Events

Would Rube Goldberg have been able to design a less straightforward system of funding government than the U S Federal income tax? In this presentation, HGS instructor Bob Jene looks at what it costs to collect this revenue.  The direct cost to the government of operating the Internal Revenue Service is only a small part, as the burden put on the taxpayer, and the diversion of effort from productive uses, should also be considered.

We sometimes describe Henry George’s fiscal proposal as a “smart tax,” unlike the inefficient anti-prosperity taxes that fund most government programs today.  Similarly, there can be “smart” transit facilities, which are distinguished from dumb ones because they are cost less and provide more service. Perhaps the most prominent recent smart transit proposal is the CTA Gray Line, whose creator, Mike Payne, will be our speaker tonight.

From the CTA Gray Line web page:

Launching the Gray Line would provide a brand new CTA Rapid Transit (‘L’) service (on EXISTING facilities) to Grant Park, the Museum Campus, the newly renovated Soldier Field, and McCormick Place (with a connected station under the McCormick Place South Bldg.)

Also service to Bronzeville, Hyde Park, the Museum of Science & Industry (with an ADA compliant station 1 1/2 blocks away), the University of Chicago, Woodlawn, South Shore, South Chicago, Chatham, Chicago State University, Pullman, Roseland, Blue Island, and Hegewisch; again almost all Gray Line facilities are in place, and operating RIGHT NOW TODAY.

. . .

There is  N O  need for costly and time consuming design and engineering, right-of-way acquistion, condemnation, demolition, clearing, materials acquisition, delivery, and major construction; the CTA Gray Line ‘L’ System could be up and providing CTA ‘L’ service to the Far South Side WITHIN  O N E  YEAR, rather than waiting until 2016 for completion of the Red Line Extension.

Come to this free presentation to meet and question a prominent transit activist, and think about what could be done with all the public money saved by smart projects like the CTA Gray Line.

The People of the Abyss (1903) is a book by Jack London (1876-1916) about life in the East End of London in 1902. He wrote this first-hand account by living in the East End for several months, sometimes staying in workhouses or sleeping on the streets. The conditions he experienced and wrote about were the same as those endured by an estimated 500,000 of the contemporary London poor.  Decades later, this book inspired George Orwell to write Down and Out in Paris and London.

A bit late to be a contemporary of Henry George, Jack London lived mainly in northern California  and was a passionate advocate of workers’ rights. Both London and George were members of Bohemian Grove.

(source: Wikipedia)

The People of the Abyss is available free on line as text from Gutenberg, and as an audiobook from LibriVox, as well as in hardcopy from various libraries and book dealers.

Political Economy Book Club is open to everyone wishing to participate in the discussion, without charge altho donations are appreciated to help pay for rent and snacks. Convenor Bob Matter appreciates an RSVP from those planning to attend.

In 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville and Gustave de Beaumont were sent by the French government to study the American prison system. In his later letters Tocqueville indicates that he and Beaumont used their official business as a pretext to study American society instead. They arrived in New York City in May of that year and spent nine months traveling the United States, studying the prisons, and collecting information on American society, including its religious, political, and economic character.

— Wikipedia

Democracy in America was one of the products of this trip. It’s available in several translations, some free such as this one and this one, also free in audio format.  On March 29, the Political Economy Book Club will discuss volume 1.

PEBC meetings are free and open to everyone who has read and wishes to talk about the book under discussion. Convenor Bob Matter appreciates an RSVP if possible.

A subsequent meeting will discuss volume 2

Do we need to suffer like this (and/or pay someone else) in order to fund government?  In this presentation, HGS instructor Bob Jene looks at what it costs to collect income taxes.  The direct cost to the government of operating the Internal Revenue Service is only a small part, as the burden put on the taxpayer, and the diversion of effort from productive uses, should also be considered.

“The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of IngSoc, but to make all other modes of thought impossible. It was intended that when Newspeak had been adopted once and for all and Oldspeak forgotten, a heretical thought – that is, a thought diverging from the principles of IngSoc – should be literally unthinkable, at least so far as thought is dependent on words.“

— George Orwell

Something like this has happened to the field of economics, says Dan Sullivan.  Terms which had clear meanings to Adam Smith, J S Mill, and other classical economists have got distorted and redefined– or obliterated–  to prevent serious discussion of economic issues. Going back to the roots of political economy, Dan suggests the real point of a proper science of economics would be to efficiently satisfy the desires of the people, both individually and collectively.

Dan will help us distinguish between “rights” and “privileges,” “investments” and “acquisitions”,  and several distinct concepts that all get called “wealth.” He’ll address the difference between “means of production” and “capital,” and differentiate “human capital” from modern slavery.

You can understand today’s economic issues such as minimum wages, tax policy, international trade, housing costs, and unemployment, but only if you have a clear idea of the fundamental terms.  These terms can be readily comprehended by ordinary people and do not lead to any particular “left” or “right” public policy, but they facilitate informed communication.

There will of course be time for questions and discussion.

Based in Pittsburgh, Dan Sullivan is a popular speaker on economic issues, and Director of Saving Communities

Please register for this Zoom Webinar by clicking the green registration button.

David Wilson, author of the forthcoming book Towns Along the Q, will discuss the consequences of certain disastrous and discriminatory housing policies that he has become familiar with in the course of researching the topic, development of Chicago’s western suburbs along the Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railway.