Events

Sep
15
Mon
Will the Real Fiscal Stimulus Please Stand Up? @ Henry George School suite 1207
Sep 15 @ 6:00 pm

An evening with Bob Jene to compare the Georgist fiscal reform to the TARP bailout, “Fair Tax,” Flat Tax, Bush tax cuts and government money creation.  A gist of each proposed or attempted solution to the “great recession” will be given including QE I, QE II and QE III. Attendees will rank the proposed remedies on a scale of 1 to 10 based on 8 criteria.

Sep
17
Wed
Political Economy Book Club reads Uncle Tom’s Cabin @ Henry George School suite 1207
Sep 17 @ 6:00 pm

Political Economy Book Club discusses Uncle Tom’s Cabin, “the book that inspired the abolitionist movement.”  It may have been based on the real-life slave Josiah Henson, who escaped slavery and started the community Dawn in Canada which became a destination of many slaves on the underground railroad.  The event is free and everyone is welcome, but RSVP is requested to 312 450 2906 or rjmatter@gmail.com.

Nov
12
Wed
Political Economy Book Club discusses Wealth of Nations Book V @ Henry George School suite 1207
Nov 12 @ 6:00 pm
Image Credit: Funky Tee (cc) via flickr
Image Credit: Funky Tee (cc) via flickr

An injudicious tax offers a great temptation to smuggling. But the penalties of smuggling must rise in proportion to the temptation. The law, contrary to all the ordinary principles of justice, first creates the temptation, and then punishes those who yield to it…

— Adam Smith

Book V of Adam Smith’s classic is entitled “Of the Revenue of the Sovereign or Commonwealth,” includes the above as well as many thoughtful passages about what we nowadays call public finance.  Our Political Economy Book Club  will discuss this final part of Wealth of Nations on Wednesday, November 12.  You can download or read the book on line from several sources, borrow it from many public libraries, or purchase a copy inexpensively.

For further information or to let us know you’re coming, email PEBC coordinator Bob Matter or call 312 450 2906.

Jan
26
Mon
Will the Real Fiscal Stimulus Please Stand Up? @ Henry George School suite 1207
Jan 26 @ 6:00 pm
image credit: FullyFunctnlPhil (cc) via flockr
image credit: FullyFunctnlPhil (cc) via flockr

An evening with Bob Jene to compare the Georgist fiscal reform to the TARP bailout, “Fair Tax,” Flat Tax, Bush tax cuts and government money creation.  A gist of each proposed or attempted solution to the “great recession” will be given including QE I, QE II and QE III. Attendees will rank the proposed remedies on a scale of 1 to 10 based on 8 criteria.

Feb
7
Sat
One Hour Henry George @ Henry George School suite 1207
Feb 7 @ 2:00 pm

Approaching Henry George’s ideas from a moral and practical perspective as the right way to do away with poverty.  Conceived and presented by Henry George School instructor George Menninger.

Feb
9
Mon
One Hour Henry George @ Henry George School suite 1207
Feb 9 @ 6:00 pm

Approaching Henry George’s ideas from a moral and practical perspective as the right way to do away with poverty.  Conceived and presented by Henry George School instructor George Menninger.

Feb
11
Wed
Wealth of Nations Book V discussed by Political Economy Book Club @ Henry George School suite 1207
Feb 11 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Picking up where we left off last meeting, the Political Economy Book Club will complete its discussion of Book V of Adam Smith’s classic Wealth of Nations. This section focuses on taxes. RSVP appreciated to rjmatter@gmail.com

Mar
18
Wed
Voltaire’s Candide discussed by Political Economy Book Club @ Henry George School suite 1207
Mar 18 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
François-Marie Arouet (1694–1778), known as Voltaire

America’s only Political Economy Book Club discusses Candide, Voltaire’s 1759 masterpiece that ridicules religion, theologians, governments, armies, philosophies and philosophers through allegory.  As Jean Starobinski notes,”The fast-paced and improbable plot—in which characters narrowly escape death repeatedly, for instance—allows for compounding tragedies to befall the same characters over and over again.”

It’s only a hundred pages or so depending on the translation and format, and is available in English translation free from Project Gutenberg  (in several formats) as well as from the Internet Archive, where there is also an audiobook. 

PEBC coordinator Bob Matter would appreciate an RSVP, if possible, from those planning to attend.

 

May
13
Wed
Discourse on Inequality at the Political Economy Book Club @ Henry George School
May 13 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Jean-Jacques_Rousseau_Romania1962We’ll discuss Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s  Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men.  Rousseau sets out to demonstrate how the growth of civilization corrupts man’s natural happiness and freedom by creating artificial inequalities of wealth, power and social privilege. Contending that primitive man was equal to his fellows, Rousseau believed that as societies become more sophisticated, the strongest and most intelligent members of the community gain an unnatural advantage over their weaker brethren, and that constitutions set up to rectify these imbalances through peace and justice in fact do nothing but perpetuate them. Rousseau’s political and social arguments in the Discourse were a hugely influential denunciation of the social conditions of his time and one of the most revolutionary documents of the eighteenth-century.

Henry George was evidently familiar with these ideas but didn’t fully agree with Rousseau.

Multiple English translations of Discourse on Inequality are available free , as is at least one audiobook.

Political Economy Book Club meetings are free and open to everyone, tho donations to help pay the rent are appreciated. PEBC Coordinator Bob Matter requests an RSVP at the phone number or email above.