The English aristocracy unwittingly engineered the British Empire’s downfall, just as surely as the latifundia of Ancient Rome created its collapse.

Wealthy landholders will never concede they have a duty to pay the rent to the public purse for the lands they occupy. As they have unequalled power and influence, they’ve successfully written out of the annals of history how their techniques dispossess and impoverish people. History can deal with anything else. It may describe all the battles, all the personalities, but it must never admit they are ultimately fought over natural resources – LAND – because this would lead to certain fiscal conclusions.

The rent-seeking 1% in the USA now control 40% of the nation’s wealth, but reform movements such as Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party haven’t discovered the simple mechanism by which the US plutocracy is bringing the once great nation to its knees. Pax Americana is destined for the same scrap heap to which Pax Brittanica was consigned.

“Arab Spring” revolutions are also failing because their leaders haven’t seen the economic urgency to shift revenue bases from workers and profits to holders of land. This would reconcile people, economics and the planet: however, the “revolutionaries” seem unaware of the fact.

Sadly, both ancients and modern Greece and Italy seem to have learned nothing at all over the centuries about the ills wrought by land speculation and monopoly, nor the system of credit which supports this malady that lingers.

Breaking the longstanding pattern offers the prospect of economic justice, peace and stability, but is the 99% up for it?

Watch this space …

You say we need more funds to tackle poverty, homelessness, health, the environment, education and infrastructure? I say instituting the Henry Tax Review is a BIG step towards solving those problems.