicators, which ignore decline in quality of life,
widening income gaps, environmental damage, and the like,
while counting as positive the huge profits in Russia's
natural resource exploitation.
"[H]opes for rent socialization (that has been
promised by Putin for many years) will hardly be answered
while monetarists are kept in the head of economics
offices.....[N]othing is done to bring order to the use of
nature and to create a single state system of natural
wealth and their taxable potential accounting. Without
accomplishing this task, the forecast for the Russian
future is dark....All successful [Russian] monarchs paid
great attention to increase of the efficiency of
governmental control over use of both lands and other
natural resources and their fiscal assessment. There is
still no clear signal that V. Putin will follow them."
China's Land Policies
Turning to China, Scornik reported on a variety of
land laws. He said that when he met with the Chinese, they
made it very clear that land will never be sold, using Hong
Kong's leasing of land as an example. While he doubts they
grasp the significance of rent, the government does realize
that privatization is unnecessary. The nation owns much of
the land, although there is some speculation. Leases of up
to 70 years are available for defined uses, according to
"The Legal Status of Land in China," a compendium of laws
which he distributed.
In summary, he said, "[T]he right of use of land
can be mortgaged and legally transferred, but what is very
important - Article 43 - states that 'the land user as
described in the clause shall pay land-use tax in
accordance with the Interim Regulations of the People's
Republic of China on Land Use Taxation in Cities and
Towns.'...This is reinforced by Article 49, which says that
'land users shall pay taxes in accordance with state tax
laws.'
"[T]he Income Tax in China is low (about 15%) and
there is a Business Tax of 5%. It is obvious that the
People's Republic do not have a policy in the sense of
making the rent of land the sole source of revenue.
Nevertheless, the income coming from land, although we do
not have precise figures, must be important enough to keep
other taxes low."
South Africa Housing Rights
Peter Meakin (a trustee of the South African
Constitutional Property Rights Foundation, SACPRIF, and
property broker and appraiser, mea44kin@iafrica.com) spoke
on "Constitutions and Land Reform: The South-African Case."
He described his organization's attempt to "restore both
western and traditional property rights in the Republic so
that every South African over 18 years of age can secure
affordable access to sufficient of South Africa's natural resources as to give validity to
the constitutional values of equality, dignity and
freedom."
The organization's strategy document states,
"SACPRIF's chief aim is to bring about a change in South
Africa's land tenure laws and practices, on the grounds
that these contradict the constitutional rights to human
dignity, equality and freedom....[L]egislative measures to
date have not provided poor South Africans with meaningful
access to land. Furthermore, these measures fail to
address the landless of this generation who fall outside of
the net of restitution, redistribution and tenure-reform,
as well as those countless generations to come who will
find themselves landless unless a holistic solution is
found....For the last ten years SACPRIF has lobbied
government officials and parliamentarians to adopt its
approach, to no avail. SACPRIF now wants to consider a
legal challenge to the government's land reform programme,
arguing that it is in violation of the Constitution of the
Republic of South Africa, and that, therefore, the courts
may appropriately intervene."
Section 25(5) of the Constitution provides that the
state must take reasonable steps, within its resources, to
foster conditions which enable citizens to gain access to
land equitably. The Mineral and Petroleum Resources
Development Act states that "Mineral and petroleum
resources are the common heritage of all the people of
South Africa..." The late Sir Kenneth Jupp, retired High
Court of England judge and author of some Georgist works,
advised SACPRIF's attorney to consider indigenous as well
as common law views and practices on land ownership and
holding.
Meakin explained that the new Constitution does not
limit the right to land values, as some think, and added
that LVT advocacy, including that of Fred Harrison, has
had results. He closed with a plea for financial
assistance to pursue the suit, which, if lost, will cause
him and other Georgist backers serious loss.
History of Georgism in Spain
On 29 May, Ana Maria Martin Uriz, Spanish
philologist at the University of Madrid, specializing in
the English language, spoke on "Perspectiva historica del
legado de Henry George en Espana: Formacion y evolucion en
el pimer cuarto del siglo XX," (Historic Perspective on the
Legacy of Henry George in Spain: Formation and Evolution in
the First Quarter of the 20th Century). This was excerpted
from her longer introduction to Progreso y Miseria
(Progress and Poverty), issued in 1985 by the Spanish
government (after dictator Gen. Francisco Franco's death)
as one of a series of "agrarian classics." The paper, in
Spanish, is too important to summarize here. One hopes a
translation of the paper and/or the introduction will bring
this heroic history to Georgists worldwide.
Her paper had four parts: Spanish history, creation
of the Spanish League for the Single Tax, Georgist progress
in Spain, and Georgism's tragic end there. At the
beginning of the 20th century, Spain was an agrarian nation
with huge lands held by a few wealthy people. Farm work
was badly paid, and much land was idle - untaxed, unworked.
Rising social consciousness led to Spanish translations of
Progress and Poverty and various movements-agrarian,
socialist, anarchist, regional, and separatist. The
Spanish League for the Single Tax was created and
published a review for 10 years. The League's La Ronda
meeting in 1913 (which the Franco government denied took
place) brought many groups together, but differences,
especially from those who espoused regionalism, separated
them.
While the idea, but not the practice, of LVT made
headway, and Georgists had some influence on the Second
Republic, others were oppressed, even assassinated. When
Franco came to power he executed Blas Infante, regionalist,
imprisoned others (one died in prison), and exiled more.
Those who went to Argentina helped revive interest in LVT
there, but others, in Spain and elsewhere, ceased writing
and planning. [Even during Franco's regime, Spanish
Georgists ordered books from the Robert Schalkenbach
Foundation.]
Scornik added that his father was among those
exiled and that, while Georgists have always been
oppressed, they were treated the worst by Spain.
Problems of Introducing LVT
The practical problems of introducing land value
taxation in their respective nations were discussed by
Gibb, Saul Martinez (chair, Provincias Unidas, a
socioeconomic studies foundation. and former head, Highways
Department, Argentina), and Karl Williams (editor,
Progress, Australia).
Williams listed some Green party concerns about
LVT, including possible financial strain on retirees,
mortgage questions, belief that the income tax is fairer,
and "the 6 o'clock swill." He explained the last by
telling the story of old Australia, whose social contract
included affordable housing, a living wage, tight credit,
and no drinking after 6. The last induced a crowded bar as
each jostled to get his before the bar closed. Today,
without that contract, it's whatever the market will bear,
and, Williams opined, "We have not a housing crisis but a
property boom! A great way to run a casino but not a
society. A long way from the social contract."
Martinez was fired the day after he advocated LVT
to defray costs of one road. He called his nation "a
laboratory demonstrating the development of Georgist
ideas." Physiocrats influenced the Argentine revolution,
and slavery and the sale of land were abolished in 1810 (or
1813), under Argentina's first president, Bernardo Rivadavia, whose ideas resembled
those of George. Civil wars followed and the law was
revoked in 1857. Since great plots of land had been
acquired by individuals even before the revolution, this
further legitimized land monopolies and speculation.
Sporadic attempts have been made since to enact or apply
LVT, but there is no general success.
Fred Foldvary (author and economics professor, USA)
criticized economists who dismiss LVT because they say land
and value can't be separated perfectly. Recapture by
government of even some of the excess, deadweight burden
justifies using that tax, he claimed. For greater equity,
he advises an assessment board composed of all levels of
government, local, higher, and state or federal. He's
written about privatizing communities, if they wish, so
that they pay for their own services, and he urged
Georgists to change politics and voting structures.
Don't Drive in London!
Wetzel recounted, with Power Point, "The Success of
the London Congestion Charge and How It Relates to Land
Value Taxation." At first, he said, even his own Labour
party opposed the idea. The charge is Lb.S. 5 per day,
Monday through Friday, 7 AM to 6 PM, on a car entering
central London ("clean" or emergency vehicles, and those
driven by disabled persons excepted). Now there are 15%
fewer cars, 30% less congestion, and London's treasury is
Lb.S. 70 million richer each year. Those who don't pay are
subject to accelerated fines.
But Wetzel is more concerned with land. "If we
continue allowing 10% to control earth, expect a
revolution!"
A geo-confederacy was proposed by Foldvary as "The
Solution to Territorial Conflict: Pay Rent." He related
his remarks to land disputes between Israel and Palestine,
India and Pakistan, factions in Northern Ireland, Bosnia
and Kosovo, and those Basques who wish to separate from
Spain.
"When two nations claim the same territory, and
both claims have merit, partition may not sufficiently
resolve the conflict...A better alternative is to make the
land common property. Individuals could choose which
nation to affiliate with, without having to move. The
possession of land would be in the form of leaseholds which
pay rent to a confederation of the nations. The rent
reflects the benefit of the land and would compensate the
others for the exlusive use of a site."
Citing John Locke's Second Treatise on Government,
that each person equally has ownership of his own person,
Foldvary argues, "But self-ownership does not apply to
land, so human beings equally properly own the land in
common. However, the possession of land is required in
order to apply labor, and production is most efficient with
a market economy and private control of property. Locke
wrote that the first owner may claim possession, but he may
only claim the yield due to land with the proviso or
condition that there be land of equal or better quality
available to others. If such land is not available, then
human equality requires an equal benefit from the land.
The economic benefit is reflected in the rent of land, and
so an equal sharing of the land rent satisfies the Lockean
proviso....
"Without a global sharing of the natural land rent,
the next best policy is for it to be shared by those in a
country....We can call this plan a 'geo-confederacy.' It
consists of a confederation of states together with the
collection of the land rent....Where two countries dispute
a portion of their land, a just solution is joint
sovereignty as well as a provincial confederation. Both
states whold have equal sovereignty, and the residents
would be free to decide which country to be a citizen of.
The site holders would pay land rent to a legislature that
is elected by all the residents....
"[G]eo-confederacy combines choice of citizenship,
confederation of nations, joint sovereignty over disputed
land, and the sharing of the land rent....A geo-confederacy
offers freedom and equality of association and equal
benefits from the land."
Argentinean Crisis: Its Roots
Hector Sandler (University of Buenos Aires
professor of law and social philosophy and Institute of
Economics Training (ICE) director) spoke on "Unveiling the
Mystery: Roots of the Argentinean Crisis," dedicated "To my
dear friend Bob Andelson," former IU president, Robert
Schalkenbach Foundation member, and philosophy professor,
who died December, 2003.
Sandler pointed out that in Argentina, a large
nation rich in natural resources, land monopoly has stifled
efficient development by making land too expensive for poor
citizens, thereby inhibiting the immigration that helped
the United States progress. In 1810, legislation forbade
land sales, with a few exceptions, and slavery. However,
this was revoked 1857, and 1865 laws transformed land into
goods in comercio, leading to concentration of 85% of the
land in the hands of 300 landowners, fewer than 1% of the
population. The same ratio is true today, except that the
landowners have become corporations, paying no taxes or
taxes on undervalued land.
"The current legal system has transformed land into
the base of any speculative business... instead of being at
disposal of work and investment of capital," says Sandler.
Argentina is an exporting nation - of beef,
leather, grain, wool - all from rich ranchers, who use
their profits to increase their ranching and to consume riches. As the proportion of poor people
grew, Argentina had to borrow from the International
Monetary Fund to pay for national and subnational services.
Its debts ballooned, culminating in its recent defaults.
Sandler stated that, regardless of whether
conservatives or radicals governed, their policies
ignored the effects of land speculation, land
concentration, and escape of capital for development,
concluding, "Argentineans should realize that land rent
cannot be in private hands, because it is the basic
underside of public treasure. If land rent is collected,
it is possible to eliminate the taxes that hinder work and
investment....[W]ithout this there will never be a new
Argentinean miracle."
Are Universities to Blame?
Sandler also spoke on "Higher Education and Social
Problems," dedicated to Professor Iredell Jenkins,
Princeton University, USA, with the object of "finding a
philosophical basis for the political theories whose aim is
to achieve a fairer human society" and "to expound upon the
mistaken roads that Law and Economics science are marching
upon."
For example, Sandler referred to Argentina's
economic problems as due, not to lack of resources, "but
because of a wrong legal structure of necessary
fundamentals to constitute prosperous and healthy social
and public economics....the result of wrong or inadequate
knowledge in the fields of economics and juridical science.
If this thesis is true, it is possible that higher
education is, in great measure, responsible for the current
disorder. That's why - in this case - the university
system has a moral duty and a great task in the effort to
reestablish the harmony lost in our society."
Critical of over-specialization in philosophy, law,
and economics, Sandler pointed out that, until the mid-20th
century, most political leaders, legislators, and many in
the executive branch of government had law degrees. Since
then, however, he says, economists have displaced lawyers
there and also dominate financial and global institutions.
"[I]t's not even noticed that it is a concern of
Law, not of Economics, to establish the fundamentals of the
economic order."
Sandler continues, "One of the main causes, if not
the main one, of social, political and economic problems
that many countries bear - among them, in quite a
remarkable way, Argentina - is the prevailing bias,
standardized at universities, of legal and economic science
since the second half of the 20th century."
Specialization, he adds, leads to quite exclusive knowledge
of fragments of reality, and this often leads to the
teaching of distorted, even wrong, concepts.
"Government," continues Sandler, "as producer of
statute law, should apply all its power in the unceasing
task of eliminating obstacles, privileges and monopolies
that generated continuously at the very middle of society,
hindering the process of producing wealth and the fair
distribution of the wealth produced." He recalled that a
1912 bill proposed a land tax on unimproved land. Though
the bill failed, an active Land League, composed of
Argentinean governors, mayors, and other politicians and
intellectuals, published Revista del Impuesto Unico
(Magazine of Single Tax) from 1916 to 1926.
"These facts are ignored by those who teach Law and
Economics at our universities," he informed his audience,
advising them that even worse brainwashing occurred in USA,
documented in The Corruption of Economics. Neo-classic
economics, which considers only labor and capital-not
land-as factors of production, suppresses all mention of
natural law and Henry George, and is supported by gifts to
universities by wealthy land speculators and monopolists.
"[W]ith countless natural resources, an excellent
population with high cultural development, it cannot
seriously be said that Argentina has 'economic problems,'
though most of its inhabitants... do have them....What we
suffer from is a bad legal structure of the fundamentals of
social and public economy. All the individual and
collective problems that bring despair to most of the
population and collapse governments have their root in our
legal order....From this point of view, universities and
higher education have a great responsibility and, in
consequence, a great duty to perform."
George and German Idealism
Frank Peddle (Robert Schalkenbach Foundation board
member, Henry George Foundation of Canada treasurer, and
Canadian Research Committee on Taxation research director),
spoke on "Dialectical Philosophy and Henry George's
Concepts Reconsidered." He urged reprinting of George
Geiger's The Philosophy of Henry George, issued in 1931,
saying nothing has been published in that area since. He
compared German idealism of Fichte, Hegel, Kant, and
Schelling with George's ideas, even though George
misunderstood and maligned the idealists. Peddle finds
reshapings in such philosophers parallel to reshapings in
natural law, on the nature of capitalism, and the like.
The Science of Political Economy is Peddle's
favorite among George's works. Its methodology,
definitions, and concepts, such as holistic cooperation,
are very like German idealism. One must unpresuppose all
that is presupposed, which also applies to contemporary
politics. Hermeneutics (the branch of philosophy dealing
with the theory of understanding and interpretation) is
important in today's European thought and therefore it is
necessary for Georgists also, as a way of continuing
dialogue, he concluded.
Marginalists, Land, and George
Scornik spoke on "The Marginalist and the
Special Status of Land as a Factor of Production:
Herman-Heinrich Gössen, Friedrich von Wieser, Leon Walras
and Vilfredo Pareto. He stressed their views on the
special status of land, ignored by most Marxists (but not
Marx) and most neoclassical economists, especially those of
the Austrian school. While he admitted that some of their
ideas were confused, each of the four recognized the
importance of land.
"With this paper," he said, "we expect to
contribute, at least partially, to widen the vision of
ideas of these four marginalists and to have proved
that...the subject of land and natural resources was very
specially considered, having in certain cases - as that of
Walras - a central and unmoveable place in his proposals."
Only highlights of this paper can be included. Scornik
finds that, for those cited, land was not simply a form of
capital. Yet George and also neoclassic, or neoliberal,
economists underrate this aspect of marginalism.
"Gossen states that 'it would be convenient that
the ownership of land would belong entirely to the
community and that the community would grant the
exploitation of each plot to whom[ever] offered to pay the
highest rent,'" Scornik says, adding that Gossen's ideas
were ignored for years, and, when rediscovered by W.
Stanley Jevons, were cited for their mathematics and not
for the differential character of land ownership.
"In our opinion the most interesting thing in
Wieser's thought is precisely the changes he introduces to
the Austrain theory of value and bring him near in a
remarkable way to the ideas of Henry George or Leon Walras.
As George, he was a great defender of free trade as the way
to press prices downwards," Scornik declares.
Walras wrote, "...to leave lands to individuals
instead of keeping them for the State means to allow a
parasitical class to take advantage of the enrichment that
should satisfy the always growing demands of public
services," and concludes that, if the State repurchases
privately held land, "we would have not only saved the
future but repaired the past." While he contradicts
himself, and, of course, George, in the way he would remedy
conditions, Walras sees socioeconomic justice in State land
value taxation, according to Scornik. Furthermore, Walras
recognizes the importance of free trade and "free
concurrence," citing Physiocrats on the latter.
Pareto "does not even mention the solid proposals
of Gossen and Walras, which mathematically demonstrate the
benefit that nationalization would give to the state, even
paying compensation to the owners,.... being more inclined
to solutions based on taxation," Scornik explains.
"Nationalization of land seems to him a remedy worse than
the sickness."
Scornik cautions Georgists to heed Pareto's income
distribution curves, which pessimistically find that income
changes little, regardless of economic system, and his
forecast that no social reform will last if human nature is
not changed. In the discussion that followed, Peddle
asserted that Lorenz has found the curves wrong.
In correspondence with Aller after the conference,
Scornik stressed: "I do think that the reconsideration of
Marginalists and their perspective on George's basic idea
that the rent of land should be common property, is
essential. As I explained in my paper, George was not
aware of the works of Herman Heinrich Gossen and Leon
Walras. I honestly think the attack that George delivers
to Marginalism in general is mistaken. The Marginalists do
not say what George accused them of saying."
Psychoanalysis, Mind, and Economics
Timothy Glazier (author of works on philsophy,
social justice) analyzed "Economics and the Modern Mind."
He feels that one reason people have trouble grasping
George's ideas is that the human mind has altered over the
millennia. In denying an archetype such as a bountiful
earth, the shadows of fear of scarcity and of greed have
appeared in hunter-turned-farmer and later changes in
perception, and he cited Fred Harrison's works on the
matter. Alienation follows, resulting from dissociation
from the real world. Glazier believes humanity is in its
adolescence and can eventually improve.
A psychoanalytic approach to Georgist ideas and
techniques was presented by Jon Mendel (research intern,
Henry George Foundation, UK, and Ph.D. candidate,
University of Newcastle) in his two papers: "Own It: The
Desire for Housing and the UK Housing Crisis" and "Love
the Accident! The 'War on Terror,' Network Technologies
and Radical Political Change." These require the author's
permission before citing and may be reviewed later. "Hacia
un Mundo Mejor," by Joseph Soler Corrales, in Spanish, is
not included because there was no time to translate it.
The UN, IMF, WB, and Georgists
Roskoshnaya and Hartzok closed the conference, 30
May, with analyses of how LVT can be linked to UN,
International Monetary Fund, and World Bank policies.
In May 2003, IU was granted consultative status to UN's
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), raising its number of
NGO representatives at the UN from 2 to 22, and greater
Georgist impact on UN issues is anticipated.
Hartzok, who hopes to help develop a Nigerian
eco-village, where Georgist economics will be taught, cited
Stiglitz's criticisms of the World Bank: privatization of utilities, taken over by former government
cronies; capital market liberalization, especially in real
estate; market-based pricing which forces up costs of
basics; and so-called free trade. He proposed, as
solutions, radical land reform and taxing 50% of the
oligarchs' crop rent.
Hartzok, who said she would like to sink or shrink
IMF/WB because of their systemic greed policies, focused on
six: 1) structural adjustment programs (SAPs), which
increase poverty, 2) debt relief, especially to poorest
nations, which is a sham, 3) the worsening of Russia's
depression, the Asian financial crisis, and focus on banks'
bailouts, 4) the rise of AIDS, part of the rural-to-urban
migration, 5) the effects on women, especially as SAPs cut
safety nets, and 6) depletion of natural resources,
accelerated by dam building and land grabs, which she
called corporate welfare for environmental destruction.
She cited WB activity in Brazil, buying land and creating
mortgage debt, and mentioned that a US Senate investigation
of WB losses.
Roskoshnaya complained that WB had intervened when
Habitat attempted some LVT in the 1980s. Habitat now has a
new Governing Council, with greater Local Authorities
(municipalities and cities) participation. She urged
Georgists to become involved with United Cities and Local
Governments and to try to get LVT included in one of
Habitat's two major drives, that for Secure Tenure. WB is
also studying LVT, she added, and Sweden, a chief Habitat
donor, is interested.
Scornik believes a newsletter for Spanish and
Latin American readers would have an extraordinary effect,
and stated that the Spanish Georgists need serious
financial support. He criticized the almost complete lack
of funds from existing Georgist organizations for the
Madrid conference. The Robert Schalkenbach Foundation
contributed $2,000 for simultaneous translation, a small
fraction of the aid requested.
This report is based on the author's notes and
available texts, with apologies that time did not permit
more thoroughness or accuracy. All italics used were in
the original. Texts or excerpts of some speeches may be
published later. To contact AEPERS (Scornik invited
Georgists everywhere to join it): Fernando
Scornik-Gerstein, President, AEPERS Avda Alberto Alcocer,
N( 7, 3( Izq, 28036 Madrid, SPAIN. Tel: 00 34 91 350 72
62 Fax: 00 34 91 350 73 06 Email: Madrid@aepers.org
-----------------------
Pat Aller is a former IULVT NGO representative to the UN,
and may be emailed at terpaller@aol.com.