SAN FRANCISCO

The San Francisco School of Economics is a d/b/a of the Henry George School of  San Francisco,  a   501(c)(3) tax-exempt California Public Benefit Corporation incorporated in 1950. The mission of the Henry George School of San Francisco is to provide to interested individuals an education in political economy.

By offering class room instructions and webinars (which are online seminars), the public has an opportunity to learn the basics about how a political economy works. The term Political Economy on one hand refers to the organization of society, the rules which govern personal conduct and the way individual rights are secured, while on the other hand, it refers to the activities of families and other groups to secure their existence and their procreation.  Thus, the study of Political Economy draws upon the discipline of Sociology, Political Science, Anthropology, Psychology, History, Economics (study of production and markets), Law, Human Geography, Ecology, International Relations and Cultural studies.

Details about webinars are found on the WEBINAR page.  Details about class room instructions are found on the COURSES page. 

The venue for Class Room Instruction is the Chancellor Hotel on Union Square in San Francisco.

Chancellor Hotel                            on Union Square

433 Powell Street

San Francisco, CA 94102

415-362-2004

The class room is the Clipper Ship Conference room on the Mezzanine Level of the Chancellor Hotel

Why We Do, What We Do...!!!

"It is the obligation of the schools, colleges and universities to make the American competent to see what is coming before it strikes him down. The Americans that founded the Republic had an education that let them anticipate the evil and judge the pressure of the grievance by the badness of the principle, and it is in this regard that latter-day education has failed the American", so writes Thomas J. Norton in his book Undermining the Constitution.

It is unbelievable that despite all the money spent on education from  primary school to ivy league college, the collapse of the financial and economic system at the beginning of the 21st Century was not foreseen. According to their own pronouncements, the economic debacle came as an utter suprise to  the highest officials in the Federal Government and corporate America.

Had the principles on which the Republic was formed been taught, and the warning by the founding fathers not to vary from these principles been heeded, the American would not find himself today with a Congress that works to the detriment of the freedoms bestowed upon the people by the Constitution. 

Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States, clearly predicted the economic Depression of the 1930s. Yet instead of returning to the principles he proclaimed to restore the economy to its proper footing, the federal politicians did exactly the opposite. Now, decades after going in the wrong direction, the country finds itself in an economic situation much worse than that of the 1930s.

Should we call the situation hopeless? Not at all. The Congress can easily get the country out of its present predicament, if it reverses course from the direction it is taking and returns to the founding principles. However, the Congress will not do so, unless the American people demand it. To make that decision, the American must know the true choice before him. If he seeks to inform himself in this regard by looking to today's college education, to the television news or to the financial press, he will find that he is being pacified, rather than being informed.

The San Francisco School of Economics, through its annual Economic Education Program, attempts to educate the American to make the proper choice by teaching the immutable principles recognized by the founding fathers in the creation of the United States Constitution.  Starting with clear terms and  definitions, the courses expound fundamental economic principles, recount the history of banking in the United States,  describe the monetary system intended by the founding fathers for the United States, and explore the fear of the founding fathers over too much "democracy" in the election of a Federal and State government. Did the founding fathers really want a "living, breathing" constitution?  We pose this and many other questions to provoke the American to reflect on the choices before him at the time he votes.

Definitions and Axioms

ECONOMIC AXIOMS

1.  Man seeks to gratify his desires with the least  amount of exertion.

2.  Man’s desires are unlimited.

3.  Man hoards consciously and systematically.

ECONOMIC DEFINITIONS

POLITICAL ECONOMY:  The science which treats the nature of wealth and the natural laws governing its production and distribution.

WEALTH: Any material thing with exchange value, the result of labor applied on or to land.

MONEY: That kind of wealth which has a constant or nearly constant marginal utility.

CURRENCY: A medium of exchange in the form of money or other wealth, or in the form of redeemable or irredeemable notes.

INCOME: Rent, Wages and/or Interest received in the form of money or other currency.

PRODUCTION: The process of increasing the capacity of wealth to satisfy human desires.

FACTORS OF PRODUCTION

LAND: All the natural universe except man and wealth.

LABOR: All human exertion in the production of wealth.

CAPITAL: Wealth used in production.

DISTRIBUTION: The assignment of ownership in the wealth produced.

AVENUES OF DISTRIBUTION

RENT: The landowner’s share of the wealth produced.

WAGES: The laborer’s share of the wealth produced.

INTEREST: The capitalist’s income which exchanges for a unit of wealth.

LAWS OF DISTRIBUTION

LAW OF RENT: The rent of land is determined by the excess of its produce  over that which the same application can secure from the least productive land in use.

LAW OF WAGES: Wages depend upon the margin of production. (The most productive land obtainable without the payment of rent).

LAW OF INTEREST: Economic interest depends upon the willingness to exchange wealth for income and/or to exchange income for wealth.

CONSUMPTION: Any use made of wealth which lessens its capacity to satisfy human desire. (The opposite of production).

THE AMERICAN FORM OF GOVERNMENT

 www.wimp.com/thegovernment