CommonWeal: Forget about the consequences of your actions

CommonWeal: Forget about the consequences of your actions

Public authorities would be allowed to seize land under the “Public Land Value Capture” proposal suggested by the think tank Common Weal. In short, public authorities should have the legal means to purchase land at the existing “use value” rather than at the anticipated future value once planning permission is granted (known as ‘hope value’).

Public authorities would borrow against the future uplift (upswing) in land value from the granting of planning permission to develop the site. This borrowed sum could then be used to fund …

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What Libertarianism Can Do For The Poor

What Libertarianism Can Do For The Poor

Government intervention in our economy is currently taking a massive toll on living standards, especially for the poor, who do not have high disposable incomes and spend the majority of their cash on basic essentials. They take the brunt of rises in the cost of living. We can create a richer society where the costs of living fall, and living standards rise faster.

Here’s how we will do it.

Cheap Accommodation

The cost of housing has skyrocketed over the last five decades and with it the cost of …

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Universal Basic Income: For and Against

Antony Sammeroff gives a speech and answers questions about the proposed Universal Basic Income in Scotland.

 

Antony Sammeroff is a writer and life coach from Glasgow living in Edinburgh. He is the Scottish Libertarian Party’s spokesperson on economics and environment and hosts The Scottish Liberty Podcast weekly, with co-host Tom Laird. He also writes his own economics blog Seeing the Unseen.

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The Death of Castro

The Death of Castro

The death of Castro requires special comment as social media has been awash, over the last couple of days, with celebrations of the man who has presided over a country where doctors are paid $25 a month, teacher $15, and the best paid professions are taxi driver and prostitute. A nation where people need vouchers to buy food.

But what can you say to someone who loves Big Brother?

Some of his champions naively blame the U.S. embargo on Cuba for these conditions but, while the embargo …

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Misanthropic Myths about 3rd World Poverty debunked!

Misanthropic Myths about 3rd World Poverty debunked!

One of the most persistent myths about 3rd World Poverty is that if underdeveloped nations are allowed economic advancement and become wealthy it will be some kind of unmitigated environmental disaster. Is that so?

Wealthy countries can afford to clean up their water supplies after fouling them and treat their sewage properly. They can replant their forests, put recycling infrastructure into place, and farm sustainably. Countries without wealth can’t do that. In places like Bangladesh people must scramble to make a living with no long-term …

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The Hope of Affordable Housing – A Modern Fairy Tale

The Hope of Affordable Housing – A Modern Fairy Tale

A Modern Fairy Tale

“I’ve got good news and bad news,” says the politician behind the podium – live on tv – sweat dripping from his brow…

“Here’s the bad news – ”

A moment of gravity descends the Nation as they await the words that follow…

“The value of your houses are going to fall – dramatically. Maybe by 50, 60 per cent – Maybe less, maybe more – I can’t exactly say by how much, but they’re going to fall, and they are going to fall badly. …

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We Shouldn’t Even Need a Basic Income to Meet Everyones Needs!

We Shouldn’t Even Need a Basic Income to Meet Everyones Needs!

Over the past couple of years the popularity of the proposal for a basic income, paid to everyone in the country regardless of their income and occupation (or lack of one) has become increasingly popular. For people on lower incomes it would be in the form of a “negative income tax”; for people on higher incomes it would take the form of a tax deduction; and for people in between they would get a graded combination of both.

It’s easy to see the appeal.

It would make sure that …

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