By Tony Butka, a former California state official, arbitrator, and activist who writes at CityWatch
Back in 2007/2008 when the financial services crash happened, I lost around 40% of the value of our so-called ‘retirement portfolio’. You would think that as a professional mediator handling public sector contract disputes up and down California, as well as being reasonably politically connected, that I would have had a clue, but no. So I got depressed, withdrew, and pouted. In retrospect, it was pretty pitiful.
Then I discovered a book called ECONNED, that actually explained in clear language exactly how all of these events took place & why. I was hooked – never again. From there I discovered Naked Capitalism, and discovered an entire world out there of people who know what they’re talking about, expose the soft underbelly of our corrupt financial and political system, and are actually doing something! You know, folks like Lambert & Wolf Richer, and too many more to name individually.
I was hooked! More important, I was motivated to get off my pity party and start to look around and do something myself. As a retired employee & beneficiary of CalPERS, the Naked Capitalism stories got me up and running. I started talking to people, doing research, and ran into the arrogant siege mentality of my very own pension plan. I have never seen this level of self-important groupthink outside of small, rural, tinpot cities. Egad. One thing led to another, and I’ve been writing articles about them ever since. I have also been working on my union and management friends to help them understand that the benefits of CalPERS are not guaranteed no matter what, and they better get with the program and start working on CalPERS before they do something terminal.
From there I started writing weekly articles for a Los Angeles blog, CityWatch, and am proud to say that almost all of the LA City Council walk quickly the other way when they see me, not to mention the Mayor. I’m back to being a proud progressive muckraker. My old friends from UC Berkeley in the 60’s now talk to me again. Life is good. It’s cool.
And I owe it all to Naked Capitalism waking me up. It’s my first read when I get up, and never fails to provide meaningful information that makes me think.
So please join me and support the Best Blog on the Planet! Go to the Tip Jar right NOW, which tells you how go give via check, credit, or debit card. Whether you can give $5 or $500 or $5000, all amounts make a difference. And dig deep. My personal experience proves investing in this community is an information and and political force multiplier.
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Agree that this is an incredible blog.
I used to write comments on dailykos.com and there used to be some people I considered excellent.
Around election time, they are all about the horse race. Now they are totally all in for Hillary and many, if not most, Bernie supporters have moved on to other places.
I found out about this blog, Naked Capitalism, from articles posted on dailykos by bobswern who had written permission to post entire articles on dailykos. So I would look occasionally at this blog but never made a comment and felt that it was too much into financial matters for me.
Then at the Net Roots 2016 conference I met David Dayen and bought an autographed copy of “Chain of Title.” I started following him and signed up for his weekly update. And David has posted here.
With those two encounters, I started spending more time here and follow Yves on twitter. I sent in a check a couple of days ago to support this excellent work.
The corporate media has failed.
There are a couple of articles in Columbia Journalism Review as part of a series on “Media In The Age of Trump”. It probably was nakedcapitalism that provided the link to the first excellent article about how the media has fallen for the spectacle and Trump is playing the role by his actions.
Probably posted here before, but here is the first article
The media’s Weimar moment:
Media in the Age of Trump
Next is the second article in the series posted a couple of days ago
Donald Trump and the liberation of news:
Media in the Age of Trump
Could it be that Trump is leading to a revitalizing of journalism as they realize how bad they have been? Corporate media failed in the rush to the Iraq war and have done it again in this empty campaign.
Friends here in Columbus OH who have been working on election integrity for over a decade noted that Trump has made the issue of voting a main stream media issue for the first time. And they continue to push for paper ballots and election integrity.
Strange ways in which Trump could lead to needed change if the country does not devolve into Fascism.
Great job you are doing!
There are powerful motives that originally drove me here, as well. I’m sure that’s true for many of us.
The quality of information, civility, humor, and Antidotes keep me coming.
Also, congrats on making yourself politicallyRadioactive.
Given the corruption of finance and politics today, it’s a badge of honor as far as I’m concerned.
Ha, when politicians know you well enough to avoid you, you’ve joined an elite. And not a fake elite like the politicians avoiding you either.
+1
“You should believe that the world is controlled by a small group of super-intelligent elites, and that group is you and your friends.” ~RAW
” and am proud to say that almost all of the LA City Council walk quickly the other way when they see me, not to mention the Mayor. ”
BRAVO!!!
I wish there would be a meetup in LA so all us LA peeps could meet each other.
$50 — and a cute little card — is in the mail from me.