The Robert Schalkenbach Foundation (RSF) is a private operating foundation, founded in 1925, to promote public awareness of the social philosophy and economic reforms advocated by famed 19th century thinker and activist, Henry George. RSF remains true to its founding doctrine, and through efforts focused on education, communities, outreach, and publishing, works to create a world in which all people are afforded the basic necessities of life and the natural world is protected for generations to come. Fair Trade: (noun) a partnership that builds sustainable development and international relationships by ensuring that producers in developing countries are paid a fair price for their work by companies in developed countries. R S F D I G E S T P A G E 1 SEE THE CAT? B Y J O S I E F A A S S , E X E C U T I V E D I R E C T O R When I joined RSF two years ago, I learned a phrase familiar to many Georgists: “seeing the cat.” It refers specifically to the image of a cat hidden in “an uninteresting landscape” described in a speech by Judge James G. Maguire to New York's Anti-Poverty Society in the 1880s, More generally, it speaks to the idea that, upon being introduced to the ideas of Henry George, a person can’t help but see their applicability almost everywhere they look. At its heart, the RSF Digest exists to share experiences of “seeing the cat” in everyday life and to invite the reader to view their own world through eyes that can discern its distinctive shape, no matter how hidden. In this issue, for example, our authors describe their own experiences of “seeing the cat” (a moment in which RSF Director Fred Foldvary “felt the earth convulse”), and explore issues ranging from vaccine patents, to immigration, to police reform. And in early June, we’re hosting an event to celebrate the publication of Volume IV of the Annotated Works of Henry George, at which our keynote speaker - Berkley economist Brad DeLong - will help us connect George’s notions of free trade (formulated in the 19th century) to the 21st century trade environment. In my role as Executive Director, I often have the opportunity to point the cat out to people who want or need to see it. Whether it’s a conversation with a planner from a small town struggling against trends of disinvestment, a candidate for elected office seeking an equitable way to generate revenue and support positive land uses, or a nonprofit leader hoping to cause the construction of more affordable housing, that cat is usually somewhere in our shared line of sight. Do you see the cat? Some say there is no cat. Some say it's all cat. What say you? If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve got the right kind of eyes to see the cat, even if you didn’t know that phrase before today. So use them. And help others to do the same. But remember, George’s ideas weren’t meant for passive observation. They’re meant to inspire action and inform decision making. So take what you see in Henry George’s teachings and bring it to bear in your own life. Whether you’re consuming the news or making it, George provides a truly useful lens through which to view the world. R S F D I G E S T P A G E 2 E X P L O R I N G C U R R E N T A P P L I C A T I O N S A N D I M P L I C A T I O N S O F H E N R Y G E O R G E ' S T E A C H I N G S . WHY I AM A GEORGIST B Y : F R E D F O L D V A R Y Henry George was an American economist, social philosopher and reformer of the late 1800s. He is known chiefly for analyzing and promoting a single tax on land value, thus eliminating all other taxes. With no tax on trade, and no sales taxes and no tariffs, there would be what George called “true free trade,” I remain a Georgist resulting in a truly free and just market economy. because the morality and I became a Georgist when I attended the 1977 Libertarian Party economics of Georgism National Convention in San Francisco. Libertarianism is the philosophy of complete freedom. This includes an economy are rock solid! with a pure free market, the legalization of all acts that have no harmed victims, and a peaceful foreign policy. I had been a libertarian since childhood. At that convention there was a debate on Georgism between combined Georgist and Austrian economics in my Land Equality and Freedom Executive Director and chapter, “An Austrian Theory of Spatial Land," in The representative of the San Francisco Henry George School Terry Spatial Market Process, 2012. Newland and Richard Ebeling, a libertarian Ph.D. student in economics. Like many libertarians, Ebeling opposed all taxes as At George Mason, I took classes on public finance with impositions on liberty. Terry Newland agreed, except for a levy Prof. Richard Wagner. I was introduced to the works of on land value, as no human being produced the land, and it did Spencer MaCallum on contractual communities. His not impose a cost on the economy. grandfather, Spencer Heath, influenced by Henry I became convinced that Newland had the better argument, and George, wrote on the financing of private communities I spoke with him after the debate. He recommended that I read from land rent. Because of these works, I conducted my George’s major work, Progress and Poverty. About 2/3 into the PhD dissertation on Public Goods and Private book, I felt the earth convulse. I had been, unknowingly, in a Communities, showing how homeowners associations mental fog about the human condition. After reading the and other contractual communities in effect financed publication, everything became clear. I understood the cause of their public goods from the generated rent. This was poverty and all the social ills that stem from poverty. The root later published as a book. (Cont. Page 9) cause was land tenure and taxation, both solved by the single ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTION tax. Moreover, I saw that the thought of Henry George was B Y : S T E V E S K L A R complementary to my libertarian thinking. Henry George’s central insight is remarkable in the way I was then writing my first book, The Soul of Liberty, published that other breakthroughs in thought are remarkable, in 1980, which is an examination into the moral foundations of and maybe more so. libertarianism and its application to economic and social life. I am glad I became a Georgist during the writing of the book, and His insight? Poverty persists and deepens as civilizations was able to include in it some of George. advance in their ability to produce wealth because land then increases in value; where land is allowed to be I would later, in 1987, enter graduate school at George Mason privately owned and so becomes monopolized, people in University in Virginia. My term paper for macroeconomics was general must then pay more for the privilege of using it. on the role of real estate in the business cycle. I also had classes on the Austrian economic school of thought, including the When Galileo realized that the Earth moves around the Austrian theory of the business cycle. I saw that the Georgist Sun, when Kepler discovered the laws of planetary and Austrian theories were complementary. In 1997, my article motion, they came to understand certain workings of on "The Business Cycle: A Georgist-Austrian Synthesis" was the natural world as no one had done before. George’s published in the American Journal of Economics and Sociology. central insight is fundamental and sweeping in the way In that article, I applied the 18-year real estate cycle that was that theirs were. It makes sense of something vast that discovered by Homer Hoyt in 1997 to predict, the depression of had seemed chaotic and confounding. 2008. In 2007, I published the booklet, The Depression of 2008, The clarity and flow of ideas in George’s works such as updating my Geo-Austrian synthesis and forecast. I also Progress and Poverty and The Science of Political Cont. Page 9) R S F D I G E S T P A G E 3 ARE PATENT-FREE COVID VACCINES A POSSIBILITY? B Y : B I L L B A T T The push to get Americans vaccinated continues to pick up Indeed, in March 1953, in a TV interview with Edward momentum. Governors and public health officials in more than Murrow, Jonas Salk famously reacted differently. Right at 40 states have said they will meet or beat President Biden’s the beginning of the interview, there was this famous goal of making every adult eligible for a vaccine by May 1, and exchange: at least 30 states have already started to plan for universal Murrow: Who owns the patent on this vaccine? eligibility. But, a year ago, President Biden offered a tantalizing Salk (shocked face): Well... the people I would say. There response to a question following up on his support for is no patent... Could you patent the sun? worldwide dissemination for Covid-19 vaccines. The practice of patenting elements of nature seems quite “If the U.S.