Tuesday 11 January 2011

Economic Warfare

My little lad is 'into' World War Two in a big way, and while he was looking up Battle of Peleliu he stumbled across this photo/caption half way down, which he knew would cheer me up:

12 comments:

Lola said...

They look like Buffalo's to me

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landing_Vehicle_Tracked

Mark Wadsworth said...

L, in our house "LVT" stands for one thing and one thing only.

Derek said...

From the looks of that picture the landowners are doing their damnedest to ensure that there will be no LVT on the beaches. So things haven't changed that much in 65 years.

Bill Quango MP said...

I'm pretty sure LVT's became AV's in the 1960's.

Mark Wadsworth said...

D, that's as maybe, but as a matter of historical fact General Douglas McArthur was a Georgist. The Japanese post -war economic miracle was not a coincidence.

BQ, AV means alternative vote, doesn't it?

James Higham said...

Aw, isn't that just sweet of him ... and so apt.

Mark Wadsworth said...

JH, I'm trying to bring him and his sister up right and teach them a bit about political economics along the way. If we drive past a derelict building, I always shout "What kind of tax will sort out this mess?" and they chorus back "Land value tax!"

Lola said...

MW - I Like the link to Biblical Economics. I have not read it all - not time at the moment - but skip reading it seesm to major on two things I have always had my doubts about, interest and land rents.

I came across Islamic Mortgages years ago. Seemed like a good idea to me.

Mark Wadsworth said...

L, that just happened to be the first link I found explaining that McArthur was a Georgist, but there is a Christian wing in the LVT movement.

formertory said...

Heaven forfend (sorry, I'll get me coat) that Christians get in on the act. Being a simple soul I was a bit bemused by the Biblical economics link and was casting around for more information on Georgism; fairly well down the list of Googles I found this which is fairly readable and seems to dissect the concept rather well.

Mind you, it is vaguely reminiscent of Emo Phillips' Baptist sketch....

Mark Wadsworth said...

FT, that article is a mixture of facts and Faux Libertarian propaganda.

To say that there is 'no evidence that we would be better off if we taxed land values not incomes or production' is an outright lie, and there are plenty of countries or states in the USA (including the UK - see Business Rates or Fuel Duty or 3G licence auctions) that do this or have done this and the results vastly exceeded expectations.

But yes, among LVT-ers there is a free market liberal wing, a socialist wing, a Greenie wing and a Christian wing, plus probably a nationalist wing etc. So what? Most people agree that income tax is an OK tax, it's just that the Socialists want it to be 80% and right wingers want it to be 20%.

Robin Smith said...

FT yes most Georgists do not know what he said. They just take the bits they like and apply to their political agenda.

MW, brought tears to my eyes.

Lola, might you be referring to mosaic law, Hebrew, and the 613 Mitzvot? Particularly 295 "not to sell the land indefinitely" Quite an amazing read actually, some real pearlers in there. LVT is not innovation. We just forgot about what makes most sense.

Also Leviticus 25:23 of course.

The problem with Mosaic law is that it no longer properly applies. Its impossible to keep redistributing the land every time someone gets born. That's why LVT is now necessary instead. It "pre-distributes" the land as Moses intended... allegedly (: