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

[Monte Davis]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_Company

https://www.amazon.com/Great-American-Land-Bubble-Land-Grabbing/dp/1578987784?SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q

https://www.amazon.com/Fabulous-History-Dismal-Swamp-Company-ebook/dp/B004DEPF04/


On Fri, Apr 6, 2018 at 6:23 AM, ish mailian <ishmailian at gmail.com> wrote:

> Yes, GW, who, as I noted, kept very good records and ledgers, is
> famous or infamous for growing his wealth through land speculation.
>
> This is well known and well documented.
>
> The history of land speculation in America and the bubbles  and the
> banking and financial crisis they caused has been the subject of a
> pile of fiction in America.
> Pynchon has added to this  pile.
>
> And it should not surprise us that Pynchon has included a satirical
> scene on GW's interest in land in a novel that is, in part, anyway,
> about the great American land grab.
>
> Pynchon is well known for his research of real estate, wealth, and
> corruption in America.
>
> From what he calls his apprentice's effort, "The Secret Integration",
> Pynchon has
> examined how land wealth in America was built on racist ideology and
> war, exploitative international trade,
> surveyance and cartography, and in cheap labor, including slave labor.
>
> A member of the Pyncheon family, the haunted subject of one of the
> most famous land grab novels in the American cannon, Pynchon's work
> can be said to fit, in part anyway,
> the Gothic tradition, where land is haunted by the victims of real
> estate wealth.
>
> In his famous Watts essay, Pynchon, like Richard Wright, who, in his
> famous _Native Son_ makes ghosts of white people, makes ghosts of
> planes that fly over the Watts residents. The same planes Bigger, the
> protagonist of Wright's "protest novel" sees at the start of the
> novel.
>
> As Oedipa slowly realized, the MIC was a real estate enterprise that
> set up its productions, as the airport was set up, and as the highways
> were set up, to give the "little man" a false sense of power or white
> privilege and to give the Man authority and to keep itself protected
> by the towers.
>
>
> On Thu, Apr 5, 2018 at 7:51 PM, Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net> wrote:
> > One way and another George made a lot of money:This is  the Wall St.’s
> Journal’s list of the richest U.S. presidents:
> >
> > 1. George Washington, first president from 1789 to 1797
> > -- Net worth: $525 million In office
> > His Virginia plantation, Mount Vernon, consisted of five separate farms
> on 8,000 acres of prime farmland, run by more than 300 slaves. His wife,
> Martha Washington, inherited significant property from her father.
> Washington made well more than subsequent presidents: his salary was 2% of
> the total U.S. budget in 1789. ( only JFK was richer)
> >
> > The following quote is from this article
> > How Did Washington Make His Millions?  by Andrew G. Gardner  in an
> online journal sponsored by The Colonial Williamsberg foundation.
> > "Most of this wealth can be traced to Washington’s success as a land
> speculator, an enterprise that grew out of his early career as land
> surveyor. “
> > http://www.history.org/Foundation/journal/winter13/washington.cfm <
> http://www.history.org/Foundation/journal/winter13/washington.cfm>
> >
> >>>
> >>> 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
> >>>
> >> --
> >> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> >
> > --
> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>