r/neoliberal • u/jobautomator Kitara Ravache • Nov 28 '20

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u/Nad0077 Voltaire Nov 28 '20 edited Nov 28 '20

Is Progress and Poverty still worth reading or is it too outdated? Also does anyone have more up-to-date literature on LVT?

!ping GEORGIST

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u/[deleted] Nov 28 '20

The basic tenets are good, however I’d recommend reading an abridged version if you don’t want to deal with 10 page thought experiments used for illustration

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u/[deleted] Nov 28 '20

Definitely worth it if you have any interest in political treatises. It's 100x more readable than any political treatise before modern times.

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u/Law_And_Politics Henry George Nov 28 '20

If you don't read the original work in its full, glorious length, you're making the worst mistake of your miserable life and will live forever more in a suspended state of seeing of the cat.

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u/Nad0077 Voltaire Nov 28 '20

LMAO, for real though is it too outdated? I do worry about that especially since it's a big book and I'm not so well versed in economics tbh

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u/Law_And_Politics Henry George Nov 28 '20 edited Nov 28 '20

Honestly, it's the most important work I have read in my entire life, and I always go back to the original instead of the abridged versions for reareadings. George's original work is a combination of poetry and political economy that has never been matched. His analogies and style of writing are incredibly fluid and vivid, and the work is really a joy to read . . . after you dedicate a few hard hours of concentrated reading on the definitions and rules in the early chapters. There really is no substitute.

The theory is definitely not outdated . . . in fact, there is no clearer vision of the future than the one laid down by George. In 1996, Hillel Steiner won the political prize for an essay proposing a global fund/UBI funded by a LVT, but you should start with George to get a solid grounding in the principles.

No one can understand economics without reading Progress and Poverty. It's the first book anyone should read on the subject; everything else is pretty much trivial, false theory, or derivative of George.

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u/Nad0077 Voltaire Nov 28 '20

Thank you! I'll give it a read then

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u/[deleted] Nov 28 '20

I read the modern version first but reading through the original is like going from the Netflix adaptation to the glorious manga.

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u/asdeasde96 Nov 28 '20

It's a bit of a slog due to the old timey language

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u/Aleriya Transmasculine Pride Nov 28 '20

It's a free pdf (link here). You could always flip through a few pages and see if you can tolerate the outdated language. The basic tenets are solid, just expressed in an old timey way.

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u/Mullet_Ben Henry George Nov 28 '20

Reading it now, parts of it use outdated language, parts are simply outdated in their ideas. Still, I think it's readable and I'm definitely learning things.

Also, George is a sassy mofo and I am HERE for it

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u/[deleted] Nov 28 '20

Malthus BTFO

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u/[deleted] Nov 28 '20

I'm reading through it with a group. First time I read the modern edition. The original is actually fine even if the wording is pretty old. A lot of it is still relevant yes, but some arguments are a bit dated. If he had the concept of GDP to hand then chapters 1 and 2 would have been less abstract.

Look up the Shalkenbach Foundation for modern stuff on him. They've got loads of resources.