Why Must We Have Privatisation of Land Ownership?
Sometimes it is good and necessary to consider those areas of life that must not be considered. Sometimes it is essential to ask questions about those taken-for-granted truths that ought not to be questioned. The privatisation of land and the way of that private ownership of land is as close to theft as you will find anywhere. Such opens up a big debate. It also opens me up to the sharp fangs of those slippery snake-like serpents that slither along in slimy waters.
There is, I think, much wisdom in trying to say that land and elemental things, including property, should be used and used in a sustainable way for the common good. I am a simple man. For some hundreds of years the common good has been ignored because of the privatisation of land which equals wealth and power for the few.
Before I say too much let us think a little bit about this privatisation and land-ownership business. Let us get a few clear facts in order before there is any ranting and raving. Before you send me to the guillotine to have my head chopped off let me at least say a word or two in my defence.
I have an old fashioned belief that things elemental (water, air and the earth and things like that) are common. These elemental aspects of real life are like gifts given to us. These gifts are there for us to look after and to nurture. We do not own these elemental gifts. They have been there long before us and should remain long after us. All we can do is to loan or lease these elemental gifts. We do not own them for there are others that deserve these gifts too. You must try to forgive me if my old fashioned beliefs are a little upsetting. I mean no harm to anyone.
The latest boom and bust crisis, the latest burst bubble, has been deeply involved with the private ownership of land and buildings. Even private small homes have been instrumental in this bursting of this now traditional bubble. What has been called, sometimes with good reason, the Anglo-American bubble, remains blowing even more bubbles. When the Dubai crisis hit there was, yet again, warning signs for all concerned in this global bubble-game. Today we wait on the latest second-waves to wash over the European lands and to swell themselves over the poor flimsy sea defence systems.
Then we wait again for the third wave that seems inevitable. This third wave will again be closely linked to private property claims and private ownership claims for profit rather than useful-value. Same again that is.
China has become a big player and China may well be a kind of ”new model” for many 21st Century opinion leaders but it is quite possible that China will set off this third wave crisis. If it does then the tidal wave will be rather big and rather strong. Ignore China at your peril I say.
China today breeds the new soil that grows and grows quick profits and high profits from private property deals. It is not sustainable (it is certainly not good for any common good). What is more is that the quick profits made from these deals is quickly channelled into evermore risky deals that can only make a quick buck. There is little real depth or sustainable concreteness in this constant re-cycling of paper risk-money. Yes, labour is very cheap and the urban population is growing but this will also demand new infrastructure and real investments. China is playing so much the gambing game of the Anglo-American model that something will have to give sometime in the future. That might be sooner than many want to admit.
Who will bet that China will cause a third-wave crisis before the next five years are up? Bets anyone?
Maybe you will spare my head. I do not want to go to the guillotine. If you think about it and talk about it you may see some good sense in keeping elemental things (which means a roof over our heads) away from risky gambing games. You may see that the ”Common Good” is a decent philosophy when working with elemental aspects of living. You may even see some sense in my saying that these elemental things are a ”Gift” given to us as a loan or a lease.
It has often been said that one of the evils has been the Theft Of The Commons. I tend to agree. But this basic philosophy does not agree that individual families cannot take full pride and responsibility in their homes. But that is another story for another day, maybe.
But would you send me to the guillotine just for saying that the elemental basics of the common life should not be privatised? Would you? If so why?
Steve Bowles
