Wealth

Wealth

Please allow me to explain something very basic about economics that is widely misunderstood. Currently, in both capitalist and communist societies, the belief is held that the wealth pool available to pay workers is finite. Therefore, the fear is that if we let too many people in then they will gobble up all of the stuff that we need with which to live. But this thinking is feeble. Here is why.

A 5 pound gold nugget is nothing but a rock, a potato plant might as well be a weed and the wood from a tree mere termite lunch. It is only the hand of men working these items of the land that changes them into wealth which possess exchangeable value to humans. Chronologically speaking, first comes the labor then the miracle of wealth. Thus, the more hands that are working the greater the pool of wealth created. But why does it appear whenever populations increase that poverty then shows up?

Mostly it is due to urban land hoarding by the Real Estate speculator/banker class who create no wealth with their land holdings. Instead they charge in effect a land rental fee which moves wealth generally from poorer hands into richer hands. Those living on the margins economically don’t stand a chance. This is why a hundred thousand years ago all cavemen were fed and sheltered (minus war and natural famines) while modern societies have homeless beggars in the streets lurking desperately everywhere. The reason is cavemen had a free cave to keep their stuff in while modern man must rent his cave and fork over larger and larger shares of his wealth for the privilege. The speculators drive up home prices by hoarding land, the average joe-six-pack takes out a mortgage to pay for his house, then the bottom falls out of the market forcing many out of their homes through foreclosure. Those who survive the downturn still must pay the bank for the full inflated home loan for a house that may be worth half the cost of the note. The banker/speculator gets lots of properties back from the poorest owners and they can sit on them or rent them out till the price is right. Once they have driven the Real Estate back up to its boom phase they sell locking in new high mortgages making a killing and what in the past has been referred to as “the business cycle” begins again. But this whole setup remember creates no wealth.

Which brings me to the real reason for this discussion. Namely, what is the excuse for returning Cubans caught on the high seas back to Castro’s island gulag? Every set of new Cuban hands arriving to our shores are very efficient wealth creating machines. Historically speaking, Cubans don’t cross 90 miles of treacherous waters to sit around and go on welfare. In fact, no one ever need go on welfare again if we just stopped this land monopoly scam. Everybody needs a cave to keep their stuff in. Then even the least educated could survive. We have incredible numbers of dead public housing projects that should just be turned over to the poorest among us so they don’t just crumble away. If the only tax we paid was a location value tax for our land holdings and not the housing itself or income or sales tax, then land hoarding would not be economically practical.

Cubans widely support Bush and Republicans in Congress but why? They and the Democrats support this policy of the US government being an extension of Castro’s penal colony. Now that you understand the economics of it you quite clearly see that this is an abomination and must be stopped immediately! Are you Cubans really planning on voting for anyone who supports this tyranny in next month’s election? Please post the names of the politicians in your district who support rejailing Cubans caught on the high seas.

Thank you,

Tomás Estrada-Palma