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Pauline von Hellermann

#FollowTheMoney 🧵 29/n Another overlap with #AcademicVenting 🧵- 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

8 comments
Pauline von Hellermann replied to Pauline von Hellermann

#FollowTheMoney 🧵 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.

Graph showing US income tax rates for the richest plummeting from 56% in 1960 to 23% in 2018 - lower than working class America s 
Rutger Bregman &
@rcbregman
Follow
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.
Pauline von Hellermann replied to Pauline von Hellermann

#FollowTheMoney 🧵 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

Pauline von Hellermann replied to Pauline von Hellermann

#FollowTheMoney 🧵 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_

In 1956, Ray Kroc met Harry J. Sonneborn, a
former vice president of finance for Tastee-
Freez, who offered an idea to accelerate the
growth and investment grade of Kroc's
planned McDonald's operation: to own the
real estate upon which future franchises
would be built. Kroc hired Sonneborn and his
plan was executed by forming a separate
company, Franchise Realty Corp, to hold
McDonald's real estate. The new company
signed leases and procured mortgages for
both land and buildings, passing these costs
on to the franchisee with a 20-40% markup
and a reduced initial deposit of $950. [12][131
The "Sonneborn model" of real-estate
ownership within the franchise persists to
this day, and may be the most important
financial decision in the company's history.
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.
Pauline von Hellermann replied to Pauline von Hellermann

#FollowTheMoney 🧵 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 🧵 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.

Opinion
I'm a British farmer.
Here's the scary truth
about what's happening
to our crops
Guy Singh-
Watson
The climate crisis is making the farming
business unsustainable - and without
support for us, food security will suffer too
Guy Singh-Watson is the founder of
organic veg box company Riverford
Follow Guy Singh-Watson
0))
Notifications off
258
Wed 8 May 2024 15.26 BST
Pauline von Hellermann replied to Pauline von Hellermann

#FollowTheMoney 🧵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.

Photo of a veg box from above, eggs on top, note saying they were closing.
Pauline von Hellermann replied to Pauline von Hellermann

#FollowTheMoney 🧵 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

Thousands of Columbia University Alumni Pledge to Withhold All Contributions to School Until Pro-Palestinian Student Demands are Met
New York, NY - A group representing thousands of Columbia University alumni from its 20 schools and across decades of graduating classes has pledged to withhold all "financial, programmatic, and
academic support" in an open letter to Columbia University's President Minouche Shafik and its trustees until the university meets demands related to divestment, student discipline, and community
safety.
In the letter released this week, alumni estimate that the pledge puts $41 million in financial contributions at risk. It was issued in addition to petitions calling for a stop to the unjust expulsion and
suspensions of student protesters, and nearly two score letters previously sent to the administration representing thousands of alumni who graduated between 1966 and 2023 from all of the University's
schools, and identify across a variety of racial, ethnic and religious groups.
"I sign because my Jewish values of inquiry, empathy, and moral courage compel me to," said an alumna of CC '03 and CLS '10 who grew up in both New York and Jerusalem.

(Half of text can provide more on request)
Pauline von Hellermann replied to Pauline von Hellermann

#FollowTheMoney 🧵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

Experiencing homelessness
As per 10 000 people, 2023 or latest year (point-in-time data)
UK (England) *
France
Czechia
Germany
United States
New Zealand
Australia
Canada
Portugal
Denmark
Sweden
Spain
Mexico
Norway
Korea
Finand
30.7
28.4
25.9
19.2
13.5
12.4
10.5
10.3
6.3
5.5
5.4
3.6
2.6
1.6
1.6
42.6
10
20
Note: People experiencing homelessness (PIT data) who are living rough or staying in emergency
accommodation (ETHOS Light 1, 2, 3), as reported by governments. *Data for the United Kingdom
(England) refer to the number of households experiencing homelessness per 10 000 households for
ETHOS Light 2 and 3; data also include people enumerated in the Rough Sleeping Snapshot (ETHOS 1).
Source: OECD Affordable Housing Database, HC3.1 People experiencing homelessness.
30
40
OECD
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