Progress and Poverty

<p>Born in 1839 Henry George learned about poverty early in life first as a boy-sailor and afterwards by working as a type-setter with a wife and children to support.  A talented writer he gradually rose to become managing editor of the San Francisco Times and later set up his own crusading journal the <em>San Francisco Daily Evening Post </em>only to see his newspaper crushed by the combined power of the press and telegraphic monopolies. Undaunted George set himself the task of explaining a universal economic conundrum - why does a country’s increasing prosperity always result in the most abject poverty for the lowest strata of society? Untrained in economics he came to the subject with fresh eyes: “<em>I had no theory to support no conclusions to prove. Only when I first realized the squalid misery of a great city it appalled and tormented me and would not let me rest for thinking of what caused it and how it could be cured”.</em></p><p>The result of this enquiry was published in 1879 as <em>Progress and Poverty</em>.  It rejected many of the prevailing political­-economic theories and claimed a natural alliance between worker and capitalist.  Using clear reasoned arguments Henry George was able to show that the real villain of the piece was the <em>rentier </em>the landowner who (unlike labour or capital) contributed nothing to the production of wealth but who was able to take the lion’s share from increased rents as a city grew - because land became more valuable.</p><p>This then was the source of increasing poverty in an increasingly wealthy society: “<em>When non-producers can claim as rent a portion of the wealth created by producers the right of the producers to the fruits of their labor is to that extent denied. There is no escape from this position”.  </em></p><p>He then proposed the revolutionary idea of abolishing all present taxes (which he saw quite rightly as an imposition on the productive sector) and replacing it with a tax on land.  <em>Progress and Poverty </em>caused a sensation selling well over 3 million copies and winning praise from such great minds as Albert Einstein Winston Churchill Leo Tolstoy and Sun Yat-sen.  American Philosopher John Dewey wrote that unless one was acquainted with Henry George’s ideas “<em>No man no graduate of a higher educational institution has a right to regard himself as an educated man in social thought…” </em>This book is required reading for all those worried by the increasing disparity of wealth in modern society and will open up a new vista of possible solutions.</p>