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Summary
Phil’s postcard from Dublin, Ohio post-Meet n Greet. He illustrates economic rent through: (1) an 8-year-old kid with millions of followers making art (creativity rewarded), vs. (2) dock workers in Norfolk, Virginia striking against automation (47,000 longshoremen resisting job displacement). He draws on Henry George’s observation: when land was free on the frontier, Americans welcomed automation. Once the frontier closed, wages were suppressed to whatever the least men would accept. He links this to the Citizens’ Dividend as the solution to economic rent enclosure.
Key Claims
- The real estate cycle creates wealth concentration because economic rent is privately collected. — confidence: high
- Workers resist automation once the land frontier closes because wage competition suppresses incomes. — confidence: high
- The Citizens’ Dividend (collecting and redistributing economic rent) is the solution. — confidence: high
- Economic rent always takes the gains regardless of innovation, technology, or talent. — confidence: high