[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> Chick to Jessop,
> One question; who is the original owner, Mother Nature?
> I guess that would mean that we don't own the land and as the natives say,
> the land owns us, would it not?
> In Canada, and I would assume that Africa and Australia have the same
> dilemma, there is the question as to property rights and does the land still
> belong to the natives and how far back do we go. Who was here first. There
> was a body dug out of a river bank in northern US, I believe it was called
> Kennewick Man, and it was said to be about 9000 years old but not related to
> the natives who lived here since. So who owns the land and who were the
> original inhabitants?
> Or does ownership go to the aristocracy who laid claim and the peasants
> forever are subservient tenants? ¨
> ---------------
>
> Jessop here:
> I believe the land is owned jointly by all the present citizens of the
> country. Present private ownership of erven and acreages would need to be
> redressed,
As you both know, land ownership backs into the
general issue of property.
It is only by seeing that land becomes property, that
we can successfully discuss it.
There is, of course, one related wrinkle and that is
"depletion."
And, with depletion, we have "higher rents" paid to those
who "own" the depleted item.
[if you have no interest in precious metals as property,
skip to the next *** section]
Imagine the silver coin collector who buys close to the
spot value of silver.
There is only about 25 years of known reserves in the world, at
the current price (around $3 an ounce over the last few years).
But, people do not wish to inhabit silver. Rather, its value
is garnished by its use for jewelry, silverware, and for
industrial uses.
In that it has some very nice electrical properties, such
as the fact that silver oxide is about as good a conductor
as pure silver, it is the "poor man's" alternative to gold
connectors.
So, for the same film thickness of silver, you pay about
100 times less to use silver than to use gold.
But gold is truly magical. It does not oxidize under most
conditions -- so -- a PC board manufacturer will often
elect gold over silver, even though the economics of this
weighs towards silver.
***
Property ownership has many virtues and some down-sides.
Those who own property tend to care for it. Thus, land
as property is often tended. Of course, a forest is self-tending,
and so for "wild land" this argument becomes moot.
Property, including land, is a "factor of production."
So, land ownership is necessary to stabilize the factors
of production.
***
As for residential land? The "tending" argument surely
applies. There is a constant "social force" on folk to
assure that their "plots" are not blights. But, of course,
not everywhere.
The problem in the U.S. is NOT land. This country is so
huge that even with 286 million people, we have empty
land everywhere.
The problem is the proximity of land to sources of income.
Around Boston. For bizarre reasons that I believe will
dissipate, property values have more than doubled in 10
years.
This simply is an "unreal world."
And, unlike Tokyo, where land was actually VERY scarce ...
we still have acres of undeveloped land within a few
miles of Boston !
Yes, communities are fighting development. They are
happy with their current densities.
But, just outside of Boston, outside of the famous "128"
circumferential belt, there's lots of empty land.
And! At the 2nd circumferential belt, called 495 -- ohmygosh --
there's empty land everywhere. I will say, however, that
this city is in sore need of further mass transit. We
have the land, but we lack the ability to move the commuters.
(a problem that we've already heard of, for years, around Los
Angeles). Instead of this 16 billion dollar boondoggle of
making downtown Boston a bit prettier via moving a single
highway from above ground, to underground (now plagued by
tunnel accidents) -- perhaps the 16 billion would have
bought a mag-lev line along 128, and feeders to the city !
Ok. I need someone to critique, comment, etc., for me to
re-gain focus. I do have "highway" qualifications -- I worked
for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
in a 'prior life.'
Regards,
Curtiss
--
W. Curtiss Priest, Director, CITS
Research Affiliate, Comparative Media Studies, MIT
Center for Information, Technology & Society
466 Pleasant St., Melrose, MA 02176
781-662-4044 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://Cybertrails.org
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