by Mike Curtis
Adapted from Mike’s keynote speech at the 2017 CGO conference.
It’s been nearly 50 years since I became acquainted with Henry George, and I have never been so haunted by his words as I am today. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Mike Curtis
The Land Rent We Have vs. the Land Rent We Want
by Mike Curtis
First of all, Gross Domestic Product is a measure of what is actually produced, and land rent is the portion of that product that is actually paid to the landowner. We propose to collect the potential rent of land for public revenue. That includes the rental values of all the oil and other mineral land that is held in reserve, all the valuable airwaves that are held for speculation and all the vacant or under-used land in and around cities. Continue reading
Taxes Kill Jobs
by Mike Curtis
Mike, ever the persevering Georgist educator, has been emailing think-pieces like this one every few weeks, asking recipients to forward to their inboxes, if the message rings true.
“Taxes kill jobs!” is the message of political candidates. The American economic system causes unemployment and recessions, that is true — but without revenue and the role of government, the US would surely be a third-world country. Continue reading
Raffles Had the Winning Ticket
by Mike Curtis
In 1819, some fifty years before the publication of Progress And Poverty, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles established the British trading port of Singapore. Continue reading
Make Immigration a Win-Win for Everyone
by Mike Curtis
Every working person knows instinctively that the way to get a raise is to limit the competition. That’s the only way labor unions have ever gotten their members a higher wage. Doctors and Lawyers must have expensive degrees and licenses. Continue reading
Henry Ford Caused the Great Depression!
by Mike Curtis
One year things are going well, and the next year they’re not. Why is that? How does it happen that, all of a sudden, more and more people, who are willing and able to work, are unable to find employment? Continue reading
A Letter from Arden
by Mike Curtis
When I walk around Arden on a summer evening and see the lightning bugs, and later the katydids, I’m reminded of how much I like our little village. Nonetheless, I wish there was something I could point to that would suggest a success beyond the health and happiness of the residents, which it certainly enjoys. Continue reading
The Top Ten Obvious Facts for Georgists
10. Wage Rates Don’t Depend on Productivity.
We hear a lot about lifting oneself by one’s own bootstraps — but that can’t be done unless there’s a pool of poor saps to lift oneself above. Education and training can help an individual to compete — but competition, of abundant workers for scarce jobs, drives wages down even while overall productivity increases.
9. Technological Progress Reduces the Value of Products.
Look at today’s low prices for a microwave oven, a gigabyte of digital memory, a dress shirt or a car that gets 35 mpg and goes from 0 to 60 in seven seconds. We just can’t blame our eroding standard of living on the prices of the goods we buy.
8. Land Is Not Produced by Labor.
It just isn’t, and that makes land fundamentally different from things that are produced by labor. Economists have tried and failed to get around this fact, in many complex and convoluted ways, for a century. Continue reading