Since earliest civilizations, humans have recognized that food is a product of farmland (and, yes, pastureland, fisheries, etc) and have managed to cultivate enough land to feed themselves. Yet today we routinely convert farmland to urban use. American Farmland Trust (AFT) seek to ensure continued agricultural use of some land by buying development rights from farmers, and try to make farms more viable by facilitating community supported agriculture. The geoist fiscal reform provides an alternative way to encourage more conservative and productive use of all land. With additional material from YES! magazine about the slow food revolution, this presentation by HGS instructor Bob Jene suggests that an alliance between AFT and geoists might benefit both.
In commemoration of “tax day,” the hypothetical due date for Federal and State personal income tax returns, we’ll discuss a sensible proposal by a man who understood the danger of an income tax: Henry George. In this free introductory session, we’ll review the problems George saw in his time, and discuss how they persist today. We’ll outline what he proposed to do about them, how his recommendations apply today, and provide an overview of the Progress & Poverty course.
The course continues on Friday afternoons thru May 20. Should you choose to enroll, there will be a $25 registration fee.
As farmland yields to “higher-value” uses, how (and how well and how inexpensively) will we eat? Bob Jene reviews data from a leading agricultural preservation organization, the American Farmland Trust (AFT). Among other things they buy development rights from landowners to insure continued farming use, and attempt to facilitate community supported agriculture which makes family farms more viable. A Georgist fiscal reform encourages more conservative and productive use of all land and reduces sprawl, thus preventing encroachment on farmland. An alliance with AFT would benefit us both.
Once again this year, our colleagues from the Public Revenue Education Council will have a booth at the annual conference of the National Council of State Legislators. PREC travel to the host city each year, and in 2016 they’re at McCormick Place in Chicago.
PREC will want assistance from local people who have completed one or more courses at the Henry George School and understand the fundamentals of political economy, especially land value taxation and the “two-rate” or “split rate” tax. If you might like to help out, contact Chuck Metalitz for more details. Because this conference of public officials is closed to the public, this might be you only way to get into the exhibit hall, and requires pre-arrangement. Only a limited number of these volunteer positions is available.
Urban sprawl is threatening to destroy much valuable farmland. We will look at data from one of the leading national organizations trying to mitigate this damage, The American Farmland Trust (AFT). Among other things they buy development rights from farmers to insure the land’s continued use in agriculture and attempt to facilitate community supported agriculture which makes family farms more viable. The Georgist fiscal reform reduces sprawl alleviating pressure on farmland.
(image credit: Kristian Bjornard ; Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0); https://flic.kr/p/8RYWFy)
Decades before Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith wrote what he seems to have considered a superior work, Theory of Moral Sentiments. He wrote:
How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it except the pleasure of seeing it.
Wikipedia asserts:
Smith critically examines the moral thinking of his time, and suggests that conscience arises from dynamic and interactive social relationships through which people seek “mutual sympathy of sentiments.”[74] His goal in writing the work was to explain the source of mankind’s ability to form moral judgement, given that people begin life with no moral sentiments at all. Smith proposes a theory of sympathy, in which the act of observing others and seeing the judgements they form of both others and oneself makes people aware of themselves and how others perceive their behaviour.
The Theory of Moral Sentiments has been printed in numerous editions, and is also available free on line. Smith revised the book throughout his lifetime; it’s best to avoid the first edition, and choose one published after his death in 1790.
In this session we’ll discuss parts 1-3 of the book, taking up parts 4-7 on November 20,
This is the second and concluding session for this book, covering parts 4-7.