The ownership of land is the great fundamental fact which ultimately determines the social, the political, and consequently the intellectual and moral condition of a people.
Let’s take a look at a diagram of the 18-year land price cycle since World War II. It’s based upon the writings of the six people shown at the foot of the chart and is not financial advice. The 18-year cycle peaks were in 1954, 1972, 1990, and 2008, with another anticipated in 2026. After each peak, there’s a steep four-year correction, followed by a recovery and a mid-term peak. The mid-term top is usually accompanied by a two-year recession. As we approach the final “Winner’s Curse” phase of the cycle, shown at the top of the chart, whereas many analysts had expected a recession in 2023/24, it has failed to materialise. So, if the 18-year cycle does hold, it may be be a case of “off to the races” next year, with a land price surge that could herald a crash in 2027. I guess we’ll see?
Henry George’s Progress and Poverty (1879) was among the most important and widely read books published in the 19th century, but George’s work and the single tax movement it spawned had largely faded common knowledge by the 1930s. George’s central idea was that a single tax on land values was sufficient to fund the government, and that private appropriation of land’s value was the cause of the persistence of severe poverty even in the richest and most developed cities in the world.
In Canada, a group of UBI advocates who make up an organization called Common Wealth Canada propose that collecting value from Canada’s land and resources would create $241 billion dollars of wealth annually that could be distributed to Canadians. They propose that it is enough to provide each adult with up to $7,600 per year in dividends.
Using Power Well: Bob Williams and the Making of British Columbia - Bob Williams
with Benjamin Isitt and Thomas Bevan
Gibsons, B.C.: Nightwood Editions, 2022, 235pp.
Review by Francis K. Peddle
Henry George Foundation of Canada
August, 2023
The two greatest challenges facing the world in 2021—climate
change and growing inequality—could both be addressed by the
application of a fundamental remedy: Henry George’s misnamed,
misunderstood, and much-maligned single tax. Taxes are burdens,
charges levied on activities and commerce that very often discourage the
very kinds of productivity that the taxing body would be better off
encouraging. George understood this and proposed the elimination of
every tariff and tax save for the one on land. In a nutshell, that’s it. Henry
In many major American cities, housing affordability has become a pressing issue. In cities like New York and San Francisco, rents have continued to rise over the past decade, leading to increased homelessness and housing insecurity.
Jeff Smith has written a remarkable monologue, with Thomas Paine telling his life story and the story of his times (the times that tried men's souls). I have converted this into a video and did my best to play the role of Paine as he might have spoken. So, take a listen, provide any comments and forward the link onto others.
Join the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation for a virtual book launch celebrating the release of The Annotated Works of Henry George: Protection or Free Trade (Vol. IV) 7 p.m., Thursday, June 3, 2021.
The virtual event will include a discussion of the book by its editors Alexandra W. Lough, Francis K. Peddle and William S. Peirce, and a special keynote by renowned expert in free trade, Brad DeLong.
Hugo was referring to the French Revolution, but his quote also nails the unstoppable logic of carbon pricing. Recently, the Supreme Court of Canada wrote, “Climate change is a real and existential threat to the entire world, and evidence shows a price on pollution is a critical element to addressing it.”
Four transformative ideas are now putting economic theology through its paces: Land Value Taxation (LVT), Modern Monetary Theory (MMT), Universal Basic Income (UBI), and Bitcoin (BTC).
