Financial affairs

for more great cartoons dealing with the financial system, see these, from the Michael Journal, a Canadian Catholic magazine dedicated to social justice:

http://www.michaeljournal.org/gallery.htm

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The disappearing middle class: not by accident

The Big Obscenity: A Trillion Dollars a Year to the Richest 1%
(That’s seven times more than the budget deficits of all 50 states combined)January 20, 2011 “Commondreams

” – -If you make less than $114,000 a year (90% of us), you’ve been financially damaged by the flow of income to the richest 1% of Americans over the past 30 years. Based on Internal Revenue Service figures, if middle- and upper-middle class families had maintained the same share of American productivity that they held in 1980, they would be making an average of $12,500 more per year.

If you make less than $160,000 a year (95% of us), your household value has decreased, percentage-wise, over the last 25 years. According to noted researcher Edward Wolff, only the top 5% of American families increased their percentage of the country’s total household net worth from 1983 to 2007.

U.S. GDP has quintupled since 1980, and we all contributed to that success. It’s not unreasonable to say that upper-middle class families should have maintained the same size of their slice of pie.

But if earnings since 1980 were based on this measure of productiveness, the richest 1% of Americans would be making $1 trillion less per year.

A trillion dollars a year. That’s more than we spend on the entire military.

A trillion dollars a year. That’s seven times more than the budget deficits of all 50 states combined. Many states have been forced to cut police forces and teachers to balance their budgets.

A trillion dollars a year. Yet Congress just voted to continue the Bush tax cuts….

Read more by clicking Commondreams link above

 

By Paul Buchheit

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The sad state of US economic affairs

How Can the Richest 1 Percent Be Winning This Brutal Class War Against 99% of Us?Who are we? All the rest. By Larry Beinhart January 21, 2011 “AlterNet   Which poses an interesting question. ” — Who are they? The richest 1 percent. And maybe the next 9 percent.   How has a tiny fraction of the population – which is diverse in many ways – arranged for their narrowest economic interests to dominate the economic interests of the vast majority? And, while they’re at it, endanger the economic well-being of our nation, and bring the financial system of the whole world to the brink of collapse. They have money. We have votes. Theoretically, that means we should have the government. Theoretically, government should be a countervailing force against the excesses of big money, take the long view for the good of the nation, and watch out for the majority. Let alone for the poor and downtrodden. What we actually have is one political party that is flat out the party of big money and another party that sells out to big money. Well, at least we have safety nets. George Bush’s biggest regret is that he didn’t privatize social security. Why so eager? One reason is that it is a big pile of money. Absolutely gigantic. It drives the bankers and brokers crazy that they can’t get their hands on it. The other is ideological hatred. Stephen Moore (senior fellow at the Cato Institute, contributing editor of National Review and president of the Free Enterprise Fund) wrote, “Social Security is the soft underbelly of the welfare state. If you can jab your spear through that, you can undermine the whole welfare state.” Where Bush failed, Obama has now taken the first step. His recent tax deal includes cuts on employee contributions to Social Security. Which means defunding, weakening, and setting a new precedent, that Social Security contributions can be cut to “stimulate” the economy. The crash has put the states in trouble. Rather than raise taxes, or borrow, several have decided on cuts to Medicaid, the program that services several categories of low income people: pregnant women, children under 19, the blind, disabled, or who need nursing home care. If you’re a poor kid who needs a liver transplant, you can beg, rob a convenience store, or die. This shift to the right is a triumph of a long and very well-funded propaganda campaign. Every time I read an op-ed in the New York Times that was written by a “senior scholar” from the Hoover Institute or a “fellow” from the Cato Institute, I want to scream, please replace that with “paid whore funded by psychotic right-wing billionaire.” Which is significantly more accurate….. Read more by clicking on link above

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another page on the Central Verein

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more on the Central Verein

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another page from Jubilee

Moving right along, from back to front. on the Central Verein:

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Remembering the Central Verein

Today, when we Americans are seeing the complete demolition of the social safety net, labor laws, banking laws and the top 1 percent of Americans are sucking out all the wealth of the country, here is a timely reminder, from the Catholic monthly Jubilee, July 1955:

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For those who think it is cold

We all watched this the other day, a great documentary, Nanook of the North:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwFse6OUZ-Q

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This is too funny!

The whole comic cannot fit here, so follow the link

Tom the Dancing Bug: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Corrected to reflect modern sensibilities)

Ruben Bolling at 7:28 AM Wednesday, Jan 12, 2011  

 

TomTheDancingBug, Wide • Tags: comics

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German-American contributions in Buffalo

Buffalo’s German-led IndustryBuffalo’s German population in 1901 included a number of very influential, often wealthy businessmen, many of whom attained prominance through the business dominated by Buffalo’s German population throughout the 19th century–brewing. In the 1840’s small plants had first been established by such Buffalo brewing pioneers Jacob Roos, J. F. Schanzlin and Hoffman, and Joseph Friedman. By the latter part of the nineteenth century, however, breweries with names like Germania, Magnus-Beck, Gerhard-Lang, and the German-American Brewing Company were successfully competing with their counterparts in cities like Milwaukee. In 1896, Buffalo’s 19 breweries produced an output of 652,340 barrels. The majority of these companies were still managed by German-American founders and/or their descendents. William Simon, Edward G. Becker, Alois and Philip Schaeffer, Charles Pankow, Christian Trapp, Col. John L. Schwarts–all were big names in the brewing industry who were also prominent Buffalo citizens.

Buffalo’s brewers were major investors in the Pan-American Exposition as well. According to the Buffalo Commerical, by February 1, 1899, Buffalo brewers had purchased $55,800 in subscriptions of Pan-American Exposition stock.

 

Above: The German-American Brewery Right: The Gerhard-Beck Brewery

Of course, brewing was not the only area where Buffalo’s german population excelled. By 1901 the city also boasted German-American leaders like Charles Fix (business & politics), Frank Snyder (trucking and cartage), Edward G. Becker (brewing & banking), George Zimmerman (lumber & banking) Christian Klinck and Jacob Dold (meatpacking), F.C.M. Lautz (soap), Jacob Schoellkopf and Sons (tanning, flour mills, hydro-electric power, brewing, banking, etc.), George Urban Jr. (flour mills, hydro-electric power), and Christian and Louis Stephen Kurtzmann (pianos). Conrad Diehl, the mayor of Buffalo in 1901, was also of German descent.

Louis Stephen Kurtzmann President of C. Kurtzmann & Co., Manufacturer of Pianos

Return to topBuffalo’s German-American Leaders and the Pan-American ExpositionBecause the Pan-American Exposition was, after all, a way to show off the city and its industries, many of these individuals worked hard to bring the to Buffalo. Four members of the Board of Directors of the Exposition were either German or of German descent–Conrad Diehl, August Esenwein, George Urban, Jr., and F.C.M. Lautz.

Conrad Diehl, Mayor of Buffalo

August Carl Esenwein, Architect

F.C.M. Lautz

George Urban, Jr.

The architect who designed the Temple of Music, August Esenwein, was from Germany, as were many of the musicians and directors who performed at the Pan American Exposition. The huge “Saengerfest” or festival of German choral music, which took place during the Exposition, brought at least ten thousand people to the fair. “Alt Nürnberg”, or “old Nuremberg,” replicated several historic buildings in Nuremberg, as well as a large open-air restaurant and concert area on the Midway. Within the buildings were reproductions of artwork and other cultural treasures of Germany.

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