By a DC insider
So I work in DC, which means that I swim in a sea of irrelevant chatter and gossip masquerading as The Most Important Thing Ever That Must Be Dealt With Now. It’s very annoying, but it’s also impossible to avoid. It’s also why Wall Street, Silicon Valley, and various big grifters can constantly win and game our system. It’s not the money. Yes, they have a lot of money. But they’ve always had a lot of money, and they haven’t always won. It’s because they can pay attention to the long-term while we dance to the tune of the short-term media cycle.
Naked Capitalism is the antidote to this. What you have built – and I speak not just of Yves but of you, the reader, the commenter, the anonymous tipster, the whole community – has cost the bad guys billions of dollars.
Tossing in $10, $100, $1000, or whatever you can afford will pay you back many fold with a better, more stable, and wealthier society. So give via the Tip Jar, which tells you how to donate by check, credit, or debit card. And if you send a check, tell Yves at yves@nakedcapitalism. Put “Check is in the mail” in the subject line and tell her how much is en route so she can include your contribution in her running tally.
The reason is simple. You guys can pay attention to what I cannot. You can pay attention to, say, private equity, and not just to ‘oh private equity is kind of a scam with leverage’, but to the intricate details of specific deals, fees, regulatory institutions and the players within them, and the actual investors who make decisions about where to invest. Yves can write about CALPERS, and get officials fired. And other officials notice. Hundreds of billions of dollars of capital, and the trillions that follow CALPERS and its leadership, notice.
No one’s been paying attention to these people before. So their world has become entombed in cobwebs, corruption, and fecklessness. But now you are paying attention, in a way that is meaningful and actionable. And because you are, so am I. And so are many other policymakers. This means that the bad guys are losing their grip on the world. Because of you. Because of the time, energy, and focus you bring.
So extend this effort just a little bit, and give.
For a small amount of money, you can cost the bad guys a very large amount of money. And spite in pursuit of justice is not only righteous, it’s fun.
Now, we’re often told that this is the case, that we’re on the verge of winning. Well it may not always look like it, but we are. Both party platforms contained Glass-Steagall this year, something you won’t hear on the news because the news is dumb. But that’s evidence that the community here has had a powerful impact on the very structures that underpin our culture. These structures are not covered by the news, but again, the news is dumb.
Ok, now I will point out something that is obvious, but that Yves doesn’t like to talk about. Her time is valuable, and running this site costs money. Not a huge amount of money, not like a few hours of salary for John Stumpf at Wells Fargo, or a few minutes of salary for Jeff Bezos, but enough money to pay the contributors and keep the roof from caving in. It’s money that is extremely well spent. Because it’s not just that the veneer of intellectual conceit that the bad guys rely on is falling apart, it’s that people are starting to realize that we need a more sustainable and equitable society if we are going to survive as a species.
And Yves runs one of the only communities that actually knows how to structure a financial system that can run such a society. So give. Your very life may depend on it. Or not. Either way, spite is fun.
Support these efforts. Give whatever you can, whether it’s $5, $50, or $5000, via the Tip Jar, which tells you how to donate by check, credit, or debit card. And if you send a check, tell Yves at yves@nakedcapitalism. Put “Check is in the mail” in the subject line and tell her how much is en route so she can include your contribution in her running tally.
And you’ll have a good place to hang out in the comments and make fun of the rulers of the world.
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Just got back from swimming and remembered to donate. Not much–adjunct salary and all–but I’ve spent far more over the years on worthless crap.
I watch far too much C-SPAN, so I’ve seen the meaningless blather (and occasional war-mongering) that constitutes “serious political discussion” in the US. NC has been a remarkably shining beacon to cut through the crap. Without it, I never would have been exposed to things like MMT or the fact that economists are, at best, throwing darts and seeing what sticks.
Also nice to see a leftish perspective that isn’t completely economically illiterate.
Here, here!
We are all constantly awash in stupidity and fuzzy thinking. I need my daily dose of NC to stay sane and focused.
I, too, have little to give, but I signed up for a regular monthly subscription.
Writing my check this weekend, Yves!
I’ve already sent over my widow’s mite. Paltry, but heart-felt. Keep up the great work.
And like me probably got the acknowledgement that assures you it’s valued, which is characteristic. Surely nothing heart-felt could be paltry (mean, vile, worthless), but not every online conversation recognizes that as well as the one that goes on here.
Donated this morning!!! Thanks Yves!!!
Shared this one on Facebook and encouraged friends to try the site. Great reasons why in this post. Simple and effective.
I am running for the Kansas Senate. Part of why I decided to run was this site. If we expect things to change, we all have a responsibility to follow through on the information and analysis provided by Yves and Co. with real world actions.
I am excited about the new names I see contributing and hope to see more. Journalism isn’t dead, it just moved. And good journalism needs to be supported. I chipped in what I can. Keep up the good work!
Wow, good for you! And please tell us about your campaign priorities and what you’d like to accomplish.
I was about to recommend to Tony that the next time he posts, he should include his web site/Twitter handle/Facebook page. I see a lot of new/Indy candidates not doing basic promotional stuff, which makes their very hard jobs even harder.
Then it occurred to me that you might consider it link-whoring. Does the site have guidelines about that? It’s a little different than pushing another blog.
My priorities will be to reverse the “Brownback Experiment” (a live testimonial to the folly of the Laffer curve) and set our school financing system straight. I’d suggest NC do an entire rubber-glove investigation of our fine mess, but it’s a little embarrassing as a voter how far we let this go.
At the risk of being accused of shameless promotion, I will include my website http://hunterforkansas.com . All the social media stuff is there. I appreciate the response and encouragement. Just know your work on the site is having real world impacts. I’m only one guy in “flyover country,” but if enough of us get off the couch, things will change for the better.
WAMU is starting their fundraising today, so I’m happy to stiff them once again–because they are by now almost completely pathetic, with a couple of exceptions–and donate to a first class news source that is my first stop on the internet every day. Thank you to the whole NC crew for exceptional work over the years. I honestly don’t know how you do it.
Yep, that was $300 that I felt very good about spending. Thanks again everyone!