 |
Progress and Poverty is among the most amazing and important books ever written. That sounds like hyperbole. It isn't. Henry George (b. 1839, Philadelphia; d. 1897, NYC) wrote this book in 1879. It begins with the observation that if Benjamin Franklin could have anticipated the awesome technological advances that would occur during the first 100 years of America's history as a country, he would not have imagined that there could still be poverty on that 100th anniversary. And yet George saw all around him, in our largest cities, awesome awful poverty, side by side with extremes of wealth. What could be the cause of this? George sought the cause, and determined that it lay in the privatization of the economic value of land. Land increases in value with technological progress (think of the effect of the elevator on any city; think of the effect of air conditioning on land value in the southern half of the US); with population increase; with public investment in infrastructure (think of the bridge to nowhere or a highway exit in your city, or a subway line extension, or the Tappan Zee or Verrazano Narrows bridges); with public spending on education (think of property values in the best school districts). Land is the repository, the sponge, for all the economic value society produces! Our current way of doing things allows those who own our best land to privatize all that economic value, as if they somehow were more responsible than others for creating it! P&P provides a simple, do-able remedy for the most significant cause of poverty. It isn't a poverty program. It is a restoration of justice through tax reform. Instead of taxing wages (which George considered theft) or sales (ditto) or buildings (ditto), George recommended taxing land value. It is not extreme to compare this remedy to the ending of chattel slavery. While today land value taxation may not be sufficient to meet all our revenue needs, it is definitely the first thing we should be taxing, and we should be reducing other taxes, starting at the bottom of the income spectrum. George's ideas were not original. But his exposition of them is the most complete and eloquent, and it should be read by every person who considers himself well-read, and by every person who still believes there is a chance that we can organize our society and our economy in a way that creates economic justice and opportunity for everyone. He provides us a way to establish a society that lives up to America's ideals. I cannot say enough about this book. It is one of the most important books you'll ever read, and I hope you'll do it sooner rather than later, and then (1) seek out others who have read it, and (2) share your experience with those who haven't yet read it. We can remedy poverty, and we can do it without another "poverty program." We can reduce, even reverse urban sprawl. We can re-establish the American airwaves as belonging to the American people. George shows us how. This is a wonderful example of thinking globally and acting locally.Read full review
Its good
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Best Selling in Books
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Save on Books
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- You may also like
