A Hero and a Toddler

I did not agree with a number of John Sidney McCain’s political positions, and based on things I have read about him, he was hot-tempered, he behaved unethically as an adult on various occasions, and his nickname at the Academy was “McNasty.” All of that said, he was not only a hero at war and in the Hanoi Hilton, but a patriotic statesman whose love of his own country did not stop him from being a well-wisher of others, a statesman who sought to normalize relations with Vietnam, and a man who tried to do what he could for the oppressed around the world.

He was a man who would rather be a loser by the standard of worldly success than a scoundrel who would do anything to win. With all his faults, he was a decent and solid human being in a way which our current president seems unable to understand, much less imitate.

Happy Henry George Day

I celebrated the birthday of my favorite economist by putting on my Henry George Sesquicentennial tie to wear while going to the farmers’ market and afterward to the supermarket, giving me the opportunity to wish people a happy Henry George Day, and tell them more if they were curious, which a few of them were.

At the conference in Baltimore earlier this week, I handed checks to to executive directors of the Center for the Study of Economics and of the Henry George Institute. The CSE does does studies of what results land value taxation has had where applied, and of what towns need to do to adopt it, and what results they can expect if they do. HGI educates people about Georgist political economy through correspondence and online. Both of these are active organizations which I believe to be efficient, and which do not have large endowments.

I bought a scratch-off lottery ticket today, so once I scratch, I just may be in a position to make further substantial donations, but the Georgist Movement can’t count in that. If you would like to help, you can mail a check to:

Center for the Study of Economics
1501 Cherry Street
Philadelphia PA 19102

Or to:

Henry George Institute
238 Hadley Mill Road
Brooks ME 04921

I would have posted this earlier, but my iPadAir crashed.

Oh, and this request for contributions does not apply to you if you have business before the Patent Office, or if it would otherwise be improper for me to make such a request if you.