By Lambert Strether of Corrente
Dear Readers,
As you know, I am diffident, and as a good WASP, I hate talking about money — and if you cringe to hear me talking about about I hate to talk about, you can just jump down to the tip jar — and this year I have even more excuses for diffidence. However, this is the time of year for the Water Cooler annual fundraiser, and I hope that you — even in the teeth, or rather the spikes, of the corona virus — will do what it takes to keep Water Cooler going. Our goal is 300 donors. What Yves wrote in 2017 is still true:
Besides providing general business news, Water Cooler files all the scamming and grifting and phishing under the heading of “The Bezzle,” provides a contextual view of official statistics, maintains a watch on important indices, and follows shipping and supply chain news as a non-financial window into globalization. In politics, Water Cooler provides detailed, gritty coverage of important races, of sausage-making on policy, especially health care, and tracks the continuing legitimacy crisis of the political class as a whole, especially out in the “flyover states.” In addition, Water Cooler covers ecological news under climate change, and gives dispatches from the front of Class Warfare. That’s a lot of material to cover and bullshit to wade through on a daily basis!
To 2017’s work load, I’ve also added a regular polling feature based on the work of alert reader dk, counters for the primaries, and at reader request, coverage of #COVID19 statistics, as well as the Greed and Fear meter and Rapture Index. I sit down and open a new file at 11:30AM (if I don’t oversleep). When you count in selecting the day’s plant, I’m finished with the regular features and in a little under an hour. I then have perhaps 90 minutes to write the rest of the post! Granted, I do updates, but you can see I’m very, very productive (and this doesn’t count reading to stay on top of the news flow, which I do constantly). I’m not lollygagging about!*
A word on #COVID19, part of the constant reading and link curation that I do: I am covering this topic — especially the epidemiology, policy, and pragmatic aspects (masks; isolation projects) — with sufficient care, I trust, but I also feel it’s necessary to create some space that is not about #COVID19. Hence, I continue coverage of climate, the 2020 campaign, and by a natural extension of thought topics like the Internet of Sh*t. I hope that is congenial to you.
2019’s reasons for donating still hold true:
1) You should support Water Cooler to protect us all against increased levels of ambient bullshit. If we had Bullshit Meter, in 2020 it would be pinned.
2) You should support Water Cooler to help us become even more knowledgeable citizens and voters. This includes all aspects of citizenship, from elections through sewing masks, if need be.
3) You should support Water Cooler for random, serendipitous reasons. Like lots of cryptic allusions, ancient reggae 45s, snowclones, and under-rated tweets. Also, although I do not wish to bring the really personal aspects of my life into the blog, I do have people who it is my pleasure and duty to support, and I really, really, really want to keep doing that for them, especially now.
So, if you can’t contemplate social distancing without the day’s Water Cooler, please go to the Tip Jar and give what you can. If you can give a lot, give a lot. If you can give a little, give a little. Yellow waders don’t come cheap! Thank you!
NOTE * It would be remiss of me not to mention all the plant images, links, and suggestions sent in by readers. The NC commentariat is truly the best commentariat, and Water Cooler would not be what it is without you.
2019’s Water Cooler fundraiser went very well, and we would like 2020’s to go just as well. Our goal is 300 donors. What Yves wrote in 2017 is true this year as well:
To be crass, Lambert is making well under a living wage for his work on Water Cooler and that is not right. We need you to live up to what we hope is one of the widely-held values in the commentariat, that people should be paid fairly for their work, especially work that has already been done! That means digging into your wallets, whether a little or for a lot, and chipping in for Water Cooler.
Readers, I couldn’t write Water Cooler without independent funding from you; there’s no mainstream market for calling out bullshit. You are paying me for work I have already done — unlike the Naked Capitalism fundraiser proper, which sets the budget for the following year — and so having played the fiddle, I am now passing my cap. Please click the Donate button below and contribute what you can. Even if you can only make a small contribution, we’d still appreciate that, because we also have readers who can make much bigger donations. Again, our target is 300 donors, and we’d like to return to our regularly scheduled programming as soon as possible. I really enjoy writing Water Cooler, and I hope you enjoy reading it. Thank you!
To make the business relationships clear, Yves writes:
Water Cooler is a separate store front within Naked Capitalism to pay for [Lambert’s] considerable effort on it over and above all the work he already does on the site… Yes, Lambert also gets paid out of the annual fundraiser, but that is for the considerable amount of work he does besides Water Cooler, such as DJing the site, helping manage the comments section, managing a lot of the tech issues, and helping in tooth-gnashing over other “business of running the business” matters.
Here is the screen that will appear, which I have helpfully annotated.
If you hate PayPal, you can email me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, and I will give you directions on how to send a check. Thank you!
If you hate PayPal — even though you can use a credit card or debit card on PayPal — you can email me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, and I will give you directions on how to send a check.
36 comments
Comments are closed.
I’m down for $5.00 not much but if every one that can did it adds up;-)
Every little bit helps!
50 USD heading your way.
And another 50 to keep it company.
ditto and a thousand thanks for everything
Put me down for $25/mo as of today. Thanks for your continued research, analysis, and commentary and for providing a forum for widespread commentary from around the world.
Hamsters gotta eat!
$25.00 SS Dollars on their way.
Done. Keep-on keeping-on!
Thank you all. I also just corrected a bad link — to the Tip Jar, of course — that was turning a big part of the page orange. Oopsie.
Happy to join with all my buds in the Commentariat — many thanks to you, Lambert, for all of your hard work on Naked Capitalism, and of course especially for Water Cooler and the Plantidote!
Count me IN!
I think I’m already giving $5.00 a month, automatically. I’d do more, but I’m scheduled to be laid off. Strangely, the coronavirus crisis has delayed my lay off, for which I should have gotten the required 30-days’ notice already (union contract, and all). But it could come any day, as soon as they get the paperwork in order.
Sent a little, sorry it couldn’t be more. I work for a Critical Infrastructure/an Evil Empire so like all good stormtroopers, I am pretty secure, but the Husband works in education and so any moment, I expect to be the sole source of income. I appreciate the NC Crew and Commentariat and am grateful for external anecdotes and opinions during these days of isolation. Stay safe and well!
Water Cooler has absolutely been *the* place to be during the primary season and accelerating slowpocalypse. Thanks for all your hard work!
I have been a solid Bernie contributor plus extra to Tulsi since January 2019. I looked at those donations as an investment in my and my families future. My investment appears to have created only marginal returns. So no more.
I wish I felt free to send you monthly what has been going to them but probably like lots of commentators here I am currently feeling very insecure having no idea what my future may bring. Frankly I’m scared.
So $100 to you today and hopefully if things settle down (ha, ha) more in the future. Can’t get paypal to work!!!!!!
Bonus! Paypal sends you an email with a name which may or may not be an approved alias for Lambert Strether of Corrente!
OK fine!
Done, Wish I could do more. So long, and thanks for all the fish!
$100 – A bargain for your insights, and this community!
And from here too – thanks Lambert!
Just sent you $25, thanks for all your work, can’t imagine my day without you!
Lambert, thanks for one of the best resources on the internet! Nothing quite compares to the Water Cooler and your work is hugely appreciated. Pace yourself and don’t burn out. Happy spring!
I look forward to water cooler every day. $50 is but a drop in the bucket.
I’m in joe6pack’s bracket, but with the ‘shelter at home’ kicking in, I can expect to save at least a pittance in petrol fumes this month to contribute.
Watch out for the hay fever season this year. It is starting early here Down South! (The local cars parked on the streets and driveways hereabouts are beginning to look distinctly yellow from the pollen.)
I sent my check for $25 three days ago. You didn’t even need to ask.
Thank you all very much (and I am behind in my thank you notes). We are still not quite where I had hoped to be, so if you are reading this for the first time, the tip jar is above….
10:25 am eastern standard time credit card section not working
So far as I can tell, the credit card section is fine. Can you try again, and email me if there is an issue?
just a small amount,US$ 25.
used my other email address to donate.
Contribution made, thanks for all the great work over the year.
100 Schmekels donated.
GET SCHWIFTY NC
Lambert, I will get the check in the proverbial mail this weekend. Thank you so much for everything you do …. your level of commitment is amazing. Water Cooler makes me laugh. And cry. It raises my blood pressure. It exercises my brain (or what’s left of it.)
Thank you for the many, many kind comments.
Lambert I am going to donate to you again. Right now I have more than enough to go around.
I have been enjoying your services for years, and not paying for them. I hope to correct that now.
As you can imagine, I’m wary of monthly donations because this can have the effect of weighing down’s one’s ability to live.
The needs are so vast, and I am one of the last ones left, who are quasi middle class, who even can donate. The predators are everywhere.
I’ve not been bombarded by people in distress, I am seeking them out. I am finding many people in severe distress.
Bottom line is, I need to do more.
Right now I am trying to weigh helping the most good for the most number.
I feel everyone needs you!
You are needed and you are valued.
Could’ve swore I posted here yesterday. I donated via PayPal (I know, I know) and had no difficulty.