Instituto Henry George - Noticias

IHG Hosts Georgist Book Exposition
Managua, January 15, 2003 -- The IHG facilitated a book presentation tour in Managua from November 29 to December 1, 2002 for the book De La Tierra Devastada a la Tierra Prometida (From Wasteland to Promised Land), written by Dr. James Dawsey and Dr. Robert Andelman, and co-translated by the IHG Director, Paul Martin. Dr. Dawsey and Mr. Martin gave a series of Media interviews and hosted three expositions: one in the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua (UNAN), co-sponsored by the Facultad de Ciencias Económicas; one which was combined with an IHG sponsored conference titled "Understanding Privatization" (see photo below) which was focused on the question of privatization of public monopolies and natural resources; and one in the Centro Ecuménico Antonio Valdivieso, an ecuménical consortium. Despite an extensive publicity effort by the IHG, the turnout for the events was less than expected due to government and NGO officials being tied up by pressing end of year exigencies. However, a total of 60 NGO officers, Goverment officials, University professors and students attended the three events and expressed positive interest in the Tierra Prometida book's message and the Georgist paradigm.

12th & 13th CE Economics Courses Graduate
Managua, January 15, 2003 -- The Instituto Henry George's 12th & 13th intensive "Comprender la Economía" Political Economy classes graduated a total of 63 students on October 30th and December 11th respectively. IHG has eight (8) CE courses planned for 2003. The 13th CE course is scheduled to begin February 3rd. Click here for "Comprender La Economía" Course Statistics, 2000-2002.

Nicaragua Slips Deeper Into Recesión as New Year's Prices Soar
Managua, January 15, 2003 -- Nicaraguans woke up from their holiday reveries to find themselves less solvent, more indebted, and facing a 5% to 30% increase in business and consumer prices of many key products and services compared to November of 2002. Included in this price explosion are: propane gas (+20%), bread (+25%), classified newspaper advertisement (+30%), bottled water (+15%), construction materials (5%), medicine (+6%), private medical consultation (+30%), just to name a few. The IHG itself was hit with a 30% hike in the rental price of the facility where the CE course is imparted but managed to negotiate the price back down to 9%. These price increases are a direct result of a highly speculative real estate market which pays almost no tax on land values. (The IHG office building which has a market value of $40-$50K has a cadastre value of less than $14K and pays only $110.oo per year of real estate tax!). Meanwhile, production, employment and wages are stagnant, and credit indebtedness increases for growing numbers of Nica businesses and families. The current Government response is to privatize all natural monopolies, raise taxes, and negotiate dubious terms within a US Government sponsored "Free Trade Agreement". The IHG will work this year to communicate to the public, national opinion makers, and the Nica Government that the solution to the growing economic crisis is to nationalize all land rents and privatize production via a single Land Value Tax (LVT or Impuesto sobre el Valor de la Tierra - IVT).

IHG Gaining Attention of Opinion Makers
Managua, January 15, 2003 -- After two years of developing effective teaching/communication materiales and familiarizing hundreds of Nicaraguans with the Georgist paradigm, the IHG has been experiencing, since the last half of 2002, an increasing interest in its message from more thoughtful and concerned Nicaraguan leaders of national stature. The step-by-step process of consciousness building will continue with more vigor in 2003 as the IHG will be able to offer cutomized workshops using new comprehensive materials and improved didactic technologies, including a new Comprender La Economía video due out by mid-year.

Alexi Argüello, three-time world boxing champion and Nicaraguan celebrity, attended private CE classes in August 2002 due to his concern for the well being of his country.

Augustín Jarquín Anaya, Nicaraguan congressman and former vice-presidential candidate, supports the IHG's efforts to present the georgist analysis and remedy to the Nicaraguan National Assembly. >>Related photos

"Work with passion, have fun, save the world!"
"Trabajar con pasión, divertirse, salvar el mundo!"

NOTICIAS, Diciembre 2003