Events

May
14
Wed
Progress & Poverty (modern version) @ Henry George School suite 1207
May 14 @ 11:00 pm – May 15 @ 1:00 am

You are welcome to attend the first session, on Wednesday May 7 6PM, at no charge and without committing to enroll.  Instructor Bob Jene will provide an overview of and introduction to the course.  At the conclusion you may choose to enroll ($25 fee), or pass up this opportunity (There will be another chance next term, and more thereafter.) More about Progress & Poverty

May
17
Sat
Cycle tour of of South Loop and Lakeshore @ Meet at the Henry George School
May 17 @ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Guided by HGS instructor Bob Jene, this tour starts with a look at the City of Chicago amenities on the lakefront in Grant Park, and their effect on land values in neighboring private properties especially along Prairie and Indiana Avenues south of Roosevelt.  This is the museum campus area with a mixed style of housing.  We continue down to the Central Station Area where there are some vintage mansions on Prairie Avenue. We will stop to look at assessor’s data on the value of units, properties and parking spaces and how they relate to location.

May
21
Wed
Progress & Poverty (modern version) @ Henry George School suite 1207
May 21 @ 11:00 pm – May 22 @ 1:00 am

You are welcome to attend the first session, on Wednesday May 7 6PM, at no charge and without committing to enroll.  Instructor Bob Jene will provide an overview of and introduction to the course.  At the conclusion you may choose to enroll ($25 fee), or pass up this opportunity (There will be another chance next term, and more thereafter.) More about Progress & Poverty

May
28
Wed
Progress & Poverty (modern version) @ Henry George School suite 1207
May 28 @ 11:00 pm – May 29 @ 1:00 am

You are welcome to attend the first session, on Wednesday May 7 6PM, at no charge and without committing to enroll.  Instructor Bob Jene will provide an overview of and introduction to the course.  At the conclusion you may choose to enroll ($25 fee), or pass up this opportunity (There will be another chance next term, and more thereafter.) More about Progress & Poverty

Jun
4
Wed
Progress & Poverty (modern version) @ Henry George School suite 1207
Jun 4 @ 11:00 pm – Jun 5 @ 1:00 am

You are welcome to attend the first session, on Wednesday May 7 6PM, at no charge and without committing to enroll.  Instructor Bob Jene will provide an overview of and introduction to the course.  At the conclusion you may choose to enroll ($25 fee), or pass up this opportunity (There will be another chance next term, and more thereafter.) More about Progress & Poverty

Jun
11
Wed
Progress & Poverty (modern version) @ Henry George School suite 1207
Jun 11 @ 11:00 pm – Jun 12 @ 1:00 am

You are welcome to attend the first session, on Wednesday May 7 6PM, at no charge and without committing to enroll.  Instructor Bob Jene will provide an overview of and introduction to the course.  At the conclusion you may choose to enroll ($25 fee), or pass up this opportunity (There will be another chance next term, and more thereafter.) More about Progress & Poverty

Jun
13
Fri
Invisible Robbery Tour @ leaves from Henry George School, 30 E Adams #1207
Jun 13 @ 6:00 pm
Power structure along the tour route (Henry George School photo)
Power structure along the tour route (Henry George School photo0

Originating as a field trip for students completing our Progress & Poverty course, this stroll thru downtown Chicago examines some of the ways that average people, and the community as a whole, are deprived of their just earnings. Among other things we’ll see who benefits from the expensive infrastructure and “economic development” projects, how Thomas Jefferson wanted Chicago to fund its public schools, what happens when a well-located building burns down, and how land speculators get productive workers to pay their taxes. Expect to walk about 2 km, maybe we’ll stop for snacks (individual settlement) along the way.

A $10 donation is requested from those who are not recent or current HGS students or donors, but nobody will be excluded due to lack of funds. You can make your donation by credit card here, or bring cash or a check.

Jun
17
Tue
PEBC Discussion of “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair @ Henry George School
Jun 17 @ 11:00 pm – Jun 18 @ 1:00 am

The Political Economy Book Club discusses “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair.

The Jungle is a 1906 book written by the American journalist and novelist Upton Sinclair (1878–1968). Sinclair wrote the novel to portray the lives of immigrants in the United States in Chicago and similar industrialized cities. The book depicts working class poverty, the absence of social programs, harsh and unpleasant living and working conditions, and a hopelessness among many workers. These elements are contrasted with the deeply rooted corruption of people in power. A review by the writer Jack London called it, “the Uncle Tom’s Cabin of wage slavery.”

“The Jungle” is available for free download in several popular formats at Project Gutenberg here: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/140

 

 

Aug
9
Sat
Movie: Blood Diamond @ Henry George School suite 1207
Aug 9 @ 2:00 pm
Poster via Wikipedia
Poster via Wikipedia

Blood Diamond is a 2006 American-German political war thriller film co-produced and directed by Edward Zwick, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly and Djimon Hounsou. The title refers to blood diamonds, which are diamonds mined in African war zones and sold to finance conflicts, and thereby profit warlords and diamond companies across the world.

Set during the Sierra Leone Civil War in 1996–2001, the film depicts a country torn apart by the struggle between government loyalists and insurgent forces. It also portrays many of the atrocities of that war, including the rebels’ amputation of people’s hands to discourage them from voting in upcoming elections.

The film’s ending, in which a conference is held concerning blood diamonds, refers to an historic meeting that took place in Kimberley, South Africa in 2000. [excerpted from Wikipedia]

Directed by Edward Zwick — USA — 2006 — 143 minutes

Sep
10
Wed
The American Monetary Act @ Henry George School suite 1207
Sep 10 @ 6:00 pm

Bob Jene will examine the American Monetary Institute’s American Monetary Act, a proposed amendment to the Constitution, and compare it with Henry George’s ideas on money.  Steve Zarlenga’s speech in which he shows George’s ideas on money coincide with AMI’s will also be examined and discussed.  It will boil down to which is more important, Henry George’s proposed fiscal reform or Zarlenga’s monetary reform.