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Pauline von Hellermann

#FollowTheMoney đŸ§” 24/n. Like, watching the blue tits busy building their nest in the box outside our kitchen window, feeding their young, flying back and forth: most of us humans are so much closer to them than to scheming billionaires.

And: this forever (i hope forever- in peril due to other!) reality - of birds, trees, parents hugging children, just enjoying being together - this is perhaps the real reality. Or at least always also there. Mustn’t forget!
11 April at 7:39 | Open on mastodon.green
13 comments
Pauline von Hellermann replied to Pauline von Hellermann

#FollowTheMoney đŸ§” 25/n back to a reality most of us in the UK inhabit on a daily basis: the crumbling public sector. Found this report on NHS dentistry’s struggle for survival really very moving just now. #NHS #dentistry #UKpolitics

bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001y0kf

13 April at 10:39 | Open on mastodon.green
Pauline von Hellermann replied to Pauline von Hellermann

#FollowTheMoney đŸ§” 26/n An outstanding review by Will Davies (my Goldsmiths colleague) of Brett Christopher’s “The Price is Wrong”: about our neoliberal political economy (using a Braudelian distinction btw “the market” and “capitalism” - SO useful) and how this explain why investments in fossil fuels continue to vastly outstrip those in renewables. Key point: Capitalism IS rent-seeking.
#ClimateEmergency

lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n07/wi

#FollowTheMoney đŸ§” 26/n An outstanding review by Will Davies (my Goldsmiths colleague) of Brett Christopher’s “The Price is Wrong”: about our neoliberal political economy (using a Braudelian distinction btw “the market” and “capitalism” - SO useful) and how this explain why investments in fossil fuels continue to vastly outstrip those in renewables. Key point: Capitalism IS rent-seeking.
#ClimateEmergency

18 April at 8:53 | Open on mastodon.green
Pauline von Hellermann replied to Pauline von Hellermann

#FollowTheMoney đŸ§”27/n The piece btw contains a necessary critique of my sci-fi “money rules” take a few posts above. Although i still like the idea of all this being a kind of superorganism. But yes, it is about power - political economy, not just economy.
18 April at 9:03 | Open on mastodon.green
Pauline von Hellermann replied to Pauline von Hellermann

#FollowTheMoney đŸ§” 28/n But honestly, just read this piece - everything in this đŸ§” in one brilliant analysis. And, crucially, using to explain lack of climate action. This is what everyone, each one of us, needs to think about! “Ecologically speaking, neoliberalism couldn’t have come at a worse time.”

Here Christopher’s book itself:
The Price is Wrong. Why Capitalism Won’t Save The Planet.

versobooks.com/en-gb/products/

#FollowTheMoney đŸ§” 28/n But honestly, just read this piece - everything in this đŸ§” in one brilliant analysis. And, crucially, using to explain lack of climate action. This is what everyone, each one of us, needs to think about! “Ecologically speaking, neoliberalism couldn’t have come at a worse time.”

18 April at 9:08 | Open on mastodon.green
Pauline von Hellermann replied to Pauline von Hellermann

#FollowTheMoney đŸ§” 29/n Another overlap with #AcademicVenting đŸ§”- because it’s all of a piece! Because the crisis in HE is a key phenomenon in all this!

This great piece by Jessica Wildfire really needs to be read in full, but this extract most apt here:

“Universities aren't institutions of knowledge anymore. They're assets. They're revenue streams. If they're not generating money for the top, then they only pose a threat, and they have to be weakened and destroyed.”

mastodon.ar.al/@aral/112359018

#FollowTheMoney đŸ§” 29/n Another overlap with #AcademicVenting đŸ§”- because it’s all of a piece! Because the crisis in HE is a key phenomenon in all this!

This great piece by Jessica Wildfire really needs to be read in full, but this extract most apt here:

“Universities aren't institutions of knowledge anymore. They're assets. They're revenue streams. If they're not generating money for the top, then they only pose a threat, and they have to be weakened and destroyed.”

30 April at 9:23 | Open on mastodon.green
Pauline von Hellermann replied to Pauline von Hellermann

#FollowTheMoney đŸ§” 30/n

Wow. As Bregman says: Stunning graph: the plummeting tax rates of the richest Americans. For the first time in history, billionaires have a lower effective tax rate than working-class Americans.

Look at 1980 - I do continue to think that *everything* could have been different if Carter hadn’t lost to Reagan.
4 May at 6:31 | Open on mastodon.green
Pauline von Hellermann replied to Pauline von Hellermann

#FollowTheMoney đŸ§” 31/n I think the graph came from this New York Times piece but don’t have a subscription so can’t check.

nytimes.com/interactive/2024/0

4 May at 6:38 | Open on mastodon.green
Pauline von Hellermann replied to Pauline von Hellermann

#FollowTheMoney đŸ§” 32/n Watched “The Founder” on Netflix yesterday, about McDonalds. Really interesting- would recommend it. Particularly how the real breakthrough came when Kroc, advised by Sonneborn, went for real estate. Checked it on Wikipedia:

“McDonald's present-day real-estate holdings represent $37.7 billion on its balance sheet, about 99% of the company's assets and 35% of its annual gross revenue.”

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_
5 May at 6:59 | Open on mastodon.green
Pauline von Hellermann replied to Pauline von Hellermann

#FollowTheMoney đŸ§” 33/n

Today an overlap with #ClimateDiary: British farmers are struggling due to climate change, Brexit AND supermarket power:

Most farmers receive less than 1% of the profit made from the food they grow. Of the 20% food inflation experienced by the public a minuscule proportion made its way back to the farmer. Tesco made a £2.3bn profit last year, while 49% of fruit and veg farmers fear they’ll be out of business before the end of this one.

theguardian.com/commentisfree/

#FollowTheMoney đŸ§” 33/n

Today an overlap with #ClimateDiary: British farmers are struggling due to climate change, Brexit AND supermarket power:

Most farmers receive less than 1% of the profit made from the food they grow. Of the 20% food inflation experienced by the public a minuscule proportion made its way back to the farmer. Tesco made a £2.3bn profit last year, while 49% of fruit and veg farmers fear they’ll be out of business before the end of this one.
9 May at 5:56 | Open on mastodon.green
Pauline von Hellermann replied to Pauline von Hellermann

#FollowTheMoney đŸ§”34/n #ClimateDiary

We had a veg box for 12 years from Hankham Organics; 3 weeks ago we suddenly had a note with our box that they were closing, as it wasn’t working financially any more. 😱😱😱

And a fish merchant who we got smoked salmon for Christmas from closed this year too, for the same reasons. Plus Goldsmiths’ woes of course (#AcademicVenting). So many good, small organisations struggling and ending.
9 May at 6:06 | Open on mastodon.green
Pauline von Hellermann replied to Pauline von Hellermann
Pauline von Hellermann replied to Pauline von Hellermann

#FollowTheMoney đŸ§” 36/n Here a positive, progressive use of money flows:

1400+ Columbia University alumni from its 20 schools have pledged to withhold all “financial, programmatic, and academic support” until school meets demands related to divestment, student discipline, and community safety.
Group website says over $63 million of donations at risk. #Gaza #studentprotests
9 May at 17:23 | Open on mastodon.green
Pauline von Hellermann replied to Pauline von Hellermann

#FollowTheMoney đŸ§”37/n

Even though all of us living in the UK know that homelessness is terrible (and has grown exponentially since 2010), it is still shocking to see this graph.

(There are notes on methods: all countries included both rough sleeping and invisible homelessness).

oecd.org/social/homelessness-c
15 May at 11:22 | Open on mastodon.green
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