The two Ronniseals
The two Ronnies were hilarious. The two Ronniseals are a dreadful pair. Following their mid-term ‘spectacular’, the Downing Street joke book has been binned and a new version commissioned.
David Cameron began the show quoting the advertising slogan “it does exactly what it says on the tin.” But when he held the tin up to the cameras, all that could be seen were the dabs...
Banking the rotten heart of capitalism?
Will Hutton writes in the Observer about banking scandals as lying at the rotten heart of capitalism. That was two years ago but other commentators keep on saying much the same thing. We disagree. The rotten heart of capitalism is the private appropriation of the rent of land, something which Hutton and most other commentators never talk about. Without it, the banking scandals could not happen.
The...
The free market fallacy
I came across this the other day.“It is really very simple. Capital can be allocated by markets or by central planning committees. Despite the booms and busts, markets do it better. It may be that that the booms and busts are just inevitable.” Why is there a refusal to recognise that there is more to it than this?
Neoliberalism’s blind spot
Nyliberalismens blinda fläck
New Swedish commuter train to boost land values
The new commuter train service between Göteborg, Sweden’s second city, and Älvängen commenced last week. With new stations serving a suburban area which has previously had to rely on bus services, it will make commuting more attractive and open up new development opportunities. The scheme is part of a big infrastructure project which has involved the rebuilding of the route to Trollhättan,...
More welfare for landowners
A nice little welfare handout for landowners was slipped almost unnoticed into the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement last week. New developments will be exempt from empty property rates from next October: all newly built commercial property completed between 1 October 2013 and 30 September 2016 will be exempt from empty property rates for the first 18 months. This is described as “a victory...
Economic Cycles are Land Cycles
An introductory slide show by Jacob Shwartz-Lucas explaining land’s role in the business cycle. Also available in Swedish by Jonas Lagander
Ekonomiska cykler är markvärdescykler
En beskrivning av markvärdets roll i de ekonomiska konjunkturcyklerna. Mer information på www.landskatt.se och www.workandwealth.com
The Internet is changing
The internet is subtly changing. The Financial Times, the Daily Telegraph and the Times are now behind paywalls and give limited free access. The Guardian adopted a different strategy with free access and a comments page called “Comment is Free” (CIF), paid for out of advertising. The quality of the articles is middling-to-poor, and they are mostly written by the Guardian’s old...