Ch 28 In which George Washington and his happy negro smoke dope with Mason and Dixon

[ish mailian]

Americans assume that land was and is a good investment, but the truth
is that land, comparatively,  has been a very disappointing
investment.

 It is well known that George Washington, who kept very good records
of his finances, was a land speculator:

https://www.loc.gov/collections/george-washington-papers/articles-and-essays/george-washington-survey-and-mapmaker/washington-as-land-speculator/

http://www.history.org/foundation/journal/winter13/washington.cfm



But GW also made money the American way:  in marriage,  in war, in
merchant trade,  in survey, in maps and cartography,
and in cheap labor, including slave labor.





Though farm land has proved a better investment than improved
properties, property investment has,generally disappointed.

A good article on this, though not directly applicable to Washington,
here-----> from  ROBERT J. SHILLER is Sterling Professor of Economics
at Yale.

Why Land and Homes Actually Tend to Be Disappointing Investments

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/17/upshot/why-land-may-not-be-the-smartest-place-to-put-your-nest-egg.html