Economic Reform Group: April Update

Sounds of Resistance Blasts Wall Street with People Powered Message

Georgists are constantly arguing about how to get the word out about our ideas (see, for example, the Center for the Study of Economics ' new website and blog), so are Greenbackers, and....wait a minute, did you know George was a Greenbacker ? He said several times that the proper role of Government, and not the banks, was to produce actual money, though banks should still make the loan decisions (I wonder what he would have thought of today's State Banks? Does anyone know?). I point this out because we, as reformers, must stop pigeonholing ourselves into narrow positions if we are to make any progress against those who offer a "complete economy" - i.e. the status quo - however badly it serves many, or most, people. If we focus on too limited a set of reforms, however important, we will be passed over and even forgotten. And yes, much as it pains me to say this about my economic hero, but this is what happened to George too. On the other hand, we can offer single solutions if they solve a very big problem.
I did that twice recently. Here, in an email to Business Week:

Remember to include your relevant affiliations and positions. It helps. Some people will say this is too dogmatic or even simplistic. Fine. Let people say that. At least then we'll have a discussion! Right now, our reforms are not on the radar. Let's start the conversation.

And again today, I became so incensed by the non-solutions offered at CNBC, as S&P put America on negative credit watch, that I offered this solution, necessarily simplified for the simpleheads over there:
Solving the debt crisis without raising taxes or cutting spending: U.S. Notes
The letter is necessarily short, so read my responses to the many comments, and critics, for the full analysis. I probably answered your questions there too!
Remember, it's not how much you say, but how well you say it...and everything else being equal, it's better to use fewer words than more.

But, let's get real. None of this is enough. We have to work on the local politicians, and on specific legislative goals. We had been meeting with key officials, or at least their staffs, but there was a personnel change at a key Assemblymember's office, and another one hasn't responded the way we'd like. Time to turn up the heat. We are going to bring what is now a 2-3 dozen participant group to a letter-writing campaign and calling-campaign in order to pass a critical piece of legislation here in NYC to tax vacant land (some assessed $33 billion of land in NYC is vacant) more in line with occupied land - on the way, hopefully, towards a 2-tier system in which land is taxed more than buildings, and ultimately, buildings are not taxed at all. Stay tuned.

For more outrage-fuel, read Matt Taibi's recent Rolling Stone article, just out, here:
The Real Housewives of Wall Street
to see how the wives of some of the most powerful hedge fund managers made out like bandits setting up investment entities, making hundreds of millions, or more, while homeowners continue to go behind in their payments at a rate of 1 in 7.

It's also now clear from the Fed audit, also covered in this article, that the Fed was bailing out banks all over the world, even in Libya! What, Libya - the same Libya we are shelling now?! Yes, and Ellen Brown, always on top of these things, makes a pretty good case that our sudden interest in "humanitarian rights" was not even just about oil, but about banking, here:
Libya: All About Oil, or All About Central Banking?

It seems one of the first things the can't-shoot-straight rebels did was set up a new Central Bank, well before they achieved any sort of victory. This would be a bank modeled along our debt-based money Central Bank lines, and not along the lines of the debt-free model Libya has had for decades. Well, isn't that special ... Brown says:

If you appreciate what the newly formed Public Banking Institute is doing, headed by Ellen Brown, read their latest newsletter here (my article about Grameen Bank is linked there too) and even consider becoming a donor. 12 states have bills pending in some fashion to create a State Bank. As Ellen says, this idea has legs, but does it have funds? Update: an Oregon bill to create a State Bank literally made it out of committee with only hours to spare before it would have died, aided by just 1,000 signatures on a petition drawn up by a PBI member in Oregon. Never underestimate the power of Grassroots activism!

Dave Meslin: The antidote to apathy

John Muir has always been a hero of mine; without him, and his friend T. Roosevelt, we'd probably have no National Park system, or maybe even State Park system either. Anyway, here is a meeting he and George had in 1875, before George was famous, but not before he had formulated the basis of his ideas. Plus, Muir lived beyond George anyway, and would have had time to incorporate him into his beliefs too. John Muir obviously, had Georgist views on the common right to Land.


Thoughts to live by...