#money reforms

[witekspicsbanknotes]

POLAND - design of a commemorative banknote, 100th anniversary of money reforms in 1924 by W. GRABSKI.

[reasonsforhope]

"The South Australian premier, Peter Malinauskas, has announced plans to ban political donations from state elections, paving the way for nation-leading electoral reforms.

The state’s electoral amendment bill announced on Wednesday [June 12, 2024] night will ban electoral donations and gifts to registered political parties, members of parliament and candidates. The state will provide funding to allow parties and candidates to contest elections, run campaigns and promote political ideas.

Malinauskas said his bill would put South Australia on the “cusp of becoming a world leader in ending the nexus between money and political power”.

“We want money out of politics. We know this is not easy. These reforms may well face legal challenge,” Malinauskas said.

“But we are determined to deliver them, with this bill to be introduced in the parliament in the near future.”

In a subtle challenge to his federal and state counterparts, the premier told Guardian Australia he thought it was “something that democracies everywhere should be pursuing”.

The Albanese government pledged to introduce spending and donation caps, and truth in political advertising laws, as revealed by Guardian Australia after the 2022 federal election and confirmed by a parliamentary inquiry that reported last July.

The special minister of state, Don Farrell, said last month an agreement between the major parties and the crossbench had not yet been reached. An amendment bill is still expected by the middle of the year.

In order to level the playing field for newly created parties and independent candidates, the South Australia bill will allow candidates to receive donations up to $2,700, although they will remain subject to campaign spending caps.

Those spending caps have been set at $100,000, multiplied by the number of candidates up to a maximum of $500,000.

If the bill is passed, a registered political party will be entitled to a one-off payment of $200,000 before 31 August 2026. Whichever is lower out of $700,000 or the number of party members of parliament multiplied by $47,000 will also be given to parties for operational funding.

Membership fees will be allowed to continue but will be capped at $100 or less a year.

To deter attempts to circumvent the proposed changes, a maximum penalty of $50,000 or 10 years’ imprisonment will apply.

The guide acknowledges the proposal would lead to a rise in the cost of South Australia’s electoral system, but says a tightening of expenditure and party registration rules will keep costs to a minimum.

The Albanese government is under crossbench pressure to introduce electoral reforms before the next federal election.

Lower house independents, including Kate Chaney, Zali Steggall, the Greens, David Pocock, Lidia Thorpe and the Jacqui Lambie Network, joined forces to introduce a bill for fair and transparent elections in March [2024].

The bill contained a suite of reforms including truth-in-political advertising, a ban on donations from socially harmful industries including fossil fuels, and tightening the definition of gifts to capture major party fundraisers, including dinners and business forums."

-via The Guardian, March 18, 2024

[unopenablebox]

on the other hand the wedding planning subreddits' deep hatred of non-saturday weddings is making me somewhat concerned

i mean i'm sincerely uncertain of whether i will even be properly married in jewish law because 🌸 isn't jewish and you're not getting me anywhere near a ketubah. but. well. i do kind of want a couple of brachot and a chuppah and so on and i suppose in that case i would possibly like to find a reform rabbi who doesn't make my eyes roll back into my head to marry us

but that bring us into conflict with two ideas, the first being that saturday is shabbat, we would like an outdoor ceremony if we can swing it, and any time on saturday when the sun is shining is not a time most rabbis are thrilled to be conducting weddings. and the second being that the general report of the internet is that having a wedding with majority out of town guests on, god forbid, a sunday, means no one will come or else they will all hate us beyond words for making them use pto to travel on monday, and also they won't drink because it's a sunday night and therefore won't dance, and then i suppose they'll all try to kill us with hammers.

[tomorrowusa]

Britain, check your laws regarding big money in politics. You may need to strengthen them!

Elon is making nice with Nigel Farage of the far right "Reform Party" with an eye on insinuating himself into UK politics as he has done in the US.

With Labour's enormous majority in Parliament, the party should take steps to make it difficult for billionaires to manipulate national politics.

Elon Musk has met Nigel Farage and Nick Candy, Reform UK’s new treasurer, at Donald Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago, reviving speculation the tech billionaire could fund the hard-right party. After the meeting on Monday, Reform released photos of Musk sitting with Farage and Candy, and standing with them beneath a portrait of a young Trump at the US president-elect’s Florida home. The party released a statement by the Reform leader and Candy in which they said they had met Musk for an hour. “We learned a great deal about the Trump ground game and will have ongoing discussions on other areas,” it added. “We only have one more chance left to save the west and we can do great things together. Our thanks also to President Trump for allowing us to use Mar-a-Lago for this historic meeting. The special relationship is alive and well.”

Elon Putz isn't messing around with the hapless Conservatives. He wants to supercharge the hard right in Britain.

Musk, who has waged an increasingly personal campaign against Keir Starmer and the Labour party, earlier this month denied a report that he was planning to make a £78m donation to Reform. However, there will now be increased speculation that he could intervene in UK politics and help Reform’s prospects before next year’s local elections. Writing in the Telegraph on Tuesday night, Farage said: “There is little doubt that Musk’s contribution to the scale of the Trump victory is not to be underestimated. I have come home with copious notes of how they increased the turnout, voter registration and so much more, and all of this I intend to implement as part of the professionalisation of our party.”

I don't know exactly how constituents in the UK interact with their MPs. However it's done, this is a good time to contact yours and sound the alarm. Don't let Elon convert the prime minister's residence into Number 10-a-Lago.

[weedle-testaburger]

seeing musk and farage embarrass themselves by having a racist-off

[cafeleningrad]

reading eloquent, well-thought analysis of Nosferatu 2024 but grinding my teeth every time someone calls the cast "Victorian". They're Biedermeier characters. And that fine distinction, connected to certain lack of interest of the German background informing the fictional setting as well as the main inspiration form the 1922 leads to a lot of readings of the plot from the frame that would've been appropriate for a British story. Not a Weimar German post WWI, post-pandemic movie... which Eggers is remarking first and foremost. (The movie was intentionally set in 1838 because it was a sickness year...)

There's a reason Noseratu and Dracula aren't used as interachangeable names. The 1922 movie was distinct enough in themes and identity that one gains more by evaluating the differences to Stoker's novel than what they've in common. Which is only one source for interpretation along with the time, circumstances, and thoughts of the creative team.

[bottlesandbarricades]

Why do we continue to allow Elon Musk to interfere with politics, especially the politics of countries he doesn’t even live in? For years we have talked about the dangers of someone having this much money and influence and now have to watch as he props up and endorses various far-right movements across the world.

[magpie-trove]

Thinking a lot about Skeleton Crew and that George Lucas biography I read

[sophism]

who wants to give me some career advice on this wednesday afternoon when i should be working my real job.....

[quillsword]

Here Come the Rats: Proof that Neither Elites nor Oligarchs Rule America

Oh, settle down. I didn’t say that those rich boys weren’t powerful. They are, but they just found out that they aren’t as powerful as they thought they were.  How do I know?  Simple, look at how many of those guys were at Trump’s inauguration. They were all card carrying Democrats on November 5th but now they’re scrambling to get in Trump’s good graces.  Brown nosing is not the sign of either…

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Meteor Blades at Daily Kos:

Below is an unrolled string of tweets from Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse about our political predicament. More of our Senators should be talking like this and joining Whitehouse’s relentless attacks on the corruption and authoritarianism eating away at democracy.  In my impossible fantasies, the bulk of Democratic Senators would sign onto Whitehouse’s take here and submit it as an Op-Ed to The Washington Post. But that, of course, isn’t going to happen. Here’s Whitehouse in full. (If you prefer, you can read it at X/Twitter. )

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) is right: There is “one crew, one plan, one cancer in the body politic” that is wrecking America’s future, and that is because of right-wing dark money interests and the compromised MAGA majority on SCOTUS seeking to eat away at our once-robust but significantly weakened democracy.

[eaglesnick]

“The game is rigged to work for those who already have money and power.”  Elizabeth Warren

A few months ago, before the election, I wrote:

“A vote for Nigel Farage’s Reform Party is essentially a vote for business and the rich.” (13/06/24)

I pointed out that under Reform UK, the biggest tax breaks would go to big corporations and the already very wealthy.

Richard Tice, former leader of Reform UK is a multi-millionaire. Hedge-fund billionaire Paul Marshal and the Dubai based investment company Legrartum, founded by New Zealand billionaire Christopher Chandler who made his fortune in Russian gas, bankroll right-wing GB News, where Farage and Tice have their own shows.

Multi-millionaire Jeremy Hosking gave £2,578,000 to Reform UK coffers.  Another major donor to Reform is the ex-Bullingdon Club member George Farmer. An “ardent supporter of Donald Trump”, Farmer was CEO of the far-right platform Parler, and is married to Candice Owens, a woman who “promotes far-right ideologies”. In 2023 he joined the board of GB News.

According to Electoral Commission records Chris Harborne handed over £10 million to Brexit/Reform. He gained notoriety when his name appeared multiple times in the Panama Papers. These documents revealed:

 “…off-shore holdings of world political leaders, links to global scandals, and details of  hidden financial dealings of fraudsters, drug traffickers, billionaires, celebrities, sports stars and more”. (International Consortium of Investigative Journalists: 03/03/2016)

Reform UK is essentially funded by the rich.  They see Nigel Farage’s party as a means of furthering their own already substantial wealth. Only an idiot would believe these individuals are spending millions of their own money because they want to improve the lives of ordinary working people or because they want to “protect British values".

Farage makes great play with “protecting British values”:

“Nigel Farage signalled a return to right-wing shock tactics for his Reform UK party, as he used his first election interview to attack Muslims in the UK for “not sharing British values”. (Independent 26/05/24)

Strange then that Farage was willing to take money from a rich Muslim donor during the election campaign.

“Muslim millionaire gives major donation to Reform UK…The precise amount Zia Yusef has given to the party has not been disclosed but  Reform UK claims it is the biggest donation to their election campaign so far”  (BBC News: 19/06/24)

Stranger still for a man who promised “a much more muscular defence of our Christian heritage and our Christian Constitution”,  to appoint Yusef as Reform UK Party Chairman only a few days AFTER the election results.

What Reform UK is really about is protecting the wealthy. Talk of defending British values is just a smoke screen to garner votes, playing on peoples concerns about immigration to get into power. It should therefore come as no surprise that it has been revealed that Nigel Farage is the best paid politician at Westminster.

 We learned this week that Farage is earning ££98,000 a month, working for the right-wing GB News. In addition, Farage has received a £30,000 donation to pay for his trip to support Donald Trump during the US election campaign.

The total number of hours worked b Mr Farage for paid employment outside of Parliament is officially 32hrs a week. Clearly, he is more interested in lining his own pockets than in attending to his duties as an elected MP and looking after the interests of his constituents in Clacton.

If you really want to understand what Reform UK is really about then you cant beat the old adage, "follow the money".

[good-morzan-inheritance-cycle]

MY IPAD BEING DEAD MEANS MY GOOD MORZAN ANIMATICS HAVE BEEN TRASHED! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[eypril-eypril]

the king

when i was doing some research for a historical wilmon fanfic at the royal library’s archive last year i found a short story called the king by martin andersen-nexö from 1914. it was a story of a king who no longer held any power, but was worshipped by his people who didn’t dare to criticize him.  

“let him sit!”, the wise men of the country said. “he’s the unsound fantasies of the people, collected in one hand - it’s the cheapest option. and he is our only memory of the slavery of the past. the more he stands out, the more he brings attention to how far we’ve come.” 

the king stayed on his throne, but he wasn’t allowed to speak. the people traveled from east and west to see him, and he had to sit nicely on the throne while the people looked at him. meanwhile, the people invented a road of light that would lead talented people to success, no matter their social class. but the king’s throne cast a shadow over the road of light, which paralyzed the entire country. 

after some time, the king asked if no one was upset with him. the people didn’t dare to be mad at him, because he sat so nicely on his throne. finally, the king had had enough and his soul left his body, but his body remained sitting. once his soul was gone, nothing stopped him from sitting nicely. he sat there, deaf and blind, until humanity accidentally pushed his throne so that it fell over.  

i love this story because in my opinion, it pinpoints some of the reasons as to why i think monarchs - both the real and fictional ones - shouldn’t exist. it’s fascinating how a story published in 1914 so perfectly describes the themes of a tv show from 2021. because this could have been a fabel about wilhelm, who is forced to sit nicely on his throne as tourist attraction and a symbol of the past, which in turn harms not only the people but also wilhelm himself. and if he continues to sit nicely, his soul will eventually leave his body, because it won’t be able to stand it any longer. 

[kendrixtermina]

It's very easy to buy the US government.

Some have said that blaming the complicity of the US govern on the Israel lobby is an "antisemitic conspiracy" (even though the campaign donations are plain for everyone to see & no one said anything about equating them with all Jews - indeed many of the lobbyist are evangelical Christians... who seem to care precious little about the Christian Palestinian minority.)

So I want to stress the following:

This isn't unique to Israel AT ALL.

Money in politics, lobbying & corruption has been a mounting problem in the US (and to a lesser extent, but still very significant extent, other western countries)

US Politicians are, frankly, easily bought. Biden's bought by Israel, the previous guy was likely bought by Russia.

Fossil Fuel Companies buy them. Big Pharma buy them. Anti-Union ppl buy them. The Military Industrial Complex buy them (and are as guilty here as the Israel lobby) - and each of these had their propaganda campaigns to rile up people against unions for example, or spread climate denialism.

This was an ongoing, unfixed problem for ages, and now it has lead to catastrophe.

Since the "money is speech" decision under Reagan, nearly everything in the US has gone to shit. That's when poverty began increasing. That's when wages and life expectancy stopped going up.

This is why Americans are so poor. Why they have poor healthcare. Why the USA keeps poluting. And yes, why foreign governments can just buy whatever policy they want if they offer, say, oil in return.

This is a corruption problem. Some may term it a capitalism problem, too, but even if you don't want to go so far, it's just plain corruption. No conspiracy required.

It's just chaos. The throne is empty. There is no great mastermind behind anything. No one's in charge but market forces and inertia. Like many disastrous events in history, it's a clusterfuck.

Notice also how when I say, "Trump had financial ties to Russia", I'm not accused of wanting to kill all Slavs or anti-slavic prejudice? You immediately realize I mean the government, not Russians in general including average joe russians living in foreign countries?

[cosmic-walkers]

After delving into tudor history again, since college....it always shocks me that people think that thomas wanted anne dead more than henry and that idk...henry wasn't the one who made thomas put the charges on anne.

i'm not excusing thomas and how he fucked anne over, and i know they had fall outs, but at the same time he couldn't put her on trial, or start any of that without henry wanting it. the way henry has shimmied his way out of being directly tied to anne's death, but rather thomas seems to be the scapegoat always surprises me.

ppl act like henry didn't get married like a week after.