Nollaig Chridheil gu h-uile agus Dia a 'beannachadh
sìth air an talamh agus deagh rùn dha na fir uile *
* A wonderful Christmas and God bless you
Peace on earth and goodwill for all men
Sunday, December 24, 2017
Saturday, December 23, 2017
Friday, December 22, 2017
Sunday, December 17, 2017
Thought for the day: inequality
 |
http://uk.businessinsider.com/economist-intelligence-unit-downgrades-united-states-to-flawed-democracy-2017-1?r=US&IR=T |
"Scheidel’s book* shows that historically, the only way high inequality has been flattened has been through catastrophe: disease, famine, world war, societal collapse or communist revolution."
- Quoted in "Evonomics": http://evonomics.com/inequality-predicts-homicide-rates-better-variable/
Is there another way?.
_______________________________
*Walter Scheidel, "The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century", Princeton, January 2017
https://press.princeton.edu/titles/10921.html
Saturday, December 16, 2017
Killer Arguments Against LVT, Not (428)
Wiggiatlarge in the comments at Broad Oak Magazine:
"The author of this has been on a mission to implement LVT as the prefered method of tax, he is entitled to his view, but no tax is perfect and many far more qualified than myself have taken apart aspects of LVT on his site, the author also rather spoils his pitch by using phraese like "homies" as a derogatory term for all home owners (1) and feels for some strange reason that anyone who has a garden (2) should bear the sins of mankind (3), all rather strange."
1. That's a deliberate misinterpretation of what the term means. As I have pointed out many a time, "Home-Owner-Ist" does not mean owner-occupier. Not all owner-occupiers are Home-Owner-Ists; indeed not all Home-Owner-Ists are owner-occupiers.
I am an owner-occupier and I guess most Land Value Taxers are. "Home-Owner-Ist" is my catch-all term for:
- people who celebrate high and rising house prices;
- NIMBYs;
- people who think that "land and buildings" is synonymous with "property";
- people who say that income tax or poll tax is fairer than LVT without realising that they are two extremes and that LVT combines the best aspects of those taxes without their worst aspects;
- people who cheerfully say that the value of land is dictated by its location, location, location while denying the existence of the concept of 'community generated land value';
- people who genuinely believe the 2008 recession was caused by Labour government deficit spending and not by the land price/credit bubble bursting
- etc.
2. Anybody who thinks that Land Value Tax is a 'garden tax' has no grasp of reality. It is a charge based on the value of a location. Anybody can look this up for themselves - in the UK, the average value of a flat is approximately equal to the average value of a semi-detached house with a garden. So clearly, the size of your garden barely matters, it all depends where your garden (or home) is.
3. Who said anything about 'bearing all the sins of mankind'? Does he think that people who go to work (and pay income tax) should 'bear all the sins of mankind'?
The value of any bit of land is down to the extra advantages you can enjoy by occupying that location, location, location. There are thousands of factors, but a major one is being within easy commute distance of a decent job or having lots of potential workers and customers within easy commute distance of your business. And what you are paying for is the right to exclude all others from doing your job or taking your workers/customers; so you are placing a burden on them equal and opposite to the value you are enjoying. Sure, people can commute in from further away and do a similar job, but that extra commute time is a burden for the other person; similarly, there are people who live closer to your place of work than you do; they are placing a burden on you.
Therefore, it seems fair and reasonable to me for people to pay compensation (i.e. LVT) accordingly, and for everybody to receive an equal share of the compensation paid by all other land owners (whether that is in terms of public services or a straight cash payout).
There's no point bleating that "I paid for it and it's my land and therefore shouldn't have to pay further compensation", you are still placing a burden on others. What if I move in next door to you and listen to music at top volume all night long? I'm clearly placing a burden on you, and you wouldn't be too happy if I argue that "I've paid for my sound system and CDs and have no duty to minimise or mitigate the burden I place on you".
"The author of this has been on a mission to implement LVT as the prefered method of tax, he is entitled to his view, but no tax is perfect and many far more qualified than myself have taken apart aspects of LVT on his site, the author also rather spoils his pitch by using phraese like "homies" as a derogatory term for all home owners (1) and feels for some strange reason that anyone who has a garden (2) should bear the sins of mankind (3), all rather strange."
1. That's a deliberate misinterpretation of what the term means. As I have pointed out many a time, "Home-Owner-Ist" does not mean owner-occupier. Not all owner-occupiers are Home-Owner-Ists; indeed not all Home-Owner-Ists are owner-occupiers.
I am an owner-occupier and I guess most Land Value Taxers are. "Home-Owner-Ist" is my catch-all term for:
- people who celebrate high and rising house prices;
- NIMBYs;
- people who think that "land and buildings" is synonymous with "property";
- people who say that income tax or poll tax is fairer than LVT without realising that they are two extremes and that LVT combines the best aspects of those taxes without their worst aspects;
- people who cheerfully say that the value of land is dictated by its location, location, location while denying the existence of the concept of 'community generated land value';
- people who genuinely believe the 2008 recession was caused by Labour government deficit spending and not by the land price/credit bubble bursting
- etc.
2. Anybody who thinks that Land Value Tax is a 'garden tax' has no grasp of reality. It is a charge based on the value of a location. Anybody can look this up for themselves - in the UK, the average value of a flat is approximately equal to the average value of a semi-detached house with a garden. So clearly, the size of your garden barely matters, it all depends where your garden (or home) is.
3. Who said anything about 'bearing all the sins of mankind'? Does he think that people who go to work (and pay income tax) should 'bear all the sins of mankind'?
The value of any bit of land is down to the extra advantages you can enjoy by occupying that location, location, location. There are thousands of factors, but a major one is being within easy commute distance of a decent job or having lots of potential workers and customers within easy commute distance of your business. And what you are paying for is the right to exclude all others from doing your job or taking your workers/customers; so you are placing a burden on them equal and opposite to the value you are enjoying. Sure, people can commute in from further away and do a similar job, but that extra commute time is a burden for the other person; similarly, there are people who live closer to your place of work than you do; they are placing a burden on you.
Therefore, it seems fair and reasonable to me for people to pay compensation (i.e. LVT) accordingly, and for everybody to receive an equal share of the compensation paid by all other land owners (whether that is in terms of public services or a straight cash payout).
There's no point bleating that "I paid for it and it's my land and therefore shouldn't have to pay further compensation", you are still placing a burden on others. What if I move in next door to you and listen to music at top volume all night long? I'm clearly placing a burden on you, and you wouldn't be too happy if I argue that "I've paid for my sound system and CDs and have no duty to minimise or mitigate the burden I place on you".
Friday, December 15, 2017
FRIDAY MUSIC: Nina Simone, by JD
"She earned the moniker ‘High Priestess of Soul’ for she could weave a spell so seductive and hypnotic that the listener lost track of time and space as they became absorbed in the moment. She was who the world would come to know as Nina Simone."
"When Nina Simone died on April 21, 2003, she left a timeless treasure trove of musical magic spanning over four decades from her first hit, the 1959 Top 10 classic “I Loves You Porgy,” to “A Single Woman,” the title cut from her one and only 1993 Elektra album. While thirty-three years separate those recordings, the element of honest emotion is the glue that binds the two together – it is that approach to every piece of work that became Nina’s uncompromising musical trademark."
- http://www.ninasimone.com/
"When Nina Simone died on April 21, 2003, she left a timeless treasure trove of musical magic spanning over four decades from her first hit, the 1959 Top 10 classic “I Loves You Porgy,” to “A Single Woman,” the title cut from her one and only 1993 Elektra album. While thirty-three years separate those recordings, the element of honest emotion is the glue that binds the two together – it is that approach to every piece of work that became Nina’s uncompromising musical trademark."
- http://www.ninasimone.com/
Tuesday, December 12, 2017
CATALONIA: Art repatriated, Puigdemont loses his marbles, by JD
News from Spain includes a story about the removal of art works from a museum in Lerida and returning them to Huesca in Aragon.*
Background of the story is towards the end of this Wiki entry-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Of course Puigdemont is 'outraged' and this was his tweet yesterday-
Carles Puigdemont✔@KRLS
Amb nocturnitat i utilitzant una policia militaritzada, com sempre, tot aprofitant un cop d'estat per espoliar Catalunya amb absoluta impunitat. Aquest és el model de país que defensen Ciudadanos, PSC i PP.
Background of the story is towards the end of this Wiki entry-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Of course Puigdemont is 'outraged' and this was his tweet yesterday-
Carles Puigdemont✔@KRLS
Amb nocturnitat i utilitzant una policia militaritzada, com sempre, tot aprofitant un cop d'estat per espoliar Catalunya amb absoluta impunitat. Aquest és el model de país que defensen Ciudadanos, PSC i PP.
As you can see he is still accusing the Government of a "coup d'etat" against Catalonia. I recall very well a genuine attempt at a "coup d'etat" on 23rd February 1981 which was ended by King Juan Carlos when he appeared on TV, dressed in his army uniform, and ordered the rebels to surrender. This was just four years after the Atocha Massacre and with the end of that 1981 coup attempt the ghost of Franco was well and truly exorcised from Spanish life.
Puigdemont's constant hyperbole diminishes his case and he is too stupid to see it.
I mentioned Puigdemont's name last night in a phone call to a friend in Spain; it is now a name which produces a furious reaction, a mixture of scorn and contempt; not least because he is still hiding in Brussels frightened to come back despite the fact that his Euro Arrest warrant has now been withdrawn.
_______________________________________________________________
*Following a court order a month ago:
http://www.catalannews.com/culture/item/aragon-judge-orders-return-of-disputed-artworks-from-catalan-museum
- but JD has these observations to make about this link to Catalan News:
The link you added is from Catalan News and is not exactly impartial. The court first ordered the return of the artefacts in 2015 and again in 2016. The suggestion that the Monastery was 'sacked' by Anarchists is disingenuous because they were fighting on the Republican side. The wholesale slaughter of priests and nuns by the Republicans is well documented.
http://www.academia.edu/
And then there were the 'checas' which were basically Soviet run torture chambers. There is very little information on this in English but this is the background to it -
In Spain, during the Spanish Civil War, the detention and torture centers operated by the Communists were named "checas" after the Soviet organization.[42] Alfonso Laurencic was their promoter, ideologist and builder.[43]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
I am not defending or endorsing Franco. He was the lesser of two evils in that conflict. As I have mentioned previously, I visited the abandoned village of Belchite while I was working in Zaragoza. It is a reminder of the stupidity of both sides but, unfortunately, there remain too many stupid politicians who wallow in the false glory of past conflicts and wish to renew them.
"My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori."
- but JD has these observations to make about this link to Catalan News:
The link you added is from Catalan News and is not exactly impartial. The court first ordered the return of the artefacts in 2015 and again in 2016. The suggestion that the Monastery was 'sacked' by Anarchists is disingenuous because they were fighting on the Republican side. The wholesale slaughter of priests and nuns by the Republicans is well documented.
http://www.academia.edu/
And then there were the 'checas' which were basically Soviet run torture chambers. There is very little information on this in English but this is the background to it -
In Spain, during the Spanish Civil War, the detention and torture centers operated by the Communists were named "checas" after the Soviet organization.[42] Alfonso Laurencic was their promoter, ideologist and builder.[43]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
I am not defending or endorsing Franco. He was the lesser of two evils in that conflict. As I have mentioned previously, I visited the abandoned village of Belchite while I was working in Zaragoza. It is a reminder of the stupidity of both sides but, unfortunately, there remain too many stupid politicians who wallow in the false glory of past conflicts and wish to renew them.
"My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori."
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