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

[Mark Kohut]

Very interesting, Ish.

Loved Shiller's piece.

I do think that there  is circumstantial evidence that, in general, having
inside information on what might happen to some land, and/or
pure insight into certain kinds of economic growth is an American way to
wealth. When all land is the subject of study, then the declines in some
areas
balance the gains elsewhere maybe, giving Shiller's piece an overall truth
but leaving the manipulators guilty and rich.

The part of Scarsdale Vibe stuffed with Andrew Carnegie IRL contains
implicitly his lifelong inside knowledge---from when he was just a messenger
boy, reading the secret communications between the young corporations in
Pittsburgh--of development in that city and the world. he ran the railroad
and
we'll before his most famous career and knew where it was being built out
and where travelers grew.

And tons of mysteries, a famous Chandler one, of course, all about secret $
dealings (and consequences) based on insider knowledge.



On Wed, Apr 4, 2018 at 7:22 AM, ish mailian <ishmailian at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>