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On the morning of Wednesday, July 24, 2019, we began with Open Mike. Ralph Rivera spoke of having done physical work (he looks like someone who has done hard physical work). He went to the Henry George School, and learned about Georgist thought.
Alan Ridley spoke about having lived in Indonesia, where there some rich people, and a great many poor. After returning to the United States, he wanted to study economics. He mentioned accelerated learning (his), and economics, for which he credited his teacher, Floyd Morrow. He mentioned the Carnegie Museum, Cathedral of Learning.
Randy Prince spoke about housing costs in Oregon, where a duplex can cost $450,000, and not even in a big city with well-paying jobs. Oregon took bold action to correct this: eliminate the requirement that lots have only one home. But land prices will go up. Homes these days don’t shelter people; they shelter assets. The federal income tax drives this, because of the deductibility of mortgage interest.
Professor Nicolaus Tideman followed up on this, saying that there is the general scarcity of land, and artificial scarcity of land, as in Portland, where there is a boundary around the city, with development forbidden in the surrounding greenbelt. This has led to doubled land prices within the city. The people who enacted this thought they were being environmentalists.
Bob Jen’s said that two counties in Illinois are big enough to classify and assess land. High-rise condominium and rental property owners would benefit the most. People at higher levels of condominiums own more; the air space is valuable, not just land.
Jeff Graubart said that is stuff is now available online.
I spoke about coming across George’s Progress and Poverty in my father’s study, and reading it. I quoted Mark Twain: “The only time my education was interrupted was when I was in school.”
Alan Ridley spoke about having lived in Indonesia, where there some rich people, and a great many poor. After returning to the United States, he wanted to study economics. He mentioned accelerated learning (his), and economics, for which he credited his teacher, Floyd Morrow. He mentioned the Carnegie Museum, Cathedral of Learning.
Randy Prince spoke about housing costs in Oregon, where a duplex can cost $450,000, and not even in a big city with well-paying jobs. Oregon took bold action to correct this: eliminate the requirement that lots have only one home. But land prices will go up. Homes these days don’t shelter people; they shelter assets. The federal income tax drives this, because of the deductibility of mortgage interest.
Professor Nicolaus Tideman followed up on this, saying that there is the general scarcity of land, and artificial scarcity of land, as in Portland, where there is a boundary around the city, with development forbidden in the surrounding greenbelt. This has led to doubled land prices within the city. The people who enacted this thought they were being environmentalists.
Bob Jen’s said that two counties in Illinois are big enough to classify and assess land. High-rise condominium and rental property owners would benefit the most. People at higher levels of condominiums own more; the air space is valuable, not just land.
Jeff Graubart said that is stuff is now available online.
I spoke about coming across George’s Progress and Poverty in my father’s study, and reading it. I quoted Mark Twain: “The only time my education was interrupted was when I was in school.”
