Instituto
Henry George ...
Managua, Nicaragua
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Instituto
Henry George ... |
30th
CE Economics Course Graduates Strong
Ongoing Strikes in Key Services a
Sign of Nica "Progress"
IHG to Seek Official NGO Status in
Nicaragua
30th CE Economics Course Graduates Strong
The Instituto Henry George's 30th intensive "Comprender la Economía" political economy courses graduated 56 students on March 31st. This course was a landmark for the IHG with a new improved course format, the highest attendance since mid-2004, and an all-time high graduation rate, all the while suffering an ongoing transportation strike in the Capital which usually causes the opposite results in attendance. As usually occurs with the course, most students signed the IHG demonstrative petition expressing their support in a national study of the LVT solution in Nicaragua, and many graduates expressed their interest in maintaining contact with the IHG for further activity to that end. The new final examination of the course was a great success, and the graduation ceremony's LVT skit (where free seating is denied participants because the seats have been "privatized" and now charge a rent) was the most effective ever performed, with students and their guests visibly affected into consciousness. Many graduating students asked how they could continue learning more and expressed their desire to "keep in touch" with the IHG. Click here for complete "Comprender La Economía" Course Statistics, 2000-2006.
CE XXX Course
Graduates, March 31, 2006.
Ongoing Strikes in Key Services a Sign of Nica "Progress"
Nicaragua has been assailed this year by the symptoms of false progress in which the rich get richer and the poor pay the bill. More people are suffering from the disminution of the quantity and quality of basic services, as employment and wages remain stagnant at seriously low levels, and prices continually inch, step and jump upward in all key areas of consumer demand. Basic public services, now largely privatized, are in effect rationed, with the greater inequality felt in the poorer areas, though water cut-offs and electricity rationing have been felt in middle to upper class neighborhoods as well. Many barrios in the Capital normally receive only a trickle of water for only a few hours a day, and some even need to buy water from truck vendors. The result of these pressures finds it's outlet in continual strikes in the education, health, transportation, and other productive sectors, as well as in a myriad of perverse cost cutting tactics implemented by sellers and consumers which sometimes borders on the criminally absurd. For instance, to cancel a temporarily suspended telephone service with no outstanding payments due, the privatized phone monopoly charges a reactivation fee as part of the process; or another example: Nicaraguan citizens under 21 years of age (who can vote, have families, work) are prohibited from opening bank accounts in their own names, even as co-signers. Is it so they will spend more of their earned income, or to have money controlled by older (sue-able and tax-able) family members? Meanwhile, the government and the larger private interests promote the image of Nicaragua as a progressing country. In the capital, where almost half the national population lives and/or works, the champions of Nicaragua's narrow progress would draw the public's attention to observations of more roads in highly trafficked (high rent) areas, more private autos, more investment in real estate (the purchase of Nicaraguan land for speculation), construction of large shopping centers, installation of maquiladora factories, and higher monetary deposits, but with all the crises in public services, ongoing strikes, etc., the public at large seems to think that things could not get much worse before major social upheaval results. Still, 2006 is an election year, and the country may dig deeper down and bear whatever the monopoly system puts forward, in the hope that a new government with renewed support of generous international bailouts (making Nicaragua one of the most indebted per-capita countries in the world) may somehow save them from the nation's downward spiral into bankruptcy. Still, there is hope. Technically, Nicaragua could turn its situation around in the short-term by embracing the Georgist paradigm of economic prosperity. Given the keen interest in the the Georgist paradigm, as demonstrated by the popular success of the IHG's CE course, and the willingness of CE students to sign the demonstrative petition in favor of a national Land Value Tax feasibility study, with sufficient public education, it seems apparent that it is only a question of time before the proposal of the single LVT becomes a part of the Nicaraguan political dialogue.
IHG to Seek NGO Status in Nicaragua
The IHG will be initiating the process of establishing the itself as a fully operative Non-Governmental Non-Profit Organization in Nicaragua. Currently, the IHG operates as a private educational project with no tax exemption or other benefits which accrue to NGO status. IHG hopes that the legal process will be largely completed by the end of September. Georgists who would like to to help speed this project along are encouraged to donate to the IHG via the IHG NY. Meanwhile, the IHG continues to develop the land which was purchased for the purpose of erecting a multi-use facility which will allow for the development of a largely self-sustaining international Georgist educational and leadership training center. Designing and permitting for the first phase of construction will hopefully be completed by the end of May, 2006. Currently, the IHG is also undergoing a search for a new office location with better public access for the large numbers of potential students who apply for the CE course.
The site for the building of the IHG
facility, cleared and leveled, ready for construction.
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