Counting Bounty

How much do we spend on the nature we use? Answer that and you'll know the size of your commonwealth and the coming phase of the economy. Most economists bundle land with capital or leave out land and its rent altogether—and cripple their discipline. "Geonomists", OTOH, forecast the last recession to the exact quarter. Counting Bounty highlights a widespread blindspot. Most of us overlook land and its power to twist an economy. Householders typically spend most of their budget on land —beneath their homes and within every purchase like food—without awareness. Tallying rent, this work fills in those blindspots with insights society needs to know. It's not possible to do economics without getting politics all over you. The story begins with the official and academic efforts to minimize the total worth of Earth in America. A perusal of the historical relationship between the elite and the intellectual shows that paying the piper, calling the tune, is the norm, even up to the present. Using a slew of statistics and others' research findings, I track rent to its recipients, to the rentiers who own much and wield much power. The cited sources give the story more legs to stand on than a centipede. Aware reformers can address pressing problems by tapping land value. Towns in Pennsylvania infill instead of sprawl; efficient land use conserves energy. Pittsburgh spurs urban renewal sans subsidy; cities are cash starved. Once towns in Australia experienced factory openings … during a recession! Aspen Colorado and Hong Kong build affordable housing, narrowing inequality. Alaska and Singapore pay residents a dividend, freeing some to drop out of the rat race. Watching rent flow sheds light on how economies operate, why they sometimes fail, and what a society can do about it. As critical issues reach a tipping point, the problems that misdirecting rent causes, redirecting rent can solve. Drawing attention to the grand total for rent by itself raises the possibility of redirecting