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Oddly enough the policy closest to this that I've seen in the US was purposed by Sarah Palin. "Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell announced Friday that every eligible man,

Oddly enough the policy closest to this that I've seen in the US was purposed by Sarah Palin. "Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell announced Friday that every eligible man, woman and child will receive $2,069, thanks to dividend payments from the state's oil royalty investment program distributed annually. On top of that, the checks will include another $1,200 from the state treasury to help offset soaring fuel prices. The one-time energy boost was proposed by Gov. Sarah Palin and approved by state lawmakers last month. Palin has since been tapped as the running mate of Republican presidential hopeful John McCain. "The royalty dollars that flow through the state are the people's wealth," said Parnell. "The $1,200 resource rebate goes to that philosophy."" http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26564403/ns/us_news-life/t/alaska-residents-cash-annual-dividend/ http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26564403/ns/us_news-life/t/alaska-...

yesbabyyes 10y ago
Perhaps it is not so odd. Georgism seems to be an idea that aligns with interests among both left and right. In particular, it would seem to appeal to both laborers and professionals. Also, anybody in an urban, flourishing area such as San Francisco, New York, London or my native Stockholm would no doubt resonate with this, I quote further from the linked Wikipedia article, emphasis mine: > George emphasized ground-rent because basic locations were more valuable than other monopolies and everybody needed locations to survive, which he contrasted with the less significant streetcar and telegraph monopolies, which George also criticized. George likened the problem to a laborer traveling home who is waylaid by a series of highway robbers along the way, each who demand a small portion of the traveler's wages, and finally at the very end of the road waits a robber who demands all that the traveler has left. George reasoned that it made little difference to challenge the series of small robbers when the final robber remained to demand all that the common laborer had left. George predicted that over time technological advancements would increase the frequency and importance of lesser monopolies, yet he expected that ground rent would remain dominant. George even predicted that ground-rents would rise faster than wages and income to capital, a prediction that modern analysis has shown to be plausible, since the supply of land is fixed.
- cmdrfred 10y ago
  We like to think things are so different from 50 years ago, let alone a few hundred. When I talk to people my age, they puff out their chests and tell me I'm a fool for buying a house. "If you had that money in the market you'd make 7%" they tell me, "What's that house get you 4?" they guffaw. What they miss is nothing has really changed, rent strangles the laborer and professional alike. Sharecropping is alive and well the only difference is we added a commute and called it progress.
dv_dt 10y ago
I'm not exactly sure what you're attributing to Palin. The base dividend comes from the Alaska Permanent Fund, established in 1976 under Gov Jay Hammond, and started paying dividends in 1982. The $1200 boost maybe comes from Palin? But if that's coming from the treasury, that doesn't seem like the greater part of the "Georgism-like" policy (that part actually feels like poor budgetary policy if it's funded from the state budget as opposed to getting the best dollar for fuel prices for the Permanent fund in the first place...) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Permanent_Fund https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Permanent_Fund

yesbabyyes 10y ago

Perhaps it is not so odd. Georgism seems to be an idea that aligns with interests among both left and right. In particular, it would seem to appeal to both laborers and professionals. Also, anybody in an urban, flourishing area such as San Francisco, New York, London or my native Stockholm would no doubt resonate with this, I quote further from the linked Wikipedia article, emphasis mine: > George emphasized ground-rent because basic locations were more valuable than other monopolies and everybody needed locations to survive, which he contrasted with the less significant streetcar and telegraph monopolies, which George also criticized. George likened the problem to a laborer traveling home who is waylaid by a series of highway robbers along the way, each who demand a small portion of the traveler's wages, and finally at the very end of the road waits a robber who demands all that the traveler has left. George reasoned that it made little difference to challenge the series of small robbers when the final robber remained to demand all that the common laborer had left. George predicted that over time technological advancements would increase the frequency and importance of lesser monopolies, yet he expected that ground rent would remain dominant. George even predicted that ground-rents would rise faster than wages and income to capital, a prediction that modern analysis has shown to be plausible, since the supply of land is fixed.

cmdrfred 10y ago
We like to think things are so different from 50 years ago, let alone a few hundred. When I talk to people my age, they puff out their chests and tell me I'm a fool for buying a house. "If you had that money in the market you'd make 7%" they tell me, "What's that house get you 4?" they guffaw. What they miss is nothing has really changed, rent strangles the laborer and professional alike. Sharecropping is alive and well the only difference is we added a commute and called it progress.

dv_dt 10y ago

I'm not exactly sure what you're attributing to Palin. The base dividend comes from the Alaska Permanent Fund, established in 1976 under Gov Jay Hammond, and started paying dividends in 1982. The $1200 boost maybe comes from Palin? But if that's coming from the treasury, that doesn't seem like the greater part of the "Georgism-like" policy (that part actually feels like poor budgetary policy if it's funded from the state budget as opposed to getting the best dollar for fuel prices for the Permanent fund in the first place...) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Permanent_Fund https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Permanent_Fund