By Phil Anderson. Originally published on Property Sharemarket Economics. Republished with permission.
In June 2020, a statue of Winston Churchill was graffitied in central London. The defacing happened during a Black Lives Matter protest.
These demonstrations have swept around the globe after the police killing of George Floyd in the US last month. The graffiti scrawled across the base of the statue claimed Churchill was a ‘racist’.
But here’s the thing.
The statue portrayed the Churchill most people know: the Conservative wartime leader. The one who offered his people only “blood, toil, tears and sweat” and then led them through the nation’s darkest hours.
And ultimately to victory.
But there was another side to Sir Winston, one that is rarely talked about today.
And that’s Winston the radical reformer.
Back in the day, along with the UK Chancellor at the time, David Lloyd George, Churchill was one of the ‘Terrible Twins’.
They were the driving force behind the “People’s Budget” of 1909. They were both powerful speakers and people turned up to listen to them.
The “People’s Budget” of 1909 was a budget that set out to eliminate poverty for good. Yep, that’s right.
As Lloyd George declared in Parliament:
“This is a war budget for raising implacable warfare against poverty and squalidness”.
Neither Lloyd George nor Churchill were known to mince their words.
Among many other radical reforms, this ground-breaking Budget called for taxes upon the unearned increment on land values.
Shock, horror.
The House of Commons passed the Budget in 1909, but the House of Lords, dominated by Conservative landowners, rejected it.
Of course.
Now under the UK’s constitution, The Lords were not supposed to oppose money bills that had been passed by the lower house.
But they did it anyway.
So the government called an election to resolve the crisis.
This eventually led to the power of the Lords being severely curtailed. But the land value tax still never made it into law.
It’s really important that you understand this.
Here’s a part of a speech Churchill gave back in 1909. Addressed to the House of Commons. It’s the story of the ‘toll bridge’.
“Some years ago in London there was a toll bar on a bridge across the
Thames, and all the working people who lived on the south side of the
river had to pay a daily toll of one penny for going and returning from their work.
The spectacle of these poor people thus mulcted of so large a
proportion of their earnings offended the public conscience, and
agitation was set on foot, municipal authorities were roused, and at the
cost of the taxpayers, the bridge was freed and the toll removed.
All those people who used the bridge were saved sixpence a week, but
within a very short time rents on the south side of the river were found
to have risen about sixpence a week, or the amount of the toll which had been remitted!”
You have to understand what Churchill was saying here. And I can assure you, since Winston’s speech well over 100 years ago now, absolutely nothing has changed.
You’ve probably been taught that nations cannot function without government. It’s OK. We were all taught that.
But it’s a lie.
In fact, eliminating the need for governments, all taxes and all of our paid politicians is really simple to do.
Yes really. We’ll cover that for you next email.
How Property Sharemarket Economics can help you
You must understand what old Winston was talking to you about. Because if you do, it will make you a far better investor.
Understanding the role of land and how land values play out in the economy is the key. It’s the key to understanding how the economy moves and why.
It causes the economy to play out in a set pattern and sequence. This movement can be forecast in advance.
Imagine, knowing in advance, what’s coming next for the economy. What that might do to your share market and property investing?
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