Who Should Own What -- A Neglected Proposition (Score 1)

A little over a century ago there was an American economist whose ideas were widely admired at the time: Henry George. I do not have the time now to fairly set forth his ideas or to fully relate them to license fees for patents. But I would simply say that George viewed all the earth's land, the rights to the airwaves, to patents, etc., to be the common property of mankind. Under his system, the government would charge rent to the users of these things, use some of the proceeds for its own operations and remit the balance to the people. Thus, there would be nobody without an income and little or no poverty. It was a well-thought-out proposal that somehow has been lost. Our civilization somehow decided to take a different path. Quite possibly this was because it was inimicable to the capitalist powers that be. This proposal concerning payments for patents does not go far enough. To learn more about Henry George I recommend a visit to http://www.progress.org/geonomy/ . Peter Hollings