Henry Bauer

The CEO-to-worker pay ratio at S&P 500 companies last year was 285-to-1. The median employee would have had to start working in the year 1740 to earn what the average CEO received in 2024. Is it any wonder why so many think the system is rigged?

YouTube video by The Rest Is Politics Will Palestine Survive Long Enough to Be Recognised?

youtube.com/watch?v=qBxU...

I have been promoting artists for over 30 yrs. And yes, as the art is sold at a profit, it makes me/the artists - by definition - de facto, participatory capitalists. BUT — profit is not the be-all and end-all. The ART is! AND - the artist receives the lion’s share of the revenue.

#Art

Angry at Mira Murati for refusing Meta's $1 Billion Job Offer; CEO Mark Zuckerberg launched a full-scale … - The Times of India Tech News : Meta's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, reportedly attempted to acquire Mira Murati's startup, Thinking Machines Lab, with a $1 billion offer. After Murati decli

Predatory capitalism is bad enough in and of itself, but petty predatory #capitalism is on a whole different level. $ 1.5 billion pay packages; their greed and perverse lusting after money knows no boundaries. It truly is beyond vile.

timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/t...

Commentary: How the economy went from a 3% annual growth rate to the brink of recession just two days later On Wednesday, the government said second-quarter GDP growth was 3% annualized. On Friday, the government said job growth had cratered, pointing to recession. How to interpret these numbers.

Who pays Trump’s tariffs? Americans, but especially low-income Americans, whose disposable income will decline by as much as 3.4%, or $1,200 a year. (Yale Budget Lab)

www.latimes.com/business/sto...

How did John Oliver become the moral compass of the US? | Arwa Mahdawi He and other late-night hosts are rare voices when it comes to honest discussion of Gaza and Trump – which says something frightening about our public discourse, writes Guardian columnist Arwa Mahdawi

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

YouTube video by MSNBC Maddow: U.S. profoundly changed by authoritarian leader; 'We're beyond waiting and seeing now'

youtube.com/watch?v=VQbD...

US may demand $15,000 deposit for visas The 12-month pilot programme aims to curb visa overstays, an official notice says.

“The US may require foreign nationals from certain countries to pay a $15,000 (£11,300) deposit for a tourist or business visa.”

Good luck with that. Who in their right mind would travel to the U.S. now, unless they absolutely have to.

The death knell for #USTourism.
www.bbc.com/news/article...

“The advantage of wisdom is that you can play dumb. The opposite is more difficult”

— Kurt Tucholsky

Corbyn hits back at Rayner’s war on allotments Former Labour leader and vegetable-growing fan accuses Housing Secretary of ‘trying to put a nail in the coffin’ of a long British tradition

Is this Government going to put the nail in the coffin of the joy of digging ground for potatoes on a cold, wet February Sunday afternoon?

The battle for the grass roots is on!

www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...

“Die Zeit entstellt
Alle Lebewesen.
Ein Hund bellt.
Er kann nicht lesen.
Er kann nicht schreiben.
Wir können nicht bleiben.”

— Joachim Ringelnatz

www.gedichte7.de/ich-habe-dic...

Time disbowels
The living breed.
A dog growls.
He cannot read.
He cannot write
We cannot sit tight.

English translation of an excerpt of the poem, “I love you so”, by Joachim Ringelnatz (1883 - 1934)

#Poetry
#GermanLiterature
#GermanPoetry

A small, annual wealth tax (2% to 5%) on the world’s wealthiest billionaires and multi-millionaires could raise enough revenue, to lift 2.3 billion people out of poverty and deliver universal health care and social protection for an estimated 3.6 billion people.

#TaxTheRich now.
#TaxBillionaires

“Oh you’re the ones who want to take everything away from people”.

The short answer: Nope.

A post-capitalist society doesn’t seek to deprive people of their personal possessions, but rather seek liberation from the stress and exploitation that come with chasing more than we truly need.

“We are more and more moving away from a social market economy to capitalism, where the return is the only thing that counts…That’s a mistake. It’s pure capitalism without social responsibility. The other Marx could still be proven right. And that, I would find awful".

— Cardinal Reinhard Marx

Catholic cardinal: Karl Marx is a source of Catholic social teaching Cardinal Reinhard Marx has given an interview to the German Sunday newspaper the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung on the occasion of the 200th birthday of the philosopher with whom he shares a s...

“We are all on the shoulders of Karl Marx. Without Marx, there would be no Catholic social teaching.”

Appropriate food for thought, on a Sunday.

www.acton.org/publications...

YouTube video by Cathy Fink Marcy Marxer IT AINT GONNA GO AWAY - ODE TO THE EPSTEIN FILES

Now that’s the spirit.

Fiercely independent Americans at their best.

Brilliant.

#FolkMusic
#EpsteinFiles

youtube.com/watch?v=R8AG...

Strange exchange with an American yesterday. Told her that I have decided to cancel all travel to the U.S. — for now. “Oh, no one will give you a hard time, that’s just the fake news stirring things up”. She was 100% oblivious to the documented, increased harassment of foreign visitors to the U.S.

A 10% drop in international tourism this year is estimated to cost the U.S. $23 billion in GDP and 230,000 jobs.

Let that sink in.

That’s 23,000,000,000 dollars and a nearly a quarter of a million jobs.

And yes, my heart goes out to all the decent, hard working Americans in the tourism industry.

One day, the nightmare that has befallen the USA will end. Nothing last lasts forever. The Assad dictatorship lasted 53 yrs; the Third Reich a mere 12. When that day comes, artists, cartoonists, writers, etc., deserve a collective THANK YOU for so brilliantly illustrating these challenging times.

OK, and now for something really off the wall…or “out of the sea”.

A fossilised sponge.

The oldest sponges were thought to be about 520m years old, from the Cambrian period, however some can be as old as 650m years.

#Fossils
#Geology
#Science
#Evolution

www.theguardian.com/science/2010...

YouTube video by Channel 4 News Trump orders nuclear subs to be repositioned 'closer to Russia'

Typically, I wouldn’t not re-post a 3 minute news clip. However this one sums up quite well, and is a snapshot of, the bizarre times we live in: A narcissist wannabe despot, desperately doing anything he can to inflate his pathetic, insecure little ego.

youtu.be/sTRmtQAEqLY?...

Right. Let’s get on with it.

Trump fired the person who released the poor job numbers showing his failed economy. I’m thinking of firing my bathroom scale.

Was die Atombombe über uns verrät Vor 80 Jahren fiel die Atombombe. Seither lebt die Welt mit der Drohung totaler Vernichtung. Warum die Bombe bleibt – und was das über uns verrät.

taz.de/Was-die-Atom...

YouTube video by BBC News Trump deploys nuclear submarines after “provocative comments” by former Russian President | BBC News

There we go!

Surely the threat of a nuclear ☢️ war will take the focus of the U.S. national conversation, away from the #EpsteinFiles.

#WWIII
#NuclearWar

youtube.com/watch?v=jWDL...

YouTube video by MSNBC 'This is what cartoon dictators do': Analyst slams Trump firing labor statistics boss

This is not a case of Schadenfreude — indeed quite the opposite: It is quite surreal, as we witness the U.S. drift more and more towards being a full-on authoritarian state, in real time. Don’t like the news, the facts? Easy. Shoot the messenger.

youtube.com/watch?v=k2OD...

You couldn’t make this sh*t up if you tried.

Calling the U.S. a Banana Republic is being disrespectful to — Banana Republics.

Hats off to all the great cartoonists, who so brilliantly illustrate these challenging times with their artistry and humour.

It is outrageous. And the full pardon is just around the corner. No doubt the paperwork is being drawn up or is done. Full pardon, in return for her silence on the matter.