When people first hear that Silvio Gesell proposed the elimination of private land ownership, their first reaction is to conclude that he was a communist. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. What Silvio Gesell proposed is actually the purest expression of the free-market system ever known to man. Because private ownership of land is a violation of the core principles of the free-market system. You cannot have free markets AND privately owned land. They are mutually exclusive.
What are the core principles of the free-market system? Private property, individual liberty, free competition and a minimum of government interference in markets. Properly understood, private ownership of land violates each and every one of these principles. Let’s take them one by one and see why.
What is the basis of private property? Virtually all economists agree it is human labor. In other words, “If you made it, you own it.” What other possible basis is there upon which to establish private property rights?
But who made land? No amount of human effort can expand the surface of the globe by one inch. So how can land become private property on the basis of human labor? Anything created by the application of human labor is legitimate private property. Anything that exists independently of human labor cannot become private property. The only way land can become private property is through violation of property rights — i.e. through violence and theft.
It doesn’t matter how far back an original act of theft goes. Stolen property can never be legitimately owned. If one buys a stolen car, one cannot establish legal ownership of it no matter how many times it has been resold after the original act of theft. As soon as the true owner presents him/herself, all subsequent claims of ownership are null and void.
The same should be true of land. The true owner of land is whoever created it — God or nature or the universe. And unless someone can provide proof of lawful transfer from that original owner, any subsequent claims to ownership of land are illegitimate.
What about individual liberty? Can any individual survive even a day without access to land and all of its bounty? As Silvio Gesell asked, “Can man spend his life in a balloon?” Granting exclusive ownership rights over land to private individuals is a denial of the means of basic sustenance of life to everyone else. Private land ownership and individual liberty are polar opposites and completely incompatible.
What about free competition? How can anyone who is not fortunate enough to own land possibly compete with those who are? Private ownership of land is in fact a monopoly enforced by the government. It is the very antithesis of free competition.
And what about the idea that government should refrain from unnecessary interference with markets? Recognition and enforcement of private claims to land ownership are in fact the greatest government interference of all. Claims to private ownership of land enforced by the government ensure that free, market-based competition can never take place in accordance with the laws of nature.
And this is why the failures of capitalism do not in any way disprove the theory of free-markets. Capitalism and the free-market system are not the same thing. Far from it. Capitalism is a pathological version of the free-market system that results when the most important resources of all have been improperly appropriated by private parties with no legitimate claim to ownership. How could the free-market system possibly deliver on its theoretical promises when each and every one of its core principles have been violated in such a fundamental way?
Very clever on land ownership ....The same should be true of land. The true owner of land is whoever created it — God or nature or the universe. And unless someone can provide proof of lawful transfer from that original owner, any subsequent claims to ownership of land are illegitimate.
Josh do you have a paper on your proposal or model for implementing Gesell's mechanism?
I have been enjoying your HGSSS series
Joe Polito
"Designation of use rights" does not have to be, nor should it be, "land ownership," which is what George and Gesell were both talking about. Of course none of this can work without a public monopoly on money creation because it is private money creation monopoly that keeps public policy out of the hands of the public so no chance of changing anything until that is fixed. Indeed, capitalism and the free-market system are often and wrongly conflated. Capitalism = (capital = money) + (ism = system) = money system. The central feature and source of awesome power for the capitalists is their debt based private global monetary system issuing all money as interest-bearing debt, a form of slavery. Capitalism assures there can be no free market, it is a parasite on the back of free enterprise, the two are often and wrongly conflated. Every household, business and government in this world is in debt to and dependent on the private commercial banking system. It is the driver of destructive economic growth and wars. It needs to be reversed. monetaryalliance.org