Henry George and the Banking Crisis
Henry George's teaching was not just restricted to the single tax issue. It extended to many areas of political economy and included the question of the issuance of money which lies at the heart of the present financial crisis. In this extract he states clearly his views on the injustice of handing privilage of issuing money over to private institutions: ....On the other hand, it is the business of government to issue money. This is perceived as soon as the great laboursaving invention of money supplants barter. To leave it to everyone who chose to do so to issue money would be to entail general inconvenience and loss, to offer many temptations to roguery, and to put the poorer classes of society at a great disadvantage. These obvious considerations have everywhere, as society became well organized, led to the recognition of the coinage of money as an exclusive function of government. When, in the progress of society, a further labor-saving improvement becomes possible by the substitution of paper for the precious metals as the material for money, the reasons why the issuance of this money should be made a government function become still stronger. The evils entailed by wildcat banking in the United States are too well remembered to need reference. The loss and inconvenience, the swindling and corruption that flowed from the assumption by each State of the Union of the power to license banks of issue ended with the war, and no one would now go back to them. Yet instead of doing what every public consideration impels us to, and assuming wholly and fully as the exclusive function of the General Government the power to issue paper money, the private interests of bankers have, up to this, compelled us to the use of a hybrid currency, of which a large part, though guaranteed by the General Government, is issued and made profitable to corporations. The legitimate business of banking—the safe-keeping and loaning of money, and the making and exchange of credits, is properly left to individuals and associations; but by leaving to them, even in part and under restrictions and guaranties, the issuance of money, the people of the United States suffer an annual loss of millions of dollars, and sensibly increase the influences which exert a corrupting effect upon their government. From ‘Social Problems’ CHAPTER XVII. The Functions of Government for more on Henryg George's concept of money go to http://www.monetary.org/henrygeorgeconceptofmoney.htm |
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THE CONDITION OF LABOUR A course of six Wednesday evenings over six weeks Presented by David Triggs Executive Chairman – Henry George Foundation Starting 22nd October 2008 At 11 Mandeville Place, London W1 Henry George’s book ‘The Condition of Labour’ was written and first published in 1891 as an open letter in reply to an Encyclical Letter entitled Rerum Novarum. This had been issued by Pope Leo XIII in May of that year, and dealt with the condition of labouring people throughout the world. Henry George felt that the Encyclical - a document of widespread importance - could be interpreted as an attack on his teachings on private property in the products of labour, the value of land, and the proper source of public revenue. He therefore thought it necessary to reply, showing that his ideas were consistent with those in the Encyclical and ‘the primary perceptions of human reason, and with the fundamental teachings of the Christian Faith’. This course provides an excellent opportunity to study the way George addresses the problems of social and economic injustice which still dominate world affairs today. Particular consideration is given to his care in avoiding the confusions that continue to permeate the thinking of the so-called ‘left’, ‘right’ and ‘centre’. FEE: £40 – Concessions: £30 – Full-time students: £20 |
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If global poverty is going to be tackled effectively there needs to be economic and social reform at a fundamental level.
The International Union for Land Value Taxation (The IU) has launched a
petition to amend the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. The amendments acknowledge the natural economic laws which the
teaching of Henry George made evident.
These are:
- that personal security is dependent on access to land
- that
it is a principal duty of all citizens to pay back to the community for
the benefits they receive from holding property in land.
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Article 3.
"Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person, the
enjoyment of which is dependent on the right of access to land. Land
may be accessed indirectly, by sharing in the benefit of the enhanced
use of land that accrues within a community when use right are assigned
to others. The right to land will be satisfied when that sharing is
equitable and proportionate to the benefit."
Article 29.
"(1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible. The
life of the community is reliant on the performance of those duties,
principal among which is the payment to the community of the value of
the land benefits received from it.... "
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For further information and to add your name to the petition go to: http://www.unpetition.org/
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