Re-solving the Economic Puzzle

Pinpointing a flaw in prevailing economic practices that explains why so many families in the richest nation on earth are mired in poverty, homelessness, joblessness, and hunger, this study suggests that a reform is available to correct this flaw that is corroding the enterprise system. This flaw is widely accepted and enshrined in law; certain taxation and land policies enable a powerful few to skim off a large share of the wealth created by the mass of citizens. How this injustice plays a major role in generating destructive boom and bust cycles is important, but the overprivileged who benefit from ?legalized theft” are not vilified. Rather, the book calls for correcting the public policies that make slum ownership, land speculation, and other forms of parasitic and exploitive behavior more profitable than honest labor and productive enterprise. Accounts of places in the United States and elsewhere that are applying the proposed reform are presented, proving that it is politically feasible, and offers an ethical cleansing of the economy so that all people can enjoy all the fruits of their efforts.

Walter Rybeck, Director, Center for Public Dialogue, was born in West Virginia and studied journalism, political science and economics, graduating from Antioch College after serving in France in World War II. After a career in journalism as Latin American correspondent, reporter and editorial writer in Ohio, and Washington Bureau Chief for Cox newspapers, he became Assistant Director of the National Commission on Urban Problems, then Editorial Director of the Urban Institute. He was assistant to Congressmen Henry S. Reuss of Milwaukee and William J. Coyne of Pittsburgh.