Audio Transcript Auto-generated
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Good afternoon, class.
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My name is Angel and today I will be discussing
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the life of Henry George and the impact of Georges.
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Um, today I'm hoping to introduce some insight on Henri
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Georges upbringing and his everyday struggle and grind through the
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industrial civilization, which will eventually lead us to his belief
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system and give you an idea on why he thinks
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the way that he does.
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And then I'm hoping to compare and contrast that belief
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system to that of Andrew Carnegie.
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And hopefully you'll be able to draw your own conclusion
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on who you think is MAWR ethically or morally correct
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in their argument that will bring me to a more
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in depth analysis on Geo is, um slash Georges.
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Um, lastly, his overall impact on society today, if any.
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Henry was born on September 2nd 18 39 in Philadelphia,
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Pennsylvania. He stopped schooling around the seventh grade at the
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age of 13 due to ah lack of interest in
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school. We'll also for the necessity of having Thio to
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provide for his family.
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He then worked on as a clerk for two years,
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then as a cabin boy on a ship where he
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would travel around the world.
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Upon entering San Francisco in 18 58 he worked many
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on his jobs.
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Um, he was a labor ah, Gold Prospector where sadly,
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he did not find much luck.
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And a prince, sir.
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Eventually he would marry and start to raise his family,
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but would realize that it's It's a very hard struggle
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to maintain a steady and good income to feed your
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family. Here I have three different pictures, all from different
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decades. And as you start to move from one decade,
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toe another, you start to get a kn idea of
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just how fast civilization is growing here.
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In this picture.
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This is from the 19 sixties.
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As you can see, there's cabins.
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Um, I think there's tense.
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It's not the most HD quality here.
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Um, and I just thought very just muddy terrain.
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As you can see, uh, this is from the 19
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seventies, and you start to see a more civilized town
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with more complex buildings.
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And then this is finally from the 18 eighties, where
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you start to see ah more complex buildings, um, towns
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with roads, trailways and more sophisticated construction.
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And these are the sorts of things Henry is Ah,
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first hand witness to and to be able to be
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a part of this, uh, sort of economic boon and
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this change in, uh, in society, if you will must
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have been very exciting, to say the least.
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Next will be going over to his beliefs Now.
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Henry had a very strong sense of justice and was
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a man of faith with a good, strong morals.
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He was not afraid to criticize the many monopolies in
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society. His belief on the misuse of public land was
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where he was very vocal about that.
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And he even criticized the exploit mint of the Chinese
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immigrants in the U.
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S. And did so through the San Francisco Daily Evening
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Post, which he had founded and edited for sadly, he
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had Thio shut it down for a lack of not
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being able to pay off the loan he took out
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for it.
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Now, not only was he able to see this, this
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new and and vast industrialized civilization grow right before him,
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but as well as the poverty rate grow along with
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it, and he would come up with his own explanations
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and reforms to try and combat the issues around him.
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Now, before we get into a more in depth analysis
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of his belief system, I'd like to introduce you Thio.
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What? What is economics?
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Economics is a social science that seeks to analyze and
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describe the production, distribution and consumption of wealth.
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Georgia study of economics made him visualize types of economic
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reform that would serve to diminish poverty completely.
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Something that Andrew Carnegie was also trying to do.
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Been in a very different way here on the left.
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I have Henry George here.
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On the right, as you can see, is Andrew Carnegie.
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Um, both were on the goal to put it simply,
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Thio destroy poverty but had very different approaches.
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Now, Andrew Carnegie believed that the rich and poor could
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coexist in society.
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Um, he thought that by donating into civilization, um, he
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would sort of just build.
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These are learning institutions for people toe to grow on
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their own, t make it out of poverty by themselves
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and not necessarily donate to the poor on um, he
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was also a believer of patrimony, which is basically his,
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um giving his wealth to his hairs, which would consist
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of his daughter, his son, people in the family.
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Because he believed that money should stay in the money.
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I'm sorry.
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Should stay in the hands of the wealthy.
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Whereas Henry George believed in Onley having one type of
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tax applied, which was property tax.
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He believed that natural resource is where inherent everybody.
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And he believed that tax or tax on labor and
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capital earnings, where thio just be eliminated to get people
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out of poverty.
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Now, something that I found kind of interesting was that
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Carnegie kind of sets himself up to be this.
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You know, not I don't want to say a God,
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but someone that you know is doing very good.
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But, you know, it's kind of contradicting because, you know,
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he he paid his workers the very least amount that
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he could.
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Um, you guys can draw your own conclusions on who
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you may think, um, is right or wrong.
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Um, but yeah, that That's just kind of what I
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thought. Um, next will be going over thio.
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Georges. Um, a more in depth analysis.
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Geo is, um, also known as Georges.
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Um was the single tax movement that proposed no taxes
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on labor, but that of individuals who own natural resource
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is with he believed was inherent saw.
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Now a natural resource would consist of either land, water
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or air.
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This would, in turn, allow laborers to keep all benefits
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off their labor.
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George saw that as land grew in value, most likely
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due to population increase, landowners should be required to be
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text significantly more for that privilege.
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This idea was widely spread and popular, popularized by his
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book Progress and Poverty, which is said to have sold
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millions of copies and had sold more than any other
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book in the U.
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S. At that time other than the Bible.
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Now I think that goes to say something.
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I think, uh, that many people, you know, kind of
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agreed or at the very least, shared some type of
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common interest with something that was said in progress and
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poverty. And because of this book, hey gained ah!
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Following and and gained support mainly from the working class.
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Now his legacy.
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Henry George ran for mayor of New York in 18
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86 where he was just barely defeated by AB Abram
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Hewitt became in front of soon to be President Theodore
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Roosevelt. You later tried running in later years, but died
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on October 29th, 18 97.
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In his era, he was the third most known person
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on Lee, behind Thomas Edison and Mark Twain.
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Now those are some big names.
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So like to be a part of that, you know,
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top three that that says something.
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Despite his commitment and determination, his single text ideology never
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came to bear fruit in the US, how he had
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hoped for and was only ever implemented in other countries
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cities such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, New Zealand.
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But with their own varying exceptions, he was influenced.
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I'm sorry.
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He has influenced many others, such as Leo Tolstoy, John
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Dewey and many more.
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Okay, these are some of the citations that were used,
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but I'd like to end on Ah, final note here.
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I'd like to read a passage from his book Progress
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and Poverty.
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The truth that I have tried to make clear will
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not find easy acceptance.
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If that could be, it would never have been obscured.
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But it will find friends those who are toil for
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it software for it, if need be, die for it.
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This is the power of truth.
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I think this is a very powerful statement, you know,
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I think it could fit into a lot of context.
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But, you know, from what I've seen, what I've read
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what I've heard on Ah, Henry.
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George. You know, he was to put it simply, just,
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you know, a very, very good man.
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He, um he's like like a Drake had said started
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from the bottom.
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Now we're here.
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You know, Henry, you know, he started from the bottom,
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and he really wanted Thio not only bring himself out
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of poverty, but those around him everybody.
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He didn't want anybody.
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Thio go through that, and I didn't put it in
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this presentation.
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But there was a story where, um he was out
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on the street and he asked this, uh, this stranger
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for $5 and he kind of told him So He's
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like, if this person doesn't give me these $5 I'm
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gonna rob him.
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Now. Luckily enough, this person felt pity on him and
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gave it to him, but he kind of told himself,
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like, Wow, this is what poverty does to somebody.
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This is what it leads to, You know, I got
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you know, he's got kids a wife to maintain and,
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you know, by any means necessary.
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He's gonna have toe do what he's got to dio
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and for him, toe not only voice his opinion but
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to act on it.
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I think that really says a lot about his character
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and a very a very good man.
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Just stand there like that.
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Thank you all for following me through this presentation on
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the life of Henry George and the impact.
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Oh, George is, um, sure.