The Housing Crisis and the Common Good

A talk by Dr Joseph Milne Monday

19th March 2018

Registration 6:40pm for Lecture at 7:00pm

Free Entry and Everyone is Welcome

Booking Required: eventbrite

This talk will explore the reasons why a wealthy nation like the UK fails to meet the housing needs of its citizens. It will demonstrate how the current housing market distorts the proper functioning of a free economy and is the root cause of the increasing gap between rich and poor. It will show how the commodification of land turns the competitive market into a monopoly over the citizen’s natural right to a home. Finally, it will argue that there are natural economic laws which, if understood and applied, would remedy the housing crisis and assure that the economy could function freely and for the common good. If you seek to explore Economics and the Social Sciences and to bring even accepted theories to the test of first principles, then this talk is for you.

The talk will be delivered at Friends House, Hilda Clark Suite, 173, Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ

The nearest tube stations are Euston and Euston Square, which are on the Northern, Victoria, Metropolitan, Circle, Hammersmith & City lines and overground.

Talk given to the Henry George Foundation by Joseph Milne 17th March 2017

In Progress and Poverty Henry George frequently calls upon the ‘laws of nature’ or ‘natural law’, or upon universal justice. I would like to explore what he really means by these expressions. One does not find them in current economic theory. Occasionally one hears a politician calling for justice, but often this is more a call for retribution rather than justice. But one never hears them invoke the ‘laws of nature’ or ‘natural law’. Find the full article here.

New Book Published by HGF

In this book Dr Roy Douglas considers the effects that might be expected to follow from the introduction of an alternative system of raising public revenue that does not involve taxing people when they buy, sell or work to produce the goods and services we all need to live healthy, happy and fulfilling lives.

It is designed for people who are unaware of the social, economic and material damage that such taxes inflict upon society today or how implementing the alternative would lead to better, more productive sustainable and environmentally friendly use of urban and rural land.

Dr Doulas shows how the continuing failure of economists and politicians to solve the challenge of poverty amidst plenty may be traced to the effects of confusing the economic term “land” with the same word as used in general conversation and in English law.

He illustrates how “Land Value” is created by the whole community and is thus due to the whole community. He then explains how fiscal reform based upon these realities has an important part to play in addressing such problems as low wages, unemployment, unaffordable housing environmental damage and those associated with agriculture, booms and slumps.

Now available from Amazon