Making Land
"They ain't makin' more of it." I hear that statement at least twice a year, usually when a client is buying real estate. I normally nod in sage agreement. Which has always been an ingenuous thing to do, since I agreed with the obvious observation. But then yesterday, Dan Bourdreaux pointed out that we do, indeed, make more land all the time. We can quibble philologically, but from the pragmatic standpoint (i.e., from the standpoint of "What is land good for?"), his point is spot on: "Some of the following phenomena increase the volume of land physically, and all of the following phenomena increase the volume of land economically: Draining or filling-in swamps and other areas currently submerged beneath water for some or all of the year; Multi-storied buildings and advances in architectural design that reduce the amount of land necessary for any given number of people to work and reside; Agricultural advances that reduce the amount of land required to produce any given amount of food." * * * * * * * I also found the post fascinating because I learned that there are still Georgists out there. I would've thought there were about as many Georgists out there as William Cobbett fans. I'm mostly interested in Henry George because he was one of the four thinkers who most influenced Albert Jay Nock (along with Matthew Arnold, Herbert Spencer, and Franz Oppenheimer). If there are Georgists out there, maybe there's hope we can revive The Nockian Society. Its patrons: Francis Rabelais, Artemus Ward, and H.L. Mencken. It had no officers, no dues, and no meetings. In the age of Babbittry, such was an uproariously funny idea. Not so much now, in this lonely and club-less age of bowling alone, but I'd still join.(1)
