Successful land speculation (also known as “real estate investment”) is really a matter of taking for yourself the gains that belong to the community. George Menninger is one of the many who have done it, but he’s exceptional in his understanding of what he did, as well as his sympathy for his victims. He’ll explain how the bad public policy he exploited not only made him rich, but led to continued poverty, unemployment, and even the recent economic meltdown.
Menninger is a Henry George School volunteer instructor, and this stand-alone session also serves as the introduction to his modern version of Progress & Poverty. After his talk, you may, if you wish, sign up for the five-session course.
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)
The annual gathering of North American activists and educators promoting economic justice. The date and location are set, but other details will be posted to their site as they are determined.